There is a sacred promise in the pages of scripture that is just waiting for the moment that our hearts are shattered enough so that we can finally hear it. It is this:

“The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.” (Psalm 34:18)

This isn’t a promise for the strong or the brave. It’s a promise for the rest of us. It’s a promise for the nights that feel endless.

Have you ever had one of those nights? Where the tears won’t stop, and each one feels heavier than the last? Where your chest is so tight with grief or anxiety that it’s hard to draw a full breath? Where the silence of your room is so loud that it feels like no one in the universe—not even God—can see the depth of your despair?

If yes, then you have perfected the art of functioning while fractured. You smile around people. You say, “I’m fine,” while you feel yourself drowning on the inside. You are an expert at holding it all together, even as you are falling apart.

But let me tell you something today that perhaps nobody has said loud enough for you to believe: God doesn’t walk past broken people. He sits with them.

God Is Not in a Hurry to “Fix” You—He’s Here to Be With You

In our pain, we often carry a burden: the belief that our brokenness is a disappointment to God. We think that if we’re not okay, if we’re not healing fast enough, then we are failing Him. We pray for a quick fix, an instant removal of the pain, because we assume that’s what He wants for us.

But look at the ministry of the Lord Jesus. He never rushed healing. His first act was never to fix, but to connect.

He sat with the Samaritan woman at the well, engaging her story and seeing her soul long before He offered her living water. He didn’t just heal Mary and Martha’s grief; He entered it, weeping with them beside their brother’s tomb. He didn’t just shout a command from a distance to the leper; He broke religious and social law to touch the untouchable man before healing him.

His presence always preceded His power.

God doesn’t wait for your healing to love you—He loves you in the wound. He is not afraid of your mess. He is not put off by your tears. He is not tapping His foot, waiting for you to get over it. He is here, now, in this, with you.

The World Sees Damage, God Sees a Door

The world has a very low tolerance for brokenness. It whispers lies that can sound like truth:
“You’re too broken to be useful.”
“You should be over it by now.”
“You’re not good for anything anymore.”

The world sees damaged goods. It sees a liability, a story that is over. But God looks at the very same pieces, and His response is breathtakingly different. He says:
“I’m going to use this part—yes, the broken, bruised, shattered part—to show my glory.”

For it is written in 2 Corinthians 12:9:

“And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.”

That depression that has held you captive? That heartbreak that leveled you? That grief that carved a canyon through your soul? That is the very place He is building from. That is the raw material for a miracle. The prophet Isaiah declared this beautiful, redemptive promise:

“…To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness…” (Isaiah 61:3)

God doesn’t throw away ashes. He doesn’t discard the rubble of our lives. He gathers it with tender hands. He makes art from them. He builds cathedrals from our ruins.

You Don’t Have to Pretend, Not With Him

There is one place where your mask is not required. There is one presence where your “I’m fine” is unnecessary. God can handle the full force of your honest heart.

He can handle your tears.
He can handle your anger.
He can handle your silent, stony withdrawal.
He can handle your confusion.
He can handle your complete and utter breakdown.

He is not scared of your questions. The heroes of our faith were honest in their anguish. Elijah, after a great victory, sat under a tree and prayed for death. Job, having lost everything, cursed the day he was born. The Lord Jesus Himself, in the agony of the cross, cried out the question that has echoed in every human heart at one time or another: “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46)

And what was God’s response to their raw, unfiltered pain? He didn’t abandon them. He stayed.

And He stays with you, too.

A man asks, “Where was God when innocent people and children were killed in a plane crash?” He answers, “The same place I sat when John the Baptist my servant was beheaded. When Stephen my servant was stoned to death. When Paul my servant was murdered in Rome. The same place I sat when my only Son was brutally crucified, wounded, bruised and killed. I have not moved from my position.”

It is not the means of exit from earth that matters but the destination.

I believe if heaven could whisper to your heart right now, if you could hear past the noise of your pain, you would hear this:

“I saw you when they didn’t see you. I heard your silent cries when no one else responded. I have caught every single tear. And even now—I am still here. I didn’t leave. I’m not leaving. I am sitting right beside you… and I will stay here until you are ready to stand again.”

A Promise to Carry in the Darkness

Cling to this truth. Let it be the anchor for your soul, especially when the storm is raging.

“It is of the LORD’S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.” (Lamentations 3:22-23)

Even if yesterday broke you beyond recognition… today still holds mercy. His compassion for you has not run out. It is new, right now, in this moment.

You don’t have to be strong today.
You don’t have to have the right words.
You don’t even need a loud prayer.

If all you can manage to whisper is, “God, please stay with me…”
That’s enough. That is an act of profound faith.

Because sometimes, the most powerful faith is not the kind that moves mountains, but the kind that simply doesn’t walk away in the dark.

So cry.
Breathe.
Rest.

He is not going anywhere.

He’s still sitting with you… in the dark… in the pain… in the silence. And He will not let you go.

In a world that is drawn to the spotlight, we always want to be chosen. We learn to perform, to polish our resumes, to display our strengths, and to hide our weaknesses. We learn that being chosen is a reward for being seen.

But God does not choose like we do. His gaze is not drawn to the stage, to the spotlight, or to the polished performance. His gaze penetrates the shadows. He doesn’t choose based on the potential people can see; He chooses based on the sacred purpose He has already placed deep inside of you.

Before anyone saw greatness in you—He did. Before you were cleaned up, fixed up, or prayed up—He chose you. This is the beautiful, revolutionary mystery of being chosen by God. And it is confirmed in His own Word:

“But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:” (1 Peter 2:9)

God Chose You in the Dark – Not on the Stage

You may be tempted to believe that your calling began the day someone finally recognized you. The day you got the position, the promotion, the platform. The day people started to notice.

But that is not where your story began. Your true calling, your divine selection, did not happen under the bright lights of a stage. It happened in the shadows. It was sealed in the quiet of your obscurity, in the silence of your waiting, in the lonely tears you thought no one saw. When nobody clapped, when nobody noticed, when you felt utterly invisible to the world—that is the sacred space where God drew near and whispered, “You’re the one.”

This is the promise of God Himself, spoken to the prophet Jeremiah and echoed into your own spirit today:

“Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.” (Jeremiah 1:5)

You were chosen while you were still hidden. Your value was assigned before you ever had a chance to prove it. You do not need the validation of a spotlight to be valuable. You just need to remember the one who called your name in the dark.

You Were Forged in Pain – And That’s Why You’re Dangerous

Let’s be honest: your anointing, your unique purpose, did not come cheap. It was not handed to you in a pristine package. It was forged. It was forged in the fire of heartbreak that stole your breath. It was forged in the crushing loneliness that felt like a physical weight. It was forged in the seasons of anxiety and despair where you didn’t think you would survive to see the morning light.

And yet—you are still here. Why?

Because the very things that the enemy meant to destroy you, only revealed the true you. The fire that was meant to consume you only burned away what was temporary, leaving behind an unbreakable, resilient spirit, purified by grace. As the Apostle Paul, a man well-acquainted with suffering, wrote:

“We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed;” (2 Corinthians 4:8-9)

Your pain did not disqualify you. It prepared you. Your scars are not signs of your weakness; they are maps of your survival. They make you a threat to the kingdom of darkness because you are living proof that what is broken can be made whole, that what is dead can be brought to life. You are dangerous because you know the God who walks through the fire.

You Don’t Need to Feel Qualified to Be Used

Perhaps the greatest lie we believe is that we must feel ready to be used by God. We look at our flaws, our pasts, and our insecurities, and we disqualify ourselves.

Moses stuttered. David was the overlooked shepherd boy who became an adulterer. Esther was an orphan in a foreign land. Paul was a murderer of the very Christians he would later serve. The Bible is not a story of perfect people. It is the story of a perfect God who delights in using surrendered, imperfect people.

Is your story messy? Good. That makes you qualified.
Is your past complicated? Good. That makes you relatable.
Are you acutely aware of your weakness? Good. That makes you powerful.

Your mess is your message. Your testimony is born from your tests. God intentionally bypasses the self-assured and the seemingly qualified to display His power in the most unlikely vessels.

“But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;” (1 Corinthians 1:27)

You are not an accident. You are not a mistake. You are not second best. You were handpicked, by the God of the universe, for this exact generation.

Heaven’s View of You

Right now, let this truth settle deep into your spirit. Let it be the voice that silences every other voice of condemnation or fear:

You are not forgotten.
You are not too broken.
You are not too late.
You are not what they called you.
You are not what you lost.

You. Are. Chosen.

Chosen to rise again.
Chosen to break generational cycles.
Chosen to lead with compassion.
Chosen to speak life into dead and dark places.

You were chosen—on purpose, for a purpose.

Maybe you’ve been running from this calling. Not because you don’t believe in God, but because, if you’re honest, you don’t quite believe in yourself. You see the flaws, you remember the failures, and you think God must have made a mistake.

But today, your Father is reminding you:

“I didn’t make a mistake when I called you. I saw your flaws, and I still picked you. I saw your weaknesses, and I still sent you. My strength is made perfect in them.”

So come home. Not to a building, not to a religion, but to the unshakeable truth of who you are in Him. Your identity is not up for debate.

You were chosen in the dark. And now, it’s your time to shine.

There is a quiet fear that haunts every human heart. It’s the fear of being disqualified. The fear that we could make a mistake so great, endure a trial so fierce, or run so far away that we would forfeit our place in the arms of love. We carry this fear into our lives, our relationships, and most profoundly, into our relationship with God.

But what if that fear was based on a lie? What if the voice of God was cutting through all that noise with a truth so simple and so powerful it could change everything?

Listen closely, for our Lord is speaking:

“Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine.” (Isaiah 43:1)

It is not a suggestion; it is a declaration. It is the unshakable foundation upon which we can build our lives. To understand it, let’s imagine a scene:

There was once a child who, in a moment of carelessness, broke his father’s most prized possession—a handcrafted glass sculpture, a masterpiece of light and form. The sound of it shattering was deafening. In tears and terror, the child fell to the floor, bracing for the anger and punishment he knew he deserved. But the footsteps that came were not heavy with rage. The father knelt, not to inspect the damage, but to gather his child. He embraced him tightly and whispered, “Oh, my child. Are you hurt? You are more precious than anything you could ever break.”

That is a glimpse into the heart of our Lord. That is how God sees us.

You are Still His—Even When You Fail

We know the feeling all too well. It’s the shame that washes over us after we lose our temper. It’s the quiet ache of falling back into a sin we swore we had conquered. It’s the hollow feeling of missing Church again, of breaking a promise, of simply drifting away until God feels like a distant memory. We look at our spiritual lives and see the shattered pieces of our good intentions, and we think, “I’ve disqualified myself.”

But hear this today, and let it sink into the bottom of your heart: God’s love is not performance-based. It is covenant-based.

He didn’t choose you because He foresaw a future of flawless perfection. He chose you in the midst of your mess because He saw your truest self through the lens of His grace. He didn’t wait for you to be worthy; He made you worthy through the greatest act of love in history. The Apostle Paul states it with breathtaking clarity:

“But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8, KJV)

Read that again. While we were yet sinners. At your absolute worst, at your most rebellious state, at your most lost—that is the moment God chose to prove His love for you. He loved you then. So don’t you dare believe the lie that you are unloved now. Your failures are not the final word. His grace is. You are still His.

You are Still His—Even in the Fire

There are seasons when life itself feels like it’s burning to the ground. The phone call that changes everything. The job that is lost. The person you cannot imagine living without who is suddenly gone. The slow, simmering fire of chronic illness or a broken heart. In these moments of intense heat, it can feel like you are losing everything, including yourself. And the silence from heaven can feel deafening.

But God never promised to keep you from the fire. He made a much better promise: He would walk with you through it. His presence is the promise.

“When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee.” (Isaiah 43:2)

The fire has power, but it does not have ultimate power. It can scorch you. It can scar you. It can change your life irrevocably. But it cannot touch your spirit. It cannot penetrate it. It cannot separate you from the One who holds you. You may feel unrecognizable after what you’ve been through, stripped of everything you once were. But the voice of your Father cuts through the flames, and He says: “You’re still mine. Not even this fire can take you from Me.“

You are Still His—Even When You Run

Some of us are runners. We know the truth, we’ve tasted the grace, but when fear, shame, rebellion, or sheer exhaustion sets in, our instinct is to flee. Like Jonah, we board a ship in the opposite direction. Like the Prodigal Son, we take our inheritance and head for a distant country, convinced we can make it on our own. We run, hoping to outpace our pain or the call of God on our lives.

But there is a glorious, wonderful truth we must never forget: God runs, too. And He runs toward you.

We can see this in the father of the prodigal son. He didn’t sit on his porch, tapping his foot, waiting for a perfectly rehearsed apology. When he saw his prodigal son from afar, the Bible paints us a picture of breathtaking compassion:

“And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him.” (Luke 15:20, KJV)

The father ran. He abandoned all dignity and ran to his broken, filthy son. He embraced him before he could even confess. This is the divine pursuit. Even when you are trying to leave Him, His love never leaves you. It is scanning the horizon, waiting, longing for your return.

The Voice of the Lord

If we will quiet our hearts for just a moment, if we will listen past the voices of accusation and fear, we will hear a voice speaking directly to us. I believe it will sound something like this:

“My child, I know your wounds. I know your regrets. I know what they said about you, and I know what you did. But none of it changes the truth: You are still mine. I still want you. I still have plans for you, plans that your past cannot derail. Come back. Or if you can’t run back, just turn around. I never stopped calling your name.”

This is not wishful thinking. This is the unbreakable promise that anchors all of history, secured by the cross and sealed by the empty tomb. It is the final declaration over your life:

“For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:38-39, KJV)

If you feel broken by your failures, if you’ve walked away and feel lost in the distance, if you’re scorched by the fires of life and numb and tired of pretending, then this is your moment of return. Return to Him. You are still His.

You don’t need to have the right words. You don’t need to clean yourself up first. Just lift your eyes. Open your heart. Because He’s been waiting for you the whole time.

And He is whispering to you now, in the deepest part of who you are:

“You are still mine.”

This article is for those who are already tired of waiting. May it be waiting for the return of the Lord or the long overdue fulfilment of a prayer.

There is a sacred ache that comes with longing for something only God can give. It’s the quiet desperation of a prayer that has lingered on your lips for months, or even years. It’s the silence that answers your cries, a silence that can feel so heavy, so empty, so much like abandonment. In the waiting, the world keeps spinning, but a part of you feels frozen in place, holding your breath for a breakthrough that has not yet come.

If that is where you are today, I pray this timeless promise from the prophet Isaiah would wrap around your soul like a warm embrace. In Isaiah 40:31, our loving Lord says, 

“But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.”

This is not a hollow promise for the strong; it is a divine lifeline for the weary. It is God’s declaration that He is still at work, especially when you can’t see or feel a thing.

Waiting is Not Wasting

To our restless hearts, waiting feels like a delay. It feels like a cosmic pause button has been pressed on our lives, while everyone else moves forward. It feels like silence. But can I gently tell you that to God, waiting is preparation?

He is not ignoring you. The silence you perceive is not a sign of His absence, but often a sign of His deep, intricate work. He is building something in you before He gives something to you. Some blessings are not delayed; they are being lovingly and meticulously developed in the hidden place of your heart. Some strengths can only be forged in the furnace of patience. The prophet Habakkuk was told in a vision:

“For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come.” (Habakkuk 2:3).

Please hear this: God’s delays are not His denials. They are the proving grounds of your faith and the sacred cradle of miracles that are yet unseen.

You Are Growing Wings While You Wait

Isaiah’s promise is breathtaking. He doesn’t say you will simply endure the waiting or collapse under its weight. He says you will “mount up with wings as eagles.”

Think about the majesty of an eagle. An eagle doesn’t ascend by frantically flapping its wings and exhausting itself. It soars. And it cannot soar until it has caught the right wind—a thermal current that it did not create, but has learned to rest upon. The eagle, in its wisdom, waits for the wind.

While you are waiting, feeling grounded and restless, God is building your wings. He is strengthening your heart, deepening your patience, and clarifying your vision. He is teaching you to recognize the movement of His Spirit. Sometimes, in the agony of our waiting, we are begging to take off, while God in His love is whispering, “Don’t rush the takeoff, my child. I am sending the wind. Trust Me.”

Even When You’re Walking, You’re Moving Forward

The promise in Isaiah 40:31 is layered with grace. It covers every season of our journey. Sometimes we soar. Sometimes we run. And then there are the times we can only walk.

Some seasons don’t feel like soaring. There is no majestic uplift, no breathtaking view from above. Some seasons don’t even feel like running; there is no exhilarating momentum, no finish line in sight. Some seasons are just walking—one weary, deliberate, faith-filled step at a time.

But look at the beauty of the promise: “…they shall walk, and not faint.” God sees your walk. He knows the effort it takes just to put one foot in front of the other. And He promises that if you keep walking in faith, you will not faint. If you keep trusting, you will not fall apart. If you just keep holding on to His hand, He will hold you up. Your quiet, un-celebrated walk is a profound act of worship, and it is moving you forward.

God Is Not Just in the Outcome—He’s in the Process

Perhaps the most tender truth for the waiting heart is this: you are not alone in the waiting room. God is with you in the long, quiet hallway, not just at the door of the breakthrough. His presence is not a prize waiting at the end of your trial; it is your comfort in the midst of it.

David, a man who knew the pain of waiting, wrote in Psalm 40:1, 

“I waited patiently for the Lord; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry.” 

The Lord inclined—He leaned in close. He is leaning in to you right now. He hears your late-night prayers whispered into a tear-stained pillow. He sees your silent tears that no one else knows about. And He is working in the invisible places, orchestrating details you cannot yet see, even when the door of your promise hasn’t opened yet.

I know you may be waiting. Waiting for a healing that feels so far off. Waiting for a prodigal child to find their way home. Waiting for a financial breakthrough that seems impossible. Waiting for an answer to long nights of prayer.

But God is not absent. He is active. And your waiting is not empty—it is pregnant with divine purpose.

So I invite you, weary friend, to come to Him. Surrender your life, with all its anxieties and demands, into His loving hands. Come and receive fresh strength for the journey, not because you feel it, but because He promised it. And let this be the declaration of your heart today:

“Lord, even if I don’t see it yet, I will trust You in the waiting.”

Your waiting is holy. Your waiting is worship. And I promise you, your waiting is not in vain.

There are words in the Scripture that feel less like ink on a page and more like a hand reaching out to our weary soul. For centuries, one such declaration has echoed from the heart of the Apostle Paul, a cry of defiant faith that has fueled revival, sustained martyrs, and given hope to the hopeless. It is found in Philippians 3:14: 

“I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”

This is more than a verse; it is a lifeline. It is a message for every person who has ever felt the crushing weight of their past, the exhaustion of the journey, or the pain of the present. It is the anthem of unstoppable faith, and it speaks directly to the part of you that is longing to keep going.

Your Past Does Not Disqualify You

Before Paul was an apostle, he was a monster. This is not an exaggeration. His name was Saul, and he was a man with blood on his hands. He stood by and approved as Stephen, a man full of the Holy Spirit, was stoned to death. He breathed out threats and murder, trying with every fiber of his being to destroy the Church of God. His past was a battlefield of hatred, violence, and religious pride.

If a past could disqualify someone, it was Paul’s. The ghosts of his former life could have haunted him forever, whispering accusations in his ear. But the God who met him on the road to Damascus did not disqualify him—He redeemed him. He did not hold his past against him—He called him forward.

How could Paul move on from such a dark history? He gives us the secret himself, just one verse earlier in Philippians 3:13: “…this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before.”

This “forgetting” is not a passive amnesia; it is an active, moment-by-moment choice fueled by grace. It is the refusal to keep looking backward when your destiny lies ahead. Regret is a prison that will keep you locked in a cell of your own making, replaying your failures on an endless loop. But grace, my friend, is the key. Your past may explain some of your scars, but it does not define your soul. God has already turned the page. He invites you to do the same.

The Christian Life Is a Race, Not a Rest

Paul uses a word that is full of tension and grit: “I press…” This is not the language of someone strolling through a park. This is the language of an athlete straining every muscle, lungs burning, heart pounding, pushing against the pain and exhaustion. To press means there is effort, there is struggle, there is a fierce determination to move forward against all odds.

The Christian walk is not always easy. There are seasons that will test the very limits of your endurance. There are seasons of weariness that settle deep in your bones, making every step feel heavy. There are seasons of delay, when the promises of God feel distant and your timeline is shattered. There are seasons of heartbreak that crack the foundation of your world. And there are seasons of opposition, when it feels like everything and everyone is against you.

In those moments, the temptation is to quit, to coast, or to just sit down in defeat. But Paul gives us a different response. Not “I quit.” Not “I coast.” Not “I sit.” He cries out from the depths of his being, “I press!” Why? Because there is a prize, and it is worth it all. The finish line is not just an end to the struggle; it is the beginning of a glory so profound that it will make the hardest race feel like a distant memory.

There Is a High Calling Over Your Life

Listen to the magnificent scope of this race: “…for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”

God did not save you from your past to call you to a life of mediocrity. He did not pull you from the fire to watch you blend in with the shadows. He did not break your chains so you could simply give up when the road gets hard. He called you to walk in power, purpose, and victory. He called you to come up higher.

Revelation 4:1 “After this I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven: and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up hither, and I will shew thee things which must be hereafter.

No matter where you have been, no matter how low you feel right now, there is a higher calling over your life. It is a calling to holiness—an intimate, set-apart relationship with Him. It is a calling to ministry—a unique purpose that only you can fulfill. It is a calling to be a light in the darkness—a beacon of His love in a broken world. Do not dare settle for the lowlands of compromise and comfort when God has called you to the mountain peaks of His glory.

Keep Pressing When It Hurts

We must never forget where Paul was when he penned these powerful words. He was not writing from a place of comfort and ease. He was in a cold, dark prison cell, chained and awaiting his fate. This was a man who had been beaten, stoned and left for dead, shipwrecked, and repeatedly imprisoned. His body was a roadmap of suffering for the cause of Christ.

And yet, from that place of pain, he writes, “Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, Rejoice” (Philippians 4:4). This is not the statement of a blind optimist; it is the roar of a man with bold, unshakeable faith. His joy was not based on his circumstances, but on his Christ.

He pressed on through unimaginable physical and emotional pain. That means you can press on through the fog of depression. You can press on through the crushing weight of loss. You can press on through the paralyzing grip of fear. Why? Because Christ is your strength. Paul’s most famous declaration follows in this same letter: “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me” (Philippians 4:13). The same strength that sustained Paul in prison is available to you right now.

My dear friend, there will be times when you feel like quitting. But in those moments, remember this: He who called you is faithful. So keep praying, even when the words won’t come. Keep praising, even when your heart is aching. Keep believing, even when you cannot see. Keep pressing.

The reward is not just a crown you will receive in heaven. The prize is also in the pressing itself—in the process of becoming everything God designed you to be.

If you have fallen, get up. The ground is no place for a child of the King. You are an eagle. Fly higher. If you are tired, lean on His strength, for His arms are strong enough to carry you. If you are discouraged, fix your eyes on Jesus, the author and finisher of your faith.

The prize is still ahead. Your calling is still intact. The race is not over.

Press on.

Mark 14:3 “And being in Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he sat at meat, there came a woman having an alabaster box of ointment of spikenard very precious; and she brake the box, and poured it on his head.”

Here, the Lord Jesus is in the home of a man sharing a meal who was once rejected by society because of his disease. The atmosphere is likely calm, filled with conversation. And then, a woman enters. She doesn’t say a word. In her hands, she carries an alabaster box, a vessel of immense value. This wasn’t just perfume; it was spikenard, an oil so costly it could represent a year’s wages. And in one stunning, decisive act, she breaks it. The sound of that breaking must have silenced the room before the fragrance ever did. In that moment, she poured out everything she had upon the head of her Savior.

This article is a story about being broken, but not wasted.

There Are Some Things That Must Be Broken to Be Released

That beautiful alabaster box was sealed tight. It was designed to preserve, to contain, to hold in the precious oil. The perfume, with all its value and potential, could never fill the room as long as the box remained intact. The purpose therefore of the alabaster box was not just to contain, but to be broken.

How many of us then are living like that alabaster box? Inside all of us, God has placed priceless treasures. Your gifts, your true and unhindered worship, your divine purpose—they are all sealed inside. But they are still in the box. For many of us, it is sealed shut by the hardness of pride, the deep ache of past pain, the paralyzing grip of fear, or the heavy weight of trauma. We hold it all in, protecting what’s inside, but in doing so, we prevent its fragrance from ever being released.

Sometimes, in His infinite love and wisdom, God allows the breaking. He allows life’s pressures, heartaches, problems and trials not to destroy you, but to break open the vessel and release the precious oil He has placed within you. He knows that what is inside you is too valuable to remain contained forever. The breaking is not the end of you; it is the beginning of your true offering. David understood this when he cried out in Psalm 51:17, 

“The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.” 

Do you hear this? God doesn’t despise your brokenness. He doesn’t turn away from your shattered pieces. He receives your broken and contrite heart as a fragrant offering, a worship that is more precious to Him than any unbroken vessel.

What Looks Wasteful to Men Is Worship to God

As soon as the fragrance of the spikenard filled the air, so did the sound of criticism. The Bible tells us in Mark 14:4, 

“And there were some that had indignation within themselves, and said, Why was this waste of the ointment made?” 

They saw it as a waste. They calculated the cost, they judged the act, and they completely missed the heart behind it.

And so it will be with you. When you finally decide to break your box at the feet of the Lord Jesus, others may misunderstand your sacrifice. They may criticize your total surrender, calling it foolish. They may question your lavish giving, your heartfelt tears, your radical decisions to follow Jesus with everything you have. They will look at your life and call it a waste.

But oh, listen to the voice of your Savior. Listen to the One who sees your heart. The Lord Jesus immediately came to her defense in Mark 14:6, saying, 

“Let her alone; why trouble ye her? she hath wrought a good work on me.” 

When the world calls it waste, the Lord Jesus calls it worship. When they see a foolish loss, He sees a beautiful work. He cherishes your offering. Your tears are not wasted. Your surrendered dreams are not wasted. Your poured-out life is the most beautiful work He has ever seen.

God Uses Broken People to Do Beautiful Things

This woman was not named in Mark’s account. She wasn’t a preacher, a prophet, or an apostle. She held no title. She was, by all accounts, simply a broken woman with a broken box, who gave everything she had in a single moment of profound love. And yet, her simple, broken offering touched the heart of Christ so deeply that He made one of the most astonishing declarations in all of Scripture.

In Mark 14:9, the Lord Jesus says, “Wheresoever this gospel shall be preached throughout the whole world, this also that she hath done shall be spoken of for a memorial of her.”

Let that sink into your soul. This unnamed woman’s act of worship would become an eternal memorial, forever intertwined with the Gospel itself. God takes the humble, the unseen, the broken offerings of His children and He makes them eternal memorials in heaven. He doesn’t need your strength; He desires your surrender. He isn’t looking for your perfection; He is looking for your passion. He uses broken people to do the most beautiful things.

Your Breaking Releases a Fragrance That Changes the Atmosphere

When she broke the alabaster box, the fragrance was undeniable. It filled the entire room, changing the very atmosphere. No one present could ignore it. The smell of criticism and judgment was overcome by the sweet perfume of sacrifice.

This is what happens when you allow God to break you. When you break in authentic prayer, when you break in total surrender, when you break in gut-wrenching repentance at His feet, the very fragrance of Christ is released through you. That kind of raw, honest worship affects everyone in the room. It changes the atmosphere of your family. It shifts the environment in your church. It can alter the entire course of your future. Your breaking isn’t a sign of defeat; it is the release of a spiritual fragrance that announces the presence and power of God. As the Apostle Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 2:15, “For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ…” Your life, poured out, becomes a sweet aroma to God that pushes back the darkness.

An Encouragement for Your Heart

Right now, you may feel broken inside you. You are broken by the circumstances of life. You may feel wounded by the words and actions of people you trusted. You may feel utterly crushed by loss.

But hear the heart of your Savior tonight: God does not discard the broken—He uses them. The crushing is what releases the anointing. The breaking is what releases the beauty. And I promise you this, your most painful surrender, the thing you think has disqualified you, may very well become your most powerful and life-changing testimony.

A Call to Surrender

So I am encouraging you now to bring your own “alabaster box” to the Lord Jesus. Stop clutching it so tightly. Stop trying to keep it all together. Bring the pain. Bring the past. Bring the shame. Bring the praise that has been locked inside. Bring it all to Him. And right at His feet, I am asking you to do the unthinkable: break it. Surrender it all.

Your breaking is not your ending—it’s your releasing. What’s inside of you, that precious thing God has placed in your heart, is too valuable to stay hidden. Let God pour it out. Let its fragrance fill your place.

Gal. 3:16 “Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ.”

When I say, “Every promise is a seed waiting for faith,” I mean that the promises of God found within the pages of Holy Scripture are exactly like seeds—they are full of divine life and immeasurable potential. However, just like a seed, they require the “soil” of your faith to grow, to be activated, and to produce the fruit of God’s goodness in your life.

Faith is “the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (Heb. 11:1). Those promised seeds, those spiritual things that cannot be seen, can only be seen if we have Faith – that is, if we are living the spiritual things revealed to us by our Lord. This is the only way that the unseen things can be seen in this world. And this is when the prayer of our Lord is also fulfilled:

“Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.” Mat. 6:10

This is when the Kingdom and the will of God come to Earth.

The Promise is a Seed

A seed, by its very nature, contains life, but if left on its own, that seed lies dormant. It holds the complete blueprint for a towering tree or a fruitful vine, but until it is planted, watered, and given the right conditions, it cannot manifest its power. In the same way, the Bible is filled with overflowing seeds – the divine promises of God—promises for peace in the midst of storms, provision in times of lack, healing for the body and soul, strength for the weary, guidance for the lost, and victory over every enemy. But until those seeds are planted, watered, and believed in – in short, until they are lived by us, they cannot release their inherent power.

The Word of God itself confirms this powerful analogy. The Apostle Peter tells us in 1 Peter 1:23 said:

“Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.”

Here, the very source of our new life is likened to an incorruptible seed, which is the Word of God. Our Lord Jesus Christ made this even more clear in the parable of the sower, explaining plainly in Luke 8:11:

“Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God.”

These promises are living truths, not dead letters on a page, but they require something from us to take root and bear the results God intends for them.

Faith is the Soil and the Activation Mechanism

If the promise is the seed, then faith is the fertile soil and the activation mechanism that brings it to life. Faith is when we do and live the spiritual seeds we receive from our Lord. This is when we trust in His unfailing promise, and then we act in agreement with what has been promised. Without this soil of faith, the most powerful promises can lie dormant.

The Paul in the Book of Hebrews gives us a solemn warning in Hebrews 4:2:

“For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.”

Think of the gravity of that statement. The glorious gospel itself did not profit an entire generation because it was not mixed with faith. Even a promise spoken by God Himself will produce no result if it is not received in faith. Just as a seed scattered on hard, rocky ground will never grow, so too will God’s promises lie inactive and unfulfilled in a heart of unbelief or neglect. They are useless in the heart of those without faith.

Biblical Examples of Faith and Unbelief

The Scriptures provide us with powerful examples of this principle. We see the incredible fruit that comes from a promise mixed with faith, and the tragic consequences when a promise is met with unbelief.

First, consider Abraham, our father in the faith. God promised Abraham that he would have a son in his old age and that he would become the father of many nations. That promise was a seed of unimaginable potential, but it waited twenty-five long years to grow. Why? Because Abraham had to learn to believe and have faith. He had to walk through years of trials, waiting, and testing. At times, he even tried to fulfill God’s promise through his own human effort by having Ishmael. But in the end, faith triumphed. The Bible gives this glorious testimony of him in Romans 4:20:

“He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God.”

Because Abraham was fully persuaded and his faith was strong, the seed of promise bore the miraculous fruit who is Isaac.

In stark contrast, consider the story of Israel at the border of the Promised Land. God promised to give them the land of Canaan, a land described as flowing with milk and honey. Yet, aside from Caleb and Joshua, the entire first generation that came out of Egypt never entered it. Why? Because when they heard the report of giants in the land, they did not believe that God would fight for them and give them the victory. The magnificent seed of God’s promise was sown in their ears, but it was never activated by their faith. The Bible records their tragic failure in Hebrews 3:19,

“So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.”

Their story is a timeless warning that God’s greatest promises can be left unclaimed by a faithless heart.

What This Means For Us?

Brothers and sisters, the Bible that you have is filled with these seeds—precious promises of joy, peace, power, purpose, provision, and the abiding presence of God. But these promises do not manifest automatically. They are waiting for your faith to act as the fertile soil. They are waiting for you to live those promises. They are waiting for you to declare, “I trust Your Word more than what I see or what I feel.” And they are waiting for you to take a step of faith and say, “I will act Your promise becuse they are true and because You have spoken it.”

The Process of Fruitfulness

The journey from receiving a promise to seeing its fulfillment follows a divine pattern. First, the Seed is Given. God speaks or reveals a promise to us through His Word. We need to trust this seed because, as Isaiah 55:11 says,

“So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.”

Second, Faith Responds. This is where you believe it personally. The Lord Jesus instructed us in Mark 11:24,

“Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.”

Third, Action Follows. True faith is never passive; you must live and act in alignment with the promise, for as we are told in James 2:17,

“Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.”

Finally, as you live by it, the Fruit Grows. In time, the promise will be fulfilled. Let us hold fast to the encouragement in Galatians 6:9,

“And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.”

Final Reflection

There are promises sitting in your Bible right now that are waiting to be planted in your heart by faith. They are not dead words from an ancient book; they are divine seeds, filled with the life and power of Almighty God. He is looking for people who will take Him at His Word and respond not with doubt, but with faith. May our response to every promise He gives be the same as that of Mary, the mother of our Lord, who, when faced with an impossible promise, declared with simple, powerful faith in Luke 1:38, 

“Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word.”