Can God Use Your Scars & Brokenness?

Hi friends, in today's episode, brokenness can feel overwhelming, but this episode reminds us that God uses our struggles for a greater purpose. 

We explore how insecurities, body image issues, and personal stories of healing reveal the beauty of embracing our scars and the potential that lies in recognizing our worth through Christ. 

• Understanding the connection between brokenness and purpose 
• Exploring personal struggles with body image and insecurity 
• The role of self-acceptance in healing 
• The importance of internal validation over external praise 
• Recognizing that scars do not define our worth 
• Calling listeners to put their struggles before God for healing 
• Encouraging community support and sharing of stories 
• Affirming the beauty in brokenness and God's restorative work

I hope your takeaway from today's episode is that God has a purpose for your brokenness, imperfections, and scars; none define who you are, only God does. The Lord says in Psalm 139:14 "I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;  your works are wonderful,    I know that full well".

Chapters

• 0:06 Embracing Brokenness
• 12:00 Supporting the Podcast - Next Episode

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:06

Hi, everyone, welcome. Thank you for joining us today on our Positioned for Purpose Conversations with Colette Marie podcast. I'm your host, colette Marie. Yes, our podcast is for women of faith who struggle to see God in the places of pain and hardship and who need a reminder, a gentle reminder that, right where you are, god will use you. In the mess, in the hardships, in the most challenging times, in your heartaches and in your pain. God has a greater plan for your story. Romans 8, 28 states, for we know that all things work together for good to them that love God and are called according to his purpose. Today, I want to talk to us about the brokenness in our lives and how God can use that for his glory.

Speaker 1: 1:05

If you've ever read Tony Collier's book Broken Crayons Still Color, what have been your thoughts on it? As I read it, something that stuck out to me in a devotional, and it talks about the struggles that we have, the body image issues that we have, especially as women and young girls as well. And the question was asked what are you struggling with? And so, as I read it, I realized that the person who shared what they were struggling with shared a similar thing as myself. You might have heard me talk about having acne and how that made me feel and the poor decisions that I made because of self-esteem issues and so on. And so, as I remember just how just having acne and even at 55, there's still acne scars and how I allowed that to make me feel as if I'm not worthy, that God couldn't use me, that I should not be in certain rooms, because in my mind, all I could think of was that when persons see me, all they could see are just the acne and the acne scars, and it made me feel small. It made me feel non-existent. Truth be told, that also helped affect my self-confidence as well, and how I would show up in my home, in ministry, in the marketplace, wherever God has called me to serve.

Speaker 1: 2:45

And as I think about a question that was asked, and it's what are you struggling with? What are the struggles that you are having that you think that God has no purpose for, that? He can't use it for his glory and for his honor? My question to you what are you struggling with? So my struggle was with acne, and can I tell you, oh my gosh, that thing. I allowed it to wreak such havoc on my life. I truly did, because the lack of self-esteem, the lack of confidence that I allowed this thing to just so dominated my life. I made poor choices because of that, because when you don't feel like you're worthy, when you don't feel as if anyone truly loves you for who you are, then you take in whatever relationship that may come along, because sometimes you're thinking that you're not going to get anyone better than who you're settling for. So sometimes we settle when God is not calling us to settle. God is calling us to recognize who we are in him, that scripture for we are fearfully and wonderfully made and that our soul knoweth right. Well, it took me a long time to take that in, to truly allow it to apply to my own life. So let me go back to the acne story.

Speaker 1: 4:22

I remember one Sunday getting up in church when they asked for prayers or who needed prayer, and I stood up. And when they asked me what I wanted to pray for, I felt so embarrassed. But I told them that I had acne issues and I was praying for money so that I could go to the dermatologist dermatologist. Of course I felt a bit squeamish, like the animals saying everyone else had such great problems and you're still standing up talking about that. You're having acne issues. And I started feeling silly, I started feeling stupid. Of course they prayed for me, pastor. They prayed for me, prayed that I had the finances, and of course that didn't had the finances and of course that didn't listen. That didn't stop it.

Speaker 1: 5:09

With all the products that I use, I don't know what else I could have used that would have made a difference. And so, as I allowed myself to truly understand and you'd hear me using the word allow a lot and that means for me is that I have to give myself that permission. I have to allow the word of God, because I know what the word of God says. But if I don't allow it to seep in, if I don't allow it to do the work that God calls me to do, if I don't allow it to do the work to reshape my thoughts, to reshape my mind, to reshape who God is and who God says that I am, then I would be nowhere right. So I had to allow that word of God to take root, and it would have taken a number of years, a number of years. My 55th birthday is coming up this year and I still have acne scars left back and I still have some acne that comes up every now and again, but do you know what?

Speaker 1: 6:14

So for some persons, makeup is their thing. You know they love putting on makeup, whether they have blemishes or not, it enhances you. But until I got to a place where I could accept my scars and everything as I am, I did not want to wear makeup. Because can I tell you what I found when I had makeup on? That persons were saying, oh, you're so beautiful, oh, you look so good, you are beautiful. And I found that. That bothered me and I had to say something to someone one day when she said we were out somewhere and she said you're so beautiful. And it pierced me because immediately I felt like how I felt when I was a teenager, getting into adulthood, that I didn't have any value outside of makeup, that my acne was so, oh my God, was such an eyesore that when I put the makeup on, all we could see was that beauty. And I paused her and I said to her I don't like that, because when persons say that without makeup, it is saying to me that I am not beautiful and I'm still processing who I am in Christ. Of course she understood and I know, and I know she did.

Speaker 1: 7:29

You see, if people don't know what you're going through, they don't understand how their words can hurt. And it's not intentional. I know it's not intentional, but what can I tell you? So, no, I don't wear makeup very often, but when I feel like putting it on, I do put it on, because I don't want it to be the thing that defines who I am, because of where I've been, because of what the struggles are for me. And I'm not telling you that the struggles are totally gone. No, every so often they come back Right, and so I have to remind myself that my beauty comes from the inside and it radiates on the outside, and that I'm beautifully. I'm fearfully and wonderfully made. I'm fearfully and wonderfully made, and can I tell you that my scars that I have aren't a definition of who I am. That does not define me. So I don't know what your struggles are today, what everybody image issues you may be struggling with, what are the other areas of brokenness you may be struggling with? But can I tell you that we still have purpose. You still have purpose, we still have value in Almighty God, and so I see myself as being beautiful.

Speaker 1: 8:53

I'm not waiting around for anyone to affirm me, to tell me how beautiful I am. Their affirmation is just icing on the cake, because I know who I am and, as I can tell you, it was not easy getting there. It was not easy getting there because there's always a tape in my head that's playing, that's saying Colette, you're ugly, look at this, look at that. And then I have to silence that with what the word of God says and my go-to scripture. You have heard me repeating that a couple of times in this episode For I'm fearfully and wonderfully made and that my soul knoweth well and my soul knows it. So, with my scars and all, I'm going out and I'm telling others about the love of Christ. I'm still talking to women about being confident, others about the love of Christ. I'm still talking to women about being confident, being confident in who you are. Because, can I tell you, that lack of confidence also stole my voice. I did not want to speak up because of the way how I felt, because I just believe that people were looking at me and did not hear what I am saying, which leads me to the next point.

Speaker 1: 10:08

Sometimes we think that because we have these brokenness or these scars, that that's all that people see. Some of my friends, when I tell them what my struggles are, they can't understand. They don't see what I see because they're not looking on the physical only. They're looking on the entire thing, the character, everything else. But we allow the enemy to come in and to saw Warp our image in Christ, which is his work, instead of telling him what God Says that we are and how he has made us.

Speaker 1: 10:46

And so today, as you Think about your own struggles, and so today, as you think about your own struggles and your own brokenness, my prayer is that you will put it before Almighty God. My prayer is that you will put it before him and that you will ask him for the strength to go through, for the strength to be who he has called you to be. But what if you allowed God to take the broken pieces and make them into something beautiful? He wants to do that for you and I today. He wants to take the broken pieces, the marred clay, the scarred tail, the broken pieces and places of your life, and he wants to mend them back, because we are God's masterpiece, we are his handiwork, created for good things. So today, remember that your scars have value. Your broken places have value and God can use them for his glory and for his honor.

Speaker 1: 12:00

Thank you so much and see you on our next episode. If you've been enjoying our episodes, I hope that you will check the description below. There's a way that you can support our podcast. Your support means a whole lot to me. Thank you so much for considering and I see you next time. Blessings and bye.