Dear Friend

Dear friend,

I hurt for you.

Not because I’ve lived in your exact same situation. Not because I can truly understand all of your feelings. Because your situation is just that, yours. And your feelings are just that, yours. And there is no one else in this entire world that can truly live your life, or understand your feelings. The best any of us can do is empathize with feeling like the world has broken us down. Because on some level, we’ve all felt a kind of broken at some point.

Maybe the broken came in the form of not being invited to that eight year old birthday party sleepover. Maybe the broken came in the form of a terrible medical diagnosis. Maybe the broken came in the form of a broken heart. Maybe broken came in the form of not feeling fulfillment in your life. Maybe broken came in the form of failure. But we’ve all been broken at some point.

We’re all broken.

But we don’t show people our broken parts. The exhaustion of a career isn’t painted on Facebook, only the successes are celebrated. The tears in a bathroom stall aren’t Instagrammed for the world so see, only the smiles during the happy times are shared. We read passive aggressive comments on Twitter, instead of talking to those people in real life. We avoid confrontation and anything that might be construed as uncomfortable because we live in generation of “I want to feel good, and please don’t share your uncomfortableness with me, les I feel an obligation to do something to help you in some way.”

I’m glad I’m broken.

I’m not a person that enjoys admitting that I need help.

I am independent. I am strong. I am stubborn. I don’t need someone to complete me. I don’t want someone to take the starring role of my life away from me. I like to be in control. I like to be right.

But I am broken.

And sometimes broken people need to ask for help.

Because someone might put the pieces back together better than they were before.

Sometimes stubborn people need some humility.

Because someone else can have a gift that is greater than your own.

Sometimes it’s ok to let someone else take the lead.

Because someone else will encourage you to continue to grow.

Sometimes it’s ok to be wrong.

Because someone else can lead you to what is right.

The answer is not a magical elixir. It’s not an overnight diet pill. It’s not the wave of a wand to make it all disappear. But ironically, the answer is a relationship.

Keep running, but change your direction. The track you’re running keeps looping back to you, and so you see yourself as the problem. It also means that you keep looking to yourself to find the solution. You are not the problem. You are not the solution.

Because it’s not about you.

Friend, the race that you’re running is straight.

It’s not on a track.

Friend, the race that you’re running is straight.

It doesn’t require you to train.

Friend, the race that you’re running is straight.

There is no distance to be completed.

Friend, the race that you’re running is straight, get OFF the track.

Run. To. Him.

Your solutions aren’t working? Run to Him.

You don’t understand the why? Run to Him.

You don’t understand the direction? Run to Him.

You’re angry about the path? Run faster to Him.

You feel broken? Run to Him, He’ll put you back together.

Your failures weigh you down? Run to Him, He’ll life you up.

You are broken. We all are. But you are not beyond repair. There’s only one relationship in this entire world that can put your pieces back together again. Run to Him.

He will show you your value. (Priceless)

He will show you how to love. (Perfectly)

He will never leave you. (Consistency)

He will guide your life. (Answers)

He will value you. (Fulfillment)

Friend, take it to Him. Leave it at His feet. And when you foolishly pick it back up the next day, lay it at His feet again. And when you have the good days, sit at His feet and soak it in. And when you have the challenging days, sit at His feet and ask for understanding. And when you have the days you forget His message, sit at His feet and ask forgiveness.

Keep running. But get off your track.

Run to Him.