We live in a world of self-helps right at our fingertips. Just google it! Whatever you’re struggling with, I will guarantee there is an answer, if not multiple answers, you can find right now with a simple search of the internet. So why don’t we take the advice and change our lives for the better? This is a question I have pondered for many years as a pastor holding hundreds if not thousands of counseling sessions with people over the years. Truthfully, I don’t always take the advice readily available to me. Can you imagine what your life would be like if you headed every warning and implemented all the strategies of success that have already come to you? We would all be “Rock Stars” in society. 

There is a simple principle of life that no one likes to talk about because it doesn’t sell well. It gets worse before it gets better! 

Life begins from a place of brokenness. 

Brokenness is a fact of life. We are all born with a broken heart and mind into a broken world system that feeds on our brokenness. The sooner a person realizes their brokenness, the faster they can begin the mending process. 

Our lives are like broken bones. A doctor must reset the fractured bone to heal correctly when a person breaks their leg. But resetting hurts for a moment. If the bone is not reset properly or promptly, it can cause irreparable damage. It gets worse before it gets better. You must endure the pain so that healing can begin. 

So it is in life. Many would rather live in their brokenness than endure the pain necessary to reset for healing to begin. 

Jesus went to great link to heal our brokenness, but to do so, he had to endure the brokenness of the cross, knowing that healing would come on the other side of the pain. So, He endured. He pushed through the pain. And by his stripes, we are healed. It had to get worse before it could get better. 

Change doesn’t come easy.

“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” Which is another way of saying leave things the way they are. Don’t rock the boat. We are, by nature, creatures of habit. We don’t like change. But change is necessary if improvements are going to occur. Everyone knows that changing your life requires a change in your life. I have heard it said that insanity is doing the same thing repeatedly, expecting different results. And how many of us are living lives of insanity. There is a moment when the perception of change makes things worse before it gets better. You are going to rock the boat. The change will make people mad at you. You will be frustrated with yourself because change is never easy. Whether you are changing your diet, changing your bank account, or changing the music at church, there will be fallout and pain. You must stop doing something and start doing something else, and there is always friction in the transition. 

It does get better.

Most people are so used to their brokenness that they don’t believe it can get any better. A good friend told me, “You don’t know what you don’t know.” When you allow God to be the Great Physician in your life and the Bible to be your guide, you can diagnose the issues and see the solutions that will produce a better life. There will be blood, sweat, and tears as you reset and make the changes, but “no pain, no gain.” Like Jesus, we must endure the pain to experience the joy in front of us. 

Embrace your brokenness. It doesn’t matter how you got here or who caused the pain in the first place. It gets better when you take responsibility for your life and make the changes necessary for healing, growth, joy, and fulfillment.