Alejandra Tash

Hey y’all! I am so happy to be with you guys once more.  Happy NEW YEAR!!!!!  I can’t believe it is 2018!!  This is usually the time we start looking for some thing new.  What new things are you embarking on? I am in the midst of so many transitions in my life, and all of them are amazing. From transitioning into ministry full time and trusting God to fulfill all He said He would do, to watching Him be more faithful than ever in my life. Now enough about me!  I hope YOU, our faithful TTW family, are well.  I have enjoyed all of you and appreciate you guys so much.

Learning to Love Myself Once Again

How much more can we learn about loving ourselves?  In January of 2017, we met through my first blog, “Love Yourself Journey” and I was humbled by your responses.  I remember being super scared of letting you guys down with the content and, yet God still used it to help bring healing to many.  One full year after this article launched, I have learned so much more about loving myself and so, the Through the Winters team thought it would be prudent that I write what I have learned since then.  Allow me to give you all a breakdown of what the next couple weeks will look like.   We have chosen to title this month’s topic “Beautifully Shattered”, which will touch on areas like our scars and finding our identity as well as loneliness and the  company we keep!

The first time around we spoke on, the “Mirror of God’s Word” and spoke about seeing ourselves through it.  In God’s words we discovered not only the things that were hard for us to confront—like un-forgiveness and how ugly it can make us—but also the hatred we harbor towards others when we fail to forgive.  Now, if you are like me, you may have fought with God for a little bit (maybe a lot) and now wonder how in the world those scars can be beautiful pieces of art.  This is how “Beautifully Shattered”, was born. You went through the storms, you weathered the storm, you died to yourself and forgave those who wounded you and now you want to hide yours scars.  You can’t envision them as beautiful scars, so instead you see them as a painful time that you would rather not talk about.  I know because I’ve been there.

Can I Be Whole and Broken?

I remember in the first article I wrote concerning the “Love Yourself Challenge” where I said, “You need to understand that the anointing over your life is great, so you will NEVER belong, EVER!  You aren’t the missing piece of the puzzle, with God you are whole, and you don’t belong with all those other broken pieces.”

Can someone be broken and whole at the same time? Absolutely! I am a beautiful broken piece of art and the more broken I am the better I look. How so? You are a mosaic piece of art and according to dictionary a mosaic piece of art is exactly that; pieces of different substances and elements put together creating a unique and versatile piece of art.  I want you to close your eyes and envision how beautifully God has created you to be. All the different circumstances he used to put you together and create a very unique, different, and amazing you. No one in the world has your heart your scars or your testimony and this is why you are so amazingly put together.

“And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.” – Revelation 12:11

 God wants to put you on display after all you’ve overcome. He won’t put you inside a closet.  I know my scars made me who I am, and without them I wouldn’t be as close to God as I am today.  He has loved me through trauma, abuse, forgiveness and put me back together when no one wanted me.  God brought me through the residue that comes from violent relationships.  He pieced me back together after depression and crying myself to sleep not wanting to live any longer.  He stitched me back together after feeling alone and defenseless and each time I was let down by friendships and/or leaders within the church.  God even helped me heal from my childhood scars of molestation and He can put YOU back together as well.  Today your battle might not be a need of healing from past scars it might be that you need deliverance from lies you believed and/or shame.  Satan loves to throw our past in our face in a shameful way, so that we would be embarrassed by it and hide it.  In Christ, our past makes us beautiful and strong not vulnerable and weak.

P E R S P E C T I V E

If you haven’t read the story of Joseph in the Bible, I encourage you to do so.  It helps to give us a different perspective from our circumstances that could otherwise have been seen as a complete catastrophe.

In the book of Genesis beginning in chapter 37, we see the story of a young boy named Joseph who had a sense of a greater destiny than what was in front of him. He was a young man who had dreams of greatness given to him by God, but yet was sold into slavery by none other than his own brothers. He went from being sheltered by his parents to the new world called Egypt. Here his God wasn’t praised, other gods were.  This was a complete change in atmosphere but soon after, Joseph received favor from a strong leaders in Egypt called Potifar.  Everything was looking up for him when suddenly he was faced with temptation, betrayal and slandered.  Joseph ends up in prison accused of a crime he did not commit.

While in prison, Joseph found favor again with those in charge. He remained in there for several years but God did not forget him. The Lord provided an opportunity for Joseph to minister to Pharaoh and it landed him a job as second in command !!! What kind of God do we serve?  But it wasn’t over. After 25 years from when his brothers sold him into slavery, Joseph came face to face with those who caused his series of turmoil.  All the land was hit with a famine and only Egypt, the land in which Joseph lived in had food.  Through a series of events and after forgiving them, Joseph helps his family and provides for them by having all of them come to live with him in Egypt. Joseph didn’t have to do that.  He could have allowed them to die but look at his response,

“You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.” – Genesis 50:20

Can you look at your brokenness like that? Can you forgive the same hand that used a harsh hammer to shatter you into pieces?  Can you allow yourself to be put back together into an amazing mosaic piece of art? You see, Joseph went through a catastrophic experience, yet when he was face to face with his offenders, though he was angry, he eventually forgave them.  His love for them was bigger than the hurt and his sense of purpose was bigger than the pain.  Joseph realized that he went through this turmoil because God had a greater destiny ahead of him.

That’s perspective for you.  The biggest lie we can ever believe is that things were done to us and not for us. If Romans 8:28 is even remotely true, then everything we go through—everything that is done to us—is actually done for us; in the end it will work out for our good.

Let’s Pray.

Father, we enter your gates with thanksgiving and praise of who You are in our lives. Today we ask you to remind us of when we forget that all things will work for our good, that it is just a piece of the puzzle you will use to put us on display and bring healing to others. Father remind us of our great destiny in you and the purpose we have in you. Show us when we forget how beautifully and wonderfully and fearfully you have made us. Show us that even though we might be hurting now you will soon turn our ashes into beauty.  Remind us that our hurts aren’t meant to consume us but to enhance us. Father we ask you these things in the name of your son Jesus Christ our Lord and savior, the one in whom stripes we are healed. Amen.

Stay tuned, next week we will be talking more about this Loving Yourself Journey. Next week we want you to ponder on what will it take for you to realized who you are in God, and find your purpose. I challenge you to think: Can an Identity Crisis be a good thing?

Weekly Challenge:

For the next 7 days, I would love for you to think of 7 things in your life that you see as unwanted pieces of your life.  Maybe it was an experience, a failed moment, a disappointment, a season of hurt.  You can’t understand where it goes.  Bring one to God everyday and tell him what part of that keeps you from love yourself.

If you need help, please email us on the side or feel free to comment below.  We would love to hear from you.  Follow us on Facebook or Instagram @throughthewinters.