Nothing is Wasted

Recently a friend asked me if he could quote an email I sent him in a blog post, I said "Sure!" Then I quipped back, "It's about dang time someone quoted my brilliance!"

After I sent that text, I remembered the content of the email, and God spoke to my heart. It's your brokenness, not your brilliance he's responding to.

Wow.

It was a timely reminder that nothing in my life is wasted. Not one tear, not one trial, not one pain. Living life as a disciple of Jesus doesn't mean I will be spared the trials of this world. On the contrary, it seems as though the people God uses the most have often experienced the most suffering. What it does mean however, is that if I submit everything to Him - every tear, every hurt, and every sorrow, along with every joy, every success, and every triumph - nothing is wasted. He is the redeemer of all - of moments, of people, of all. I won't see the worth of every moment this side of heaven. Sometimes though...sometimes I'm in a thin place and I see as He sees, which is more clearly than I ever will. I see how something has been used in my life, or the life of someone else, and I remember that nothing is wasted.

It doesn't mean that I enjoy all the hard things. It doesn't mean that in moments of frustration I don't wish things were different. But when I turn my focus away from my circumstances and towards Christ, knowing that in Him nothing is wasted, there is comfort.

Take heart friends. Wherever we're at in our relationship with Christ, near or far, He can redeem all that we thought was wasted and lost, if only we let Him.