About: "A Tale of Three Kings: a Study in Brokeness"

I recently finished reading "A tale of Three Kings: a study in brokenness" by Gene Edwards. DR recommended this book during a sermon months ago, but I just now got around to reading it. After the initial "Why didn’t I read this book sooner???" reaction, I started reflecting on a lot of the points the author raised in his book. As suggested in the title, the story is about three Kings: King Saul, King David, and briefly King Absalom.

This book touched on so many issues, that I would have to read it more than once to actually get a deeper understanding of some of the concepts the author discussed. One question that stayed in the back of my mind the entire time I was reading: what is brokenness? The author mentioned throughout the entire book that God uses broken individuals to accomplish His will. When you read about David’s life, brokenness is obviously a little easier to recognize. But what is brokenness in "ordinary people"?

I have always been fascinated by people's conversion stories. As a little girl I loved reading about the life of saints (I am from a catholic background...) while listening to Beethoven- weird combination- A lot of the people I have talked to lately have battled long periods of some sort of dependency before they heard God's voice, and became followers. If there is one thing I feel truly blessed about, is that throughout my "crazy periods"(and trust me, I have done some pretty dumb things), I have never experienced any sort of chemical dependency specifically to drugs. I have been exposed to these kinds of situations, many times, but I know now that God had other plans for me.

I think about what some people I know have been through, yet they found the strength to completely surrender to God and put their lives in His hands. Can you imagine the courage it would take to press forward, coming from such difficult situations? It makes me wonder, “Was I ever broken? Does my story matter?” I know it may sound a little selfish to think this way. But the good news is: “YES! My story matters...all our stories matter!”. Why? Because we all matter to our Heavenly Father. Man, that is such good news!

I am still not sure what brokenness is…I think I have a pretty good idea. I am comforted when I think about God's goodness, kindness and love for each one of us. The entire time I was reading this book, I kept hearing one of my favorite verses of the Bible, written appropriately by King David:

"For You do not desire sacrifice, or else I would give it;
You do not delight in burnt offering.
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit,
A broken and a contrite heart—
These, O God, You will not despise. " Ps 51: 16-17

EED

[Note: less than 5 hours posting this, I was asked to share my story with others...an actual video testimony... coincidence? a little scary, really...]