January 23: God works through Broken People

Gregg’s Reflection

From Genesis to Revelation, Scripture shows us that God works through broken, imperfect people. For 50 years, my inner script of “not good enough” convinced me that I could never truly please God. I didn’t yet see that no one can please Him in their own strength—and that our flaws are not disqualifications, but openings for grace.

I came to understand that most of what God is doing in the world happens through the vocations of His people. In my 40s, I began to mentor young leaders, often those still searching for clarity in their calling. I learned that God unveils our calling when the time is right, and often through small steps of obedience before we see the full picture.

Genie and I married young and had Florrie and Andy in our mid-20s. We envisioned reaching financial independence by our mid-40s so we could pursue passions that mattered. We sold our business when I was 48 and moved to the mountains of Colorado. There, in the stillness, I began to listen. My calling came as an image—me standing with a foot in both worlds with a pipe in my arms, bringing the best of secular leadership into service of God’s Kingdom. It took a decade of listening, trying, failing, and trying again for that calling to take root.

Scripture

The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

Psalm 51:17

From the beginning of time the individual person responding to divine purpose still occupies a central place in God’s plan to bring all humanity into a loving relationship with Himself.

Renovaré Bible notes on Isaiah, OT, p. 978

Ancient Quotes

God does not choose the qualified, He qualifies the chosen.

Attributed to St. Augustine (paraphrased from multiple writings on grace and vocation)

Modern Quotes

When enough of us are freed from the unbearable weight of doing everything and do the one little thing that is ours to do now, then we can trust God can get done through all of us what none of us can do alone.

Brian McLaren, The Great Spiritual Migration, p. 198

Before I can tell my life what I want to do with it, I must listen to my life telling me who I am.

Parker Palmer, Let Your Life Speak: Listening for the Voice of Vocation, p. 4

Journaling Prompts

• How have you seen God work through your imperfections?
  
  
• Who in Scripture encourages you by how God used them despite their flaws?
  
  
• What would change if you saw your brokenness as an opening for grace?
  
  
• Have you come to believe you are the beloved of God?

👉 Go deeper into this week’s theme:
Read the full Week 4 Reflection: Calling