Several weeks ago my husband and I were having a conversation about tough times in life and tough experiences people find themselves in. As the conversation carried on, we shared that so often God is there all the more in those rough spots in life. When we are at our lowest, that is when He works wonderful things out of our hearts and lives.

Typically in the midst of our lowest lows and our brokenness we are tempted to think that we’ve finally put the final nail in the coffin, that God certainly couldn’t love us through what we’ve done and give us another shot. It’s easy to feel that our life is so off course that it’s not even worth salvaging, so we go on thinking we’ll just have to ‘get by’ since we’ve seemingly passed up our opportunity for happiness and flourishing.

What rubbish!

While my husband and I talked, it occured to me:

God doesn’t let anything go to waste. 

Look to Jesus for an example. His whole life culminated in showing us that nothing goes to waste. Even a gruesome death on the cross was not for waste. In fact, it was an important part of His mission. It was necessary in order to pave the way for the miracle that was and is the Resurrection.

God meets us, even in our yuck, and says, watch this! He pulls us in close and He uses who we are and where we are, right there in the yuck. He wouldn’t dare let an opportunity like that go to waste. He is constantly working on our hearts, shaping us, molding us, and loving us into someone new, someone who is capable of giving and receiving love more freely, and someone who is capable of living life more fully.

Do not for one minute think you’ve let it all go to hell in a handbasket. God is, after all, a God of second chances.