Break Every Chain

I think I've mentioned before that my favorite book series is The Wheel Of Time, by Robert Jordan. Rich story, amazing characters, emotional builds - so many good things I can say about it. I am re-listening to it for the third time. One afternoon last month, driving home from work, I found myself in tears over the scene I'm going to share with you. It spoke to my heart and it was a battle cry of sorts, one that echoed in my own heart.

At this point in the series, there is this White Tower that has always been a symbol of strength and power for the world. It was unshakable, if you will. No one ever thought anything bad could happen to the tower.

What many could not see though was the darkness that had taken root inside the White Tower. Women turned to The Shadow, which is a representation of all that is evil, and not at all unlike the devil to us. Because of this darkness, the foundation of the White Tower (on an emotional level, more than physical) was beginning to crumble. The women in the Tower were weak. They had been pulled and prodded, and many of them were beaten down by life and the constant war with the Shadow. In their deepest vulnerability, the enemy struck. Women were captured and taken away to the land of the enemy and the structure itself was deeply wounded and damaged. Throughout this battle though, there were women who fought with everything in them to protect the White Tower and to ensure that the power of good, the Light, remains.

It is in the midst of the rubble, after the battle, that they try to regroup and a strong leader takes her place to lead the White Tower. She speaks to the women who remain in the tower, who fight for the Light, and this is what she tells them:

Bear your shame, Sitters, but bear it with determination.  Do not let it break you.  The time for healing has begun, and there is no longer any use in pointing fingers.  You failed.  But you are all that we have.  We are all that the world has...

Mistakes have been made on both sides," Egwene said,  "And we will all have to work hard to repair what we have done.  It is said by blacksmiths that a sword can never be whole again once it has been shattered.  It must be compeltely reforged, the metal melted down to slag, then reworked and re-formed.  These next few months will be our re-forming.

 We have been broken, then torn down nearly to roots.  The Last Battle approaches, and before it arrives, I mean to see that we are once again a sword forged with strength, whole and unbroken!
 I will make demands of you.  They will be harsh.  They will stretch you to the limits of what you think you can bear...

But we are stronger than our weaknesses.
 The White Tower stands, and we shall stand with it!

 We will become one again.  We will be an assembly that tales will tell of!  When I am finished with you, it will not be written that the White Tower was weak.  Our divisions will be forgotten in the face of our victories.
 We will be remembered not as the White Tower who turned against itself, but as the White Tower who stood strong in the face of the Shadow.

Chapter 46, To Be Forged Again from The Gathering Storm
Book Twelve of The Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson

You see, you have a leader who acknowledges that she had made mistakes. She had made choices that had led to some of the destruction. She was taking responsibility for the part she played, and she emphasized that while she and the women of the White Tower bore shame for what had happened, they should not let that shame destroy them. She knew that they, as a sword, had been broken. She understood the importance of allowing themselves to be reforged and to be made into something new. Something different. And she recognized that they could be better than they were before.

I just love this picture of restoration and being made new.

Obviously there is a very clear picture of what Christ does in making us new.

There is power in the name of Jesus. Power to reforge us and make us new. Power to take our brokenness, brought on by addictions and chains we bind ourselves with. Power to break those chains, melt us down, and reforge us into something better. Perhaps this analogy of the sword is getting a bit redundant to you, but I love this concept. There is power in a sword. There is strength in it and those who wield it can be victorious.

We are that sword. When we allow the power of Jesus to break our chains and remake us, we can be used for him, for his kingdom.

We are all the world has!

Our world is slipping deeper and deeper into darkness. We have a responsibility to be better. To shine the light into this broken and fallen world. We need to allow ourselves to be used as Christ's sword as He battles for us. There should be no fear in this. We have already been promised that the war will be won. Victory was assured for us when Christ went to the Cross.

There is power in the name of Jesus
To break every chain