I used to have this therapist that talked about gifts in a ditch, and she said there's some things in life that are really good, right? But they come with a ditch, they come with a slippery slope that takes that something from being good to being a problem that you can't even see as a problem. And sometimes when we understand our identity in Christ and we hear the things he says that we are, it can be easy to take that gift and slide into a ditch because we we live in a culture
that really values productivity. What are you producing? How is what you are and what you have and what you know, creating something other people can consume.
And I had found myself running into this performance relationship with the Lord on a level that I couldn't really see my deepest identity of few months ago would have been I am the daughter of the King. If somebody were to ask me and whoever asked this question, but you know, if somebody were to ask me, who are you, my truest honest to God answer would have been I'm the daughter of the King of glory.
And I didn't really realize that with that identity for me came a performance to always know, to always do, to always have something to show other people that they would value and and to use the authority in him to make the changes I felt I needed. And I always had this kind of deep feeling of pressure, like I have to show that I'm the daughter of the King of glory. And I and as I went through a season of breaking, he changed
my identity. And now I would say my truest identity is I'm the object of his love. And it doesn't matter if he's using me in great ways or I'm in the valley of the shadow of death with the Lord and, and nothing makes sense and everything is horrible. I'm still the object of his love and the circumstances in life are really only to my benefit, whether they feel like it or not. And the Lord said to me one time, and I was mad when he said it now.
So don't think that the truth doesn't first make you mad 'cause it often does. He said, Carly, just be the broom. And I was like, Lord, but you said that this is my inheritance and that's what I'm supposed to do. And I don't know how to do any of those things. I don't know how to make any of that real in this realm. I don't know how to. You said you sent me to nations, to prophecy, but what nations? Listen to me over here in the corner of cold, frozen Minnesota. How is that like?
I understand and I believe you, Jesus, but I don't see how that has feet on the ground. It's all just this pie in the sky thing. And his answer to me was be the broom. And I remember wrestling with my husband about this because he got the revelation and I didn't. I was mad about it. And he was like, look, you have to just rest. You have to surrender. You have to lay down all the things you think you need to be doing from moment to moment and just be.
Just be in surrender, be in Sabbath, be in rest with the Lord. And I was like, fine, I'll just be the broom. And I was mad about it. But after my my pride took a back seat and I leaned into that surrender of being the broom, I realized how how much richness there is in being willing to be something that it doesn't have any glory of its own. The broom doesn't have any glory of its own. Nobody's like comes in someone else's house and goes, wow, that is a nice broom.
Like the broom is in the closet until you have to sweep something up. But when you have to sweep something up, you don't want nothing but that broom. But that's how the Lord teaches us humility. That's how our identity ends up having feet. It's always the foolish things to confound the wise. It's always the dark places in life where you find His goodness. It's always that brokenness in
which you find His richness. And it's always in being that honorless vessel where you find the most honor. So if you're looking at your life and you've heard the Lord say all these wonderful, awesome, amazing, super true, absolutely wonderful things that you're supposed to do and you're supposed to be and you're supposed to possess and exhibit and bless the world with and da da, da. And, and, and you're like pushing and striving and trying to do the things. Honey, just be the broom.
When the Lord needs you to act in a place, he'll take you out the prayer closet, the crying closet, the place where you meet Him, and He'll use you for that mess. He'll use you for that spot and then go back in the closet with Jesus. Be the broom. There's no pressure on being the broom. The broom is not the vase holding the flowers.
The, the broom is in the closet with Jesus until there's a mess that He needs you to clean up and then He calls you out and you do the thing and you go back into the place with Him. But you're always just the broom and that's OK. That is actually wonderful because you know who gets the glory when he uses the broom? He does. He does. And there is such richness in humility. The only thing the Lord can clothe with His glory is humility.
It is the humbleness of your soul, the brokenness of your heart. It's not in the accolades, it's not in the titles, it's not in the identities that other people are astonished by. It's in being willing to be the broom. Those who want to be the greatest have to become the last. Jesus came and was a servant to everybody. Even though he was the king who made everything, He was a servant to everyone. And it's such a broken place.
It is a broken place to realize you have to be the broom, honey. You have to be the servant. You don't have to be the doormat. He never said come over here now and be the doormat. He said. Come into my rest. It's not about striving. It's about resting. It's about humility. It's about service. It's about feeling the honor bestowed upon you when the Lord calls you to be in a place and do a thing and say a word, even if nobody else sees it but Him
and that other person in you. It's an honor to be used by the Lord, even if you are just the broom. I tell you the the broom, the broom is a vessel of honor. Be the broom. Music. Music. Music. The.