In her book Mended, Angie Smith tells the story of how she felt led to break a pitcher.
God speaks to her through the shattered pieces, and she realizes:
“This pitcher was my life, and every piece
was part of a story that He had chosen to put together” (7).
Then she knew what she had to do next: Put it back together. And while collecting the pieces and figuring out which ones to glue together, she could be with Him.
Angie’s story reminds me of the Japanese art known as kintsugi. A craftsman takes a beautiful vessel and deliberately breaks it. Then the craftsman glues it back together with liquid gold. No two vases could ever be broken in precisely the same way. Thus, the result is a one-of-a-kind masterpiece.
And isn’t that just like the Master Craftsman?
Sin shatters. Whether it’s the sin of our own choices or someone else’s. The pieces feel like ruins. And hopelessness reigns.
I remember one particularly dark season of my life, when I was feeling broken and hopeless. I happened to drive past a church with a marquee sign that said:
“God can heal a broken heart.
But you have to give Him all the pieces.”
I don’t know how often God speaks through marquee, but I knew I was holding tightly to some tiny shards of my own brokenness, unwilling to let them go, to let them be forgiven and healed.
Sometimes we refuse to allow Christ to heal us. Perhaps shame resides, and we don’t feel worthy. But He is always there, wooing us back to Him. And when we surrender our pride and humbly accept His grace, He washes us clean.
The Master Craftsman makes us whole again.
And the art of kintsugi reminds us that no two vases ever break the same. My story may be different than your story. But together, we can find common ground. And God fills us with compassion for those who may be experiencing something similar. Then He calls us to pour ourselves out.
“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.”
~ 2 Corinthians 1:3-4
This is why our (in)courage group has come together. To encourage one another as we continue our own journey toward Emmaus, the place of warm springs, where people once found healing (11). Only our healing comes from His mending grace, found only at the springs of Living Water.
And while we walk the dusty roads of this earth, He calls us to make our lives an offering. To take up our cross. But we can be encouraged, because as Angie so aptly says:
“The thing about the nails in this life
is that they are temporary” (19).
I’m so thankful that whatever brokenness you or I might experience during this brief lifetime, it’s temporary.
We are filled with the hope of a future complete and whole for all eternity with Christ.
Have you ever felt the pieces of your brokenness
could never be put together again?
Have you ever had an experience when you
felt certain the Lord was speaking to you?
Today, we’re discussing the first 4 chapters of Mended by Angie Smith.
If you’ve written about the first 4 chapters of this book, leave a link so we can read your words too.
beautiful words my friend! surely God does speak through marquee signs! thank you for sharing your heart today. so thankful to walk this journey with you!
And I’m so thankful to walk this journey with you!
This mending is truly beautiful–as all God’s mending is. The teapot and cup: are they not even lovelier than if just plain and smooth? (Though I don’t know if I could break a good teapot like that deliberately.) The beauty of grace! I was saying to someone just last night: Though I wish I’d never had to go through my own dark times when I ignored and disbelieved Him, the contrast I can see so clearly between light and my darkness is so strikingly evident to me, I cannot deny the mighty and glorious intervening God has done. Now… have I given Him every little piece…?
“…the contrast I can see so clearly between light and my darkness is so strikingly evident to me, I cannot deny the mighty and glorious intervening God has done.”
Sylvia, that’s beautiful. The mighty and glorious intervening God has done. Amen!
I’ve seriously had a crazy week so I haven’t been able to post anything for a few days. But I had a few aha moments when reading these chapters.
I related so well with the pitcher, because I felt like a broken pitcher in my brokenness. And those shards cut deep into my soul. My self esteem and that ugly self talk wouldn’t let me believe that God loved me or that he had a plan for my life. Once I discovered He truly did love me all those “buts” fell apart. There was no longer any truth to them. Basically, I stopped believing the lies Satan was telling me. I was “good enough” (more than actually), God did have a plan and His plan was far better then anything I could dream up on my own. I still struggle with the truth of who I am and whose I am and comparing myself to others. It’s a process but I’ve come a long way from that day. I’m really enjoying this and thanks so much for getting us all together.
“I still struggle with the truth of who I am and whose I am and comparing myself to others. It’s a process but I’ve come a long way from that day.”
Lisa, you are not alone. You’ve simply articulated what so many of us feel. And I too am so thankful you are part of this group reading through “Mended.”