Brokenness

Do you feel broken? Like something inside you has crumbled? Maybe you have wondered, how can something that is broken ever be beautiful again? Will I ever become whole?

Can I just say, your beauty is built from your brokenness.

You see this picture? It’s kintsugi pottery. The art of repairing broken pottery by mending the area of breakage with lacquer mixed with gold. The philosophy behind it is to treat breakage and repair as part of its history, instead of something to disguise.

That is what God does for us!

God sees you, inside and out. He sees the brokenness in you… The things you do not want seen. Yet he does not turn away! Because you are loved by him, he sees you as beautiful!

"For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us. " - Psalm 103:11-12

Whatever it is that broke you; your sins, bad decisions, other’s words and actions, the enemy, even your own thoughts. Whatever broke you, it will not lead to you being thrown away. Not at all!

"But now, O Lord, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand." - Isaiah 64:8

Remember, God is your Creator, even knowing you from before you were in your mother’s womb. He loves you! He’s picking up your broken pieces and grabbing his golden righteous lacquer  and making you whole.

The kintsugi is smooth. You can’t feel any roughness or jagged ridges around the broken parts. It is clean. Through Jesus, you are washed clean too.

But your brokenness? That is your history that God wants to use. He makes it visible because:
1) You are not there anymore
2) You do not need to feel the shame and try to hide
3) Your testimony can speak volumes to another person.

So you, my friend, are a kintsugi vase, that the Good Lord crafted. And you are beautiful shining God’s gold in your life. Let God fill that vase up. Let it overflow into another. Let people marvel at the beauty of what God did in your life. Let your past be your testimony. Because you are made whole again.

If you want, and I did this too. Save a picture of a kintsugi vase onto your phone today. That way when you see it, you are reminded of what God did in your life.

I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.

Psalm 139:14