I love it when God bring certain people into our lives at just the right time! Don’t you? Over the last several months I have had the privilege to meet so many women and writers who have encouraged me and spoken light into my life. Meredith Carr is one of those people. I am so honored to have her join us today with some great words of encouragement!
Don’t you just despise broken things? I sure do.
Recently, we noticed a small leak in our sprinkler system. Small turned into medium, which of course turned into something resembling a raging river in our front yard.
What began as a “simple” fix to a single pipe turned into a weeks-long ordeal of repairing one broken pipe after another. Like dominoes, one repair precipitated another as the tab continued to rise and the grass continued to die.
When it was all said and done, I felt a great sense of distaste for that sprinkler system. And the sprinkler repairman, for that matter, given that the whole experience felt a bit like a hostage negotiation at times!
Like I said, I despise broken things.
Isn’t it amazing that we serve a God who holds a special love for broken things? He’s not afraid of them, nor does He shy away from the jagged edges of brokenness.
When God’s beautiful creation screeched to a halt and sin entered the world, fracturing His handcrafted perfection, God didn’t bolt and run. As Adam and Eve fumbled to make coverings of fig leaves, their Father lovingly created garments of skin for them, covering over their now-broken bodies (Genesis 3:21)
He could have easily left Adam and Eve to stew in their sin and shame, and us with them . . . but He knows. He knows how hard it is to live with our brokenness and in our brokenness. So He meets us there, right there in the mess. God’s heart breaks over the consequences of this sin-sick world, but His soothing Hand longs to draw something beautiful out of our chaos.
We can see the heart of God revealed in the poetic words of Isaiah:
The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners . . . to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes . . . (Isaiah 61:1, 3 NIV).
God loves broken things, for His eye sees the potential for redemption residing in those broken pieces of your heart and mine. He never intended for this world to become so fractured, but He is able to take that brokenness and turn it on its head—binding our broken hearts, freeing our captive souls, and releasing our bound-up spirits into glorious freedom and marvelous light.
God loves broken things, for it is out of the mess and shattered remnants that He is able to dazzle us with some of His very best work!
A dear friend of mine recently drew a powerful parallel between God’s redemption of our brokenness and the Japanese art of kintsugi. Defined as “to repair with gold,” kintsugi is the repairing of broken pottery with lacquer dusted or mixed with powdered gold, silver, or platinum. On a deeper level, this art form considers breakage and repair as a part of an object’s history rather than something to disguise.
God is the ultimate kintsugi artist—what a beautifully redemptive reality! There is no broken, cracked, and chipped corner of your life that falls outside the reach of His healing, restoring Hands.
Do not fear the broken places in your life, sweet reader—instead, be willing to lay them at His feet.
Don’t hide.
Don’t throw away.
Don’t sweep under the rug.
Bring every jagged, shattered piece to the One whose very purpose in coming was to put it all back together. Let Him dust you with gold as He creates for you a crown of beauty instead of ashes.
And together we can marvel at His handiwork and how, though we are broken, we are so deeply, so wholly, and so unfailingly loved.
Meredith Carr is a Georgia Peach but now calls the hills of Northern California home, where she 
lives with her husband, energetic son and precocious daughter, and two crazy Chihuahuas. An attorney in her former life, she now enjoys the thrilling and slightly crazy stay-at-home mom life. You can find her writing (semi) regularly during naptime and in between loads of laundry at www.meredithhcarr.com.
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Thank you for the opportunity to guest blog, Jen! I pray these words bless your readers today! ~Mere
What comforting words that I truly needed this morning. “Don’t fear the broken places in your life…”
God surely speaks through you lovely ladies on so many of my days. So thankful. God bless you Jen & Mere!!