Broken Better

Life is the Berries

Broken Better

Kintsugi is the Japanese art of taking a shattered, broken bowl and repairing it with lacquer dusted with gold or silver. Artists embrace the damage. Piece by piece, the artisans painstakingly put the pottery back together, lining the cracks in gold or silver. It’s stronger. It’s more beautiful. It’s a metaphor for humans.

We break. We shatter. We fall apart.

But our struggle can become our strength. Our brokenness becomes our beauty when God restores us. God is our potter. He can repair our deepest of hurts if we allow it. Our pain does not need to go to waste. No. We can break together for a purpose of higher value.

Life broke me for a season.

My crawling out of the pit—long and laborious. God methodically put the pieces back in place. I reminded myself to breathe, just breathe. Breath in Jesus. Exhale stress. I devoured the Word of God for inspiration. The Bible is how God comforts me, eyes swollen, tears flowing, in the darkest night.

A paraphrase of a powerful Bible verse reads, “Everything’s falling apart on me, God; put me together again with your Word,” (Psalm 119:107 The Message). This explains how God gave me HIS strength to arrange me back together. Reading truths in the Bible, I clung to biblical encouragement, and it equipped me with grit.

I am stronger for it.

You and I can allow God to work mightily in our crushing seasons.

Let’s not waste our pain. Don’t sweep up the pieces, throwing them in the trash.

We can build back, drawing power from God. When we fail, we can fail forward, learning from the experience. You and I can become rock solid and fortified to hold together. God grows us in our process of restoration.

When we crack, we can be recreated to nearly unbreakable, unstoppable, undefeatable. Our trials can transform us. God can refurbish us to a more beautiful masterpiece. Let God restore like never before.

You and I can be broken better than ever.

By Laura Loveberry Elementary School Assembly Author/Speaker Inspirational Speaker Women’s Retreats/Conferences Caricature Artist