The Japanese art of repaired pottery

I've experienced quite a bit in my life. Many good and wonderful things. God must be praised first for all He has done for me. I've also had a lot of bad in my life. 

I was talking with my man the other night and in tears told him of my struggles in this new ministry position we are in. I began sharing with him about how my life is a mess and how overwhelmed I am with all the attention this church gives us. I don't think I have ever seen so much respect for a pastor and his wife before. It's refreshing, but scary for me because I have been hurt so much.

I won't give my whole testimony here but I will say, my life is a mess. I have been scared, bruised, chipped, and broken repeatedly.

Have you ever felt like this? I do on many occasions...just broken, useless pieces of pottery. 

I'm reminded of Psalm 31:12, where David says, "I am forgotten by them (meaning his friends) as though I were dead. I have become like broken pottery." 

People usually discard pottery when it's broken. After this move to CA, we had so many things broken from the move. This was the first time we had a moving company and it will be our last. I wish I would have weighed how many pieces of broken glass and pottery I had thrown out. The crafter in me is kicking myself as I could have made some really pretty mosaic art in my garden. (I AM NOT A GARDENER)

For all the times I have felt like a broken and useless pottery ready to be thrown in the trash, God has always picked up my pieces and put them back together. 

In Japan, they have a type of art called kintsukuroi (keenest-koo-roy). The Japanese believe that when something has suffered damage and has a history, it becomes more beautiful.

WOW! WOW!! WOW!!!

Go back and read that last sentence...

The Japanese believe that when something has suffered damage and has a history, it becomes more beautiful.

Friends, Jesus was broken to pieces too! He was beaten, laughed at, spit upon, and crucified...He truly knows what it's like to feel like many pieces of pottery. As Good Friday approaches, let's remember that. All He endured for us on the cross. We too can be restored and our pottery can be put back together with his blood holding it together. We may have suffered damage...but in Jesus, we become that much more beautiful.