Are you familiar with kintsugi? It’s is a Japanese art form of taking broken items and repairing them with gold. The broken piece of pottery resulting from kintsugi looks more beautiful after the repair.
While none of us wants to be broken, it is a part of life and often what’s required for something more beautiful to develop. I also think of the stubborn flowers I’ve seen growing between cracks in the concrete. Without the damage to the original object, the added beauty wouldn’t be possible.
A recent conversation with a friend caused old brokenness to resurface. While I’ve dealt with pain and trauma before, I’m learning that brokenness is added to our lives in layers, so it has to be stripped off in layers.
A harsh word. A betrayal. A split-second decision costing more than we could have imagined. Loss. Disappointment. Failure. Because we weren’t broken all at once, healing doesn’t happen all at once. It happens in steps.
How do we take those steps to replace hurt with healing? How do we fill our cracks with gold or flowers?
We start the journey with God. Through reading the Bible, we discover what He says about us. And how much He loves us!
We share the journey with another broken, trustworthy sojourner. We share one another’s burdens, making the load lighter for both – dividing the tears, multiplying the laughter.
We replace lies with truth. We strip the negative from our minds and fill our thoughts instead with truths from the Bible.
Whenever our heart and mind disagree, we trust God. We trust His love and His desire to heal us. We trust that when we trade in our pain for His purpose, He’ll fill us with blooming flowers and gold that shines.
Tracy Wainwright
Tracy Wainwright is a wife, homeschooling mom of four, author, and speaker from Williamsburg, Virginia. She served on the Detox development team. Tracy is also active in local, national, and international missions.
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