When something is shattered it is broken in many pieces. It makes a mess. It hurts others close by. The immediate tendency is to grab a broom and sweep up the mess and toss it out. What was once a beautiful work of art is now a mess shattered on the ground. However all does not have to be lost. What if someone takes the time to pick up every piece and carefully, patiently, tenderly puts it back together? Guess what....Christ is in the business of restoring the broken. His expertise is in mending and redeeming what was lost and devastated and ruined!
But let me tell you a secret. A truth that God spoke into my life years ago, before I was shattered. Brokenness does not have to be the end. It can be a new beginning. No you won't look the same and yes there will be cracks. But if you are filled with the light of Christ, his light will shine brightly and it is through those scars and cracks in your life that he can shine the brightest.
Shattering can happen many ways: It can be caused by an accident, it can be caused purposefully, it can be caused by carelessness......and shattering is not the stuff in life that takes a chip out of us....it's not hitting the ground with a hard thud but remaining intact.....it's when it all falls apart. Shattering happens quickly, in a second.....it is not an eroding. It is immediate. It's when you hit the ground, you fall to pieces, and life looks like it will never be the same. It's overwhelming, it's devastating, it's a mess.
I've had several people I care VERY deeply for whose lives have shattered. It breaks my heart. I hurt for them. I love them. I know truth and I can tell them.....God has a plan. He will use this for your good. But they already know that. And honestly that doesn't help when your life is shattered.
I am praying. There is hope. It is such a long process. Life will never be the same. I have not felt your particular pain. I can not imagine all that you are going through. My life has been shattered -once. So I do know about shattered dreams and I do know that God has used my cracks for his light to shine the brightest in those areas of my life.....but that took years. First I had to piece by piece be put back together again. I ache for you. The process of a life being restored is not fun. HOWEVER precious friends there can be beauty from the ashes. I love you guys dearly. I will walk this road with you and I'll love you all forever.
Isaiah 61:1-4
The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has annointed 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 proclaim the year of the Lord's favar and the day of vengeances of our God, to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion-to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor. They will rebuild the ancient ruins and restore the places long devastated; they will renew the ruined cities that have been devastated for generations.
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