broken heart Archives - Thoughts about God

Broken but Made Beautiful

admin — Thu, 31 Jul 2025 07:06:25 +0000

Anne was a special person in my life. I first met her when I asked her to teach clay modeling to our group of campers at a summer Bible camp. She told me about how she loved her work with clay and how she had just recently purchased a kiln to bake her clay creations. When I asked her how she got started in her work of clay modeling she told me her story.

Her son, who was born mentally challenged due to brain damage at birth, had passed away at the age of 15, several months before I met her. She told me how working with the clay had helped her to get through those difficult days of caring for him during those years. Her life had been broken through this difficulty but God had made something beautiful out of her brokenness. While working with the clay God had been at work molding her life and now I was seeing the beauty created by God the master potter.

I was delighted when Anne consented to come several times during the camp session to teach the campers the art of clay modeling. On her first day she gave each camper a lump of soft gray colored clay and after a few instructions let them mold their little clay vessels. At the end of the craft session we had an assortment of vases, pots and dishes of various shapes and sizes. Anne instructed me to put them in a warm, dry place until she would return for the next lesson. I chose what I thought would be a good place and then in the busyness of my daily schedule forgot about them until the day of her return.

A few hours before the time of her next craft session I checked my collection of clay pots. To my dismay they were anything but beautiful – almost without exception each one had a crack. I quickly concluded I had chosen the wrong place to store them, so when she returned I apologized for what, to me, seemed like a disaster zone. To my surprise, Anne quietly said, “Oh, that’s okay we can easily repair them” Then mixing up her clay she began to repair each one. As she worked she said, “You know, this is just the way God works with each one of us. We too, often find ourselves cracked and broken and God, the master potter, fills the cracks and makes us beautiful. We are never too broken that he cannot repair and fill the broken areas in our life.

In the Bible we read about God sending Jeremiah to visit the potter’s house (Jeremiah 18:1-6). Jeremiah watches the potter mold a vessel from the soft clay. As he works the vessel is marred or spoiled so he reworks it and makes something beautiful out of it. As Jeremiah watches the potter God says that the people of Israel are like clay in his hands that he wants to shape them as he sees best. In 2 Corinthians 4:7 people are also referred to as jars of clay in which God’s glory dwells.

It would seem to me that we are all in the potter’s house being shaped and molded. God holds us in his hand and molds us through the different experiences in life. Sometime he makes little changes and other times he fills the cracks and closes them up. Or maybe sometimes the cracks remain so that the glory of his presence within us can shine out through those very cracks for others to see. The difficulties of life which to us may seem to be unfair and meaningless may well be opportunities for God, the master potter to make us into a vessel of honor and blessing.

Thinking about how God mends our brokenness, I had to think of Peter in the Bible when he denied Jesus before his crucifixion and said he didn’t even know him. It says he wept bitterly, when he realized how he had failed the Lord. He must have felt that his relationship with the Lord was over. Peter experienced total brokenness. But then Jesus meets him again at the breakfast on the seashore after his resurrection (John 21). In his gentle and loving way he calls Peter back and touches his brokenness, giving him a new assignment to feed his sheep. We know that Peter then became a person of influence and blessing to the early church as well as to Christians throughout the ages. God had repaired his brokenness and made him a clay vessel that brought glory to God.

As we travel the journey of life God gives us the choice to become clay in his hands. As we invite him into our life he lovingly begins his work of molding us and making us into a vessel of honor and blessing. We can come with our cracks and brokenness and he will make something beautiful out of our life. Even when we have made a mess of things, maybe by making wrong choices, God can repair and bring healing so we will display his glory. How encouraging to think that with God we are never too spoiled, too cracked, too broken. With him there is always hope. With him there is always another chance. Will you meet me at the Potter’s House?

You can meet God right now by faith through prayer. Here’s a suggested prayer:

Lord Jesus, I want to know you personally. Thank you for dying on the cross for my sins. I open the door of my life to you and ask you to come in as my Savior and Lord. Take control of my life. Thank you for forgiving my sins and giving me eternal life. Mold me into the kind of person you want me to be.

He promised to begin His work of molding and making you into a vessel of honor and blessing.

by Elfrieda Nikkel
Used by Permission

The Suffering of His Broken Heart

Devotionals — Wed, 02 Apr 2025 07:06:40 +0000

Question: How does Jesus’ own suffering encourage you in times you suffer?

Go with me for a moment to witness what was perhaps the foggiest night in history. The scene is very simple; you’ll recognize it quickly. A grove of twisted olive trees. Ground cluttered with large rocks. A low stone fence. A dark, dark night.

Now, look into the picture. Look closely through the shadowy foliage. See that person? See that solitary figure? What’s he doing? Flat on the ground. Face stained with dirt and tears. Fists pounding the hard earth. Eyes wide with a stupor of fear. Hair matted with salty sweat. Is that blood on his forehead?

That’s Jesus. Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane.

Maybe you’ve seen the classic portrait of Christ in the garden. Kneeling beside a big rock. Snow-white robe. Hands peacefully folded in prayer. A look of serenity on his face. Halo over his head. A spotlight from heaven illuminating his golden-brown hair.

Now, I’m no artist, but I can tell you one thing. The man who painted that picture didn’t use the gospel of Mark as a pattern. When Mark wrote about that painful night, he used phrases like these: “Horror and dismay came over him.” “My heart is ready to break with grief.” “He went a little forward and threw himself on the ground.”

Does this look like the picture of a saintly Jesus resting in the palm of God? Hardly. Mark used black paint to describe this scene. We see an agonizing, straining, and struggling Jesus. We see a “man of sorrows.” (Isaiah 53:3 NASB) We see a man struggling with fear, wrestling with commitments, and yearning for relief.

We see Jesus in the fog of a broken heart.

The writer of Hebrews would later pen,

“During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the one who could save him from death.” (Hebrews 5:7 NIV)

My, what a portrait! Jesus is in pain. Jesus is on the stage of fear. Jesus is cloaked, not in sainthood, but in humanity.

The next time the fog finds you, you might do well to remember Jesus in the garden. The next time you think that no one understands, reread the fourteenth chapter of Mark. The next time your self-pity convinces you that no one cares, pay a visit to Gethsemane. And the next time you wonder if God really perceives the pain that prevails on this dusty planet, listen to him pleading among the twisted trees.

The next time you are called to suffer, pay attention. It may be the closest you’ll ever get to God. Watch closely. It could very well be that the hand that extends itself to lead you out of the fog is a pierced one.

Question: How does Jesus’ own suffering encourage you in times you suffer?

By Max Lucado
Used by permission

To learn more about Max Lucado visit his website at:
http://maxlucado.com/about/

Original image from https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/c2/46/bb/c246bbbce203df476766b7031810f8a6.jpg

Broken Fragments

admin — Fri, 06 Sep 2024 08:01:04 +0000

For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work among you will complete it by the day of Christ Jesus. Philippians 1:6

What does God see when he looks at you?

This was the question I was given. As I sat alone, the word brokenness came to mind. My mind traveled the path of my life. Yes, many moments of brokenness and failure. After this time of reflection, I raised my head and my gaze became fixed on a stained-glass window. Unlike traditional stained glass, this window was made of what appeared to be random fragments of glass arranged by the designer to make a work of beauty.

This thought brought comfort and an appreciation that God has taken and continues to take the brokenness in my life to create a work of beauty and grace.

My part has been to surrender and be willing to allow God to work. It takes trust and humility! Trust has come from the knowledge that God really does love me. The ultimate proof is not based on circumstances but that he sent his son, Jesus to die for me. His death on the cross is like a huge billboard in time declaring God’s love. Being convinced also that God is wise beyond measure inspires my trust.

Yet just knowing that is not enough. I have had to humbly acknowledge that I am not adequate in my own efforts to address my own brokenness. I picture God smiling at this confession. God does not push his way in but when invited he has brought his creative genius to my life.

Prayer: God, I affirm you are loving and wise. Thank you for the gift of love and forgiveness profoundly demonstrated through Jesus’ death for me. Please take and use my brokenness and failures. Create beauty in all these broken pieces. Thank you. Amen

Questions: What does God see when he looks at your life? To what extent are you trusting God to work within you to create a work of beauty? Is there a specific area that you would like God to transform brokenness to beauty?

by Mike Woodard
used by permission

Nothing is Too Broken

Devotionals — Thu, 03 Jun 2021 08:01:04 +0000

“The LORD is near to those who have a broken heart, and saves such as have a contrite spirit. “ Psalm 34:18

Can you imagine if my crystal vase fell off this shelf onto the hardwood floor below? It would crash and break into innumerable pieces unable to be put back together.

What do you do when your world is crumbling in a thousand tiny pieces and you see it slipping through your hands?

You are grasping to hold on, keep it from falling apart, but all you hold in your hands is shattered, broken pieces.

Nothing is too broken for God.

He wants to put it back together and put it back stronger than before, better than before, and often in a new direction. His process of restoration and rebuilding will bring change. You won’t be the same person after having gone through this. You will be a new, improved you!

He will not put you back together only to have you pick up where you left off before this trial happened. You are not the person you were going into this experience. You have learned many things and you have grown and are still growing. God will use this growth so you can now help others. What a privilege it is to be able to help someone go through a similar storm to one God has just brought us through.

You can trust your heavenly Father to rebuild what the enemy has torn down, if you will lay all the pieces of your life into His hands and call on Him to rebuild what is broken. He will make all things beautiful in His perfect way and in His perfect time. Your heavenly Father wants you to trust Him as you have never trusted before.

By Kathy Cheek
Used by Permission

Do you want to start trusting Christ Jesus today to be the healer of your broken heart? Your healing journey with him can start today with a simple prayer that expresses your trust and belief in him. If you believe these words, then say this sample prayer and HE WILL come into your life.

“Lord Jesus, I need You. Thank You for dying on the cross for my sins. I open the door of my life and receive You as my Savior and Lord. Thank You for forgiving my sins and giving me eternal life. Take control of the throne of my life. Make me the kind of person You want me to be. Be the healer of my soul.”

This is just the beginning. We encourage to read the links below and get connected with a good church. Also, consider an online mentor which we can connect you to.

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The post Nothing is Too Broken can be found at Thoughts about God.