He Paints the Broken

Mental health has almost always been part of my life, so even after my relationship with Jesus grew in adulthood, I still struggled with the thoughts that said the broken pieces of my life defined me. Even though I had seen goodness in our Father, I felt as if anxiety and ADHD wrote my story.

One night I was painting Christmas ornaments on my kitchen counter. They were round, wooden ornaments that I call mini tree trunks. One of the ornaments had a small crack through the center. The crack wasn’t too big but was big enough that I wanted to toss the ornament in the trash and move on to one that was perfect in my eyes.

As I got up, I heard a quote over and over in my head. He took my broken pieces, and he painted them. In a matter of seconds, I had a notebook out and was writing this sentence down. I picked up the ornament and started to paint it, crack and all.

As I painted and watched the paint seep into the grain of the wood, I saw only beauty. This is how our Father sees us. We are so often willing to throw away the “broken” versions or pieces of ourselves that we miss out on God’s plans for them.

Living in a broken world around broken people, we are not immune to broken pieces, whether they are our own pieces or pieces from others who have forever impacted our lives. What we do know is that there is nothing that our Father cannot redeem. No crack is too deep or too wide that the hands of our Father cannot paint it. He is the ultimate craftsman. He is the artist whom we must trust with our brokenness.

What broken pieces are you asking God to paint and redeem? Reflect on how God has strengthened you in a time when you felt broken.

Dear Lord, thank you for redeeming my broken pieces. When I feel unworthy, please remind me that I am your masterpiece. Amen.