Dear Precious Friends,
On this beautiful new day, I pray you are embracing the gift that God has given us with the hope we have in Him. I was thinking of the broken pieces God has put back together in my life and how I never thought I would rise from the ashes. There have been times when I could not get out of bed when walking through incredible grief and loss that seemed to have no end... Just unbelievable. I could hardly find my breath. Have you ever felt this way? Are there any broken places in your heart and life right now?
I know how hard that can be.
And there’s this wonderful story I could tell you. It’s the one about how we can pick up the broken pieces, glue them back together and then the new creation is more beautiful than the original. God’s light shine through our cracks. That’s a beautiful story.
But what about those times when things aren’t just broken … but shattered beyond repair? Shattered to the point of dust. At least when things are broken, there’s some hope you can glue the pieces back together.
But what if there aren’t even pieces to pick up in front of you?
You can’t glue dust.
It’s hard to hold dust. What was once something so very precious is now reduced to nothing but weightless powder even the slightest wind could carry away. We feel desperately hopeless. Dust begs us to believe the promises of God no longer apply to us. That the reach of God falls just short of where we are. And that the hope of God has been taken out by the consuming darkness all around us.
Over the past few years, I have been walking through my own season of dust. I know many of you also have felt this way and are shattered now and wonderful how you will ever see your life restored. We are alike in that way. We’re united with our tears, even if our circumstances are different.
We’re also united in our desire for God to fix it all. Edit this story so it has a different ending. Repair this heartbreaking reality.
But what if fixing, editing and repairing isn’t at all what God has in mind for us in this shattering?
What if, this time, God desires to make something completely brand-new? Right now. On this side of eternity. No matter how impossible our circumstances may seem.
You see, dust is the exact ingredient God loves to use.
We think the shattering in our lives could not possibly be for any good. But what if shattering is the only way to get dust back to its basic form so something new can be made? We can see dust as a result of an unfair breaking. Or, we can see dust as a crucial ingredient.
Think of all the ways God has used brokenness to restore things better than before.
Of all the things God could have used to make man, He chose to use dust. “Then the LORD God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being” (Genesis 2:7, NIV).
Jesus used the dust of the ground to restore a man’s sight. Jesus said, “‘While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.’ After saying this, he spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man’s eyes” (John 9:5-6, NIV). And after the man washed in the pool of Siloam, he went home seeing.
And, when mixed with water, dust becomes clay. Clay, when placed in the potter’s hands, can be formed into anything the potter dreams up!
“Yet You, LORD, are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand” (Isaiah 64:8).
“He said, ‘Can I not do with you, Israel, as this potter does?’ declares the LORD. ‘Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, Israel’” (Jeremiah 18:6, NIV).
Oh, how I love and need the hope God has tucked into these verses.
Dust doesn’t have to signify the end. Dust is often what must be present for the new to begin.
I don’t know what hard realities have left you feeling shattered, friend. But I do know this: We can trust our God. We can trust Him with our dust.
Our greatest disappointments and disillusionments — things that shake us and break us to the core and make us wonder about everything — don’t have to mean all hope is lost. We can place our lives fully in the hands of the Potter. We can dare to believe He is making something glorious out of dust, out of us.
I pray we remember all the ways God restores and redeems. I truly confess... I don't like dust...
but reminding my soul that dust is one of our Father's favorite ingredients to use when making something new. Let's choose to believe He is working right now to do an amazing thing in our lives that will be used for His Glory.
We shouldn’t run from being broken. Even though it’s not pleasant, it will produce a better life. Brokenness is a blessing because it puts us on the road to a breakthrough. Jesus said, “Blessed are the poor in spirit” (Matthew 5:3). Those who are spiritually broken will be blessed because they will see God, and God’s power will flow through their lives.
Brokenness is a blessing because it puts us on the road to a breakthrough.Scripture promises that God remains with those who are broken and makes them stronger than before. In Isaiah 61:3, God promises to give those who mourn and are broken “a garland instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the mantle of praise instead of a spirit of fainting.”
Trust God He knows what He’s doing even if you are experiencing pain as He restores the end result is what really matters.
Please share and encourage others who are in a broken season right now.
It's how we become a community of faith that rises stronger than before.
Amen.
