Build Back Better

There is an interesting Japanese art form called Kintsugi (golden joinery) or Kintsukuroi (golden repair). It is the process of repairing broken pottery by mending the broken parts with a type of lacquer mixed with gold or silver dust.  The result is a piece that has obviously repaired cracks and breaks that are highlighted in gold.

One could argue that after the repair, the item is even better than it was before it broke.

In their book, Suffer Strong, Katherine and Jay Wolf describe Kintsugi this way:

“The story of kintsugi—this style of pottery—may be the most perfect embodiment of all our trauma-shattered lives... Instead of throwing away the broken beloved pottery, we’ll fix it in a way that doesn’t pretend it hasn’t been broken but honors the breaking—and more so, the surviving—by highlighting those repaired seams with gold lacquer. Now the object is functional once again and dignified, not discarded. It’s stronger and even more valuable because of its reinforced, golden scars.”

Katherine and Jay Wolf may be familiar names to you. They run a ministry called Hope Heals that helps people learn that joy and suffering can coexist in our lives. In their own words, they are “disrupting the myth that joy can only be found in a pain free life.”

In 2008, just six months after having their first child, Katherine suffered a catastrophic stroke as a result of a congenital brain defect that she never knew she had.  After 40 days in a coma, a year in neuro rehab, and countless brain surgeries, Katherine and her husband Jay began speaking to groups about the way God uses our suffering to strengthen us.

They have had a front row seat to the way God can and will rebuild our lives, just like broken pottery.  Our heavenly father has taken what seemed broken and put it back together, better.

I’m sure there are plenty of days that they would rather their situation be different.  Katherine lives with the lasting effects and disabilities brought on by her brain injury.

And yet, they have chosen to trust the Lord and use their story to teach, encourage and lift up others that are struggling with their own suffering.

I read their book, Suffer Strong, in 2020 while I sat in a rehab facility for alcoholism.  I had destroyed my ministry, almost destroyed my family, hurt all those around me, and essentially ruined my life. 

At least that’s what I thought about myself.

I wish that I could say that Katherine and Jay’s story gave me ALL of the encouragement I needed to never feel sorry for myself.  That just wasn’t the case. 

But it did give me encouragement.  At least just for that day.  Their story reminded me that despite my mistakes, God did love me.  He did and does still have a plan for me.  His grace is still for me. 

Since then, it has been a long process of daily trusting God to put me back together.  It hasn’t been easy.  But, I keep trusting that he has the power to put me back together in a way that honors and uses the broken parts of my life to make me even better.

I’m so thankful everyday that God didn’t want to discard me like a broken dish, but that He wanted to rebuild and restore me. And that He does it in a way that makes my weaknesses visible to others without embarrassing me.

Like the gold streaks in a Kintsugi pottery show the skill of the artist, God is putting me back together in a way that shows His beauty, His power, His glory.

That same rebuilding is available to you.

I don’t know what you are facing right now.  What storm you find yourself in.  But, what I do know, is that God can rebuild you.  Even better than before.

If you just choose to trust Him.  Place the shattered, sharp, broken pieces of your life in His hands and let Him get to work.

Not a day goes by that I don’t wish I didn’t have this struggle with addiction. 

If wishes were fishes, ya know

More than anything, I am so glad that God chooses to glorify Himself through my life.  All I want is for Him to be known.  And I want others to know that there is hope for their lives too.

No one is too far gone.  There is nothing you can do, no distance you can run, no amount of brokenness that can cause God to stop loving you.

If you want hope, turn to the one that gives out hope in abundance.

If you need peace, turn to the creator of real peace.

If you need healing, go to the one that offers true, lasting healing.

If you want comfort.  Too bad…  He never promised that we’d be comfortable.  But He did promise that we’d be called, cared for, and loved by Him. (And, if we’re honest, there’s plenty of times of comfort too.)

Our lives may not always turn out the way we thought they would.  But if we trust our heavenly father, they will always be what He wants for us.

To quote Mr. Beaver from The Chronicles of Narnia, “Safe? Who said anything about safe? Course he isn’t safe.  But he’s good.  He’s the King, I tell you.”

Friend, life isn’t always safe.  But God is always good.  He’s the King, I tell you.