What to do when your world needs fixing?
When everything teeters on the brink, how do you cope?
You cry out to God, pray earnestly for His strong arm to mend the broken, to rescue before collapse. You search Scriptures, search your heart, search earnestly for something, anything, for a remedy.
But what do you do when after all this – the tears, the prayers, the repentance – it all falls anyways? Prayers for repair seemingly return with rubble.
The Trouble with Prayers for Repair
I’ve pondered this much of late: how to reconcile my cries for fixing with answers with further breaking.
Was the Lord averse to my cries?
Had my pleas fallen on calloused ears?
While emotions raged and circumstances spun, I sensed His gentle Spirit whisper to my weary soul:
I am not a handyman.
Patch this. Mend that. Indeed, my prayers for fixing desired repair work on existing structures, keeping the status quo minus the cracks. “Here’s MY plan for fixing, Lord. Be a good handyman and get the job done.”
As I wrestled with this new realization of my heart’s desires, He lovingly, patiently whispered another transforming truth.
You are clay and I, the Potter.
God Is the Potter
The Potter.
Master craftsman.
Clay always transforms into its destined design within the molding palm of its Sculptor’s hands. Should cracks develop or walls weaken, He does not simply patch nor mend. The Potter presses the entire piece to the ground, flattening to scratch and building again from the bottom up. For the vessel to hold true, it must be made new.
For the fractured, fixing requires breaking.
With this newfound perspective, I realized my cries for mending had in fact been answered! Not by mere patchwork that would eventually give way to greater rupture but by the loving leveling of the Master Potter’s Hands. Not out of disdain or frustration but clear vision of the full potential trapped within my clay, potential that could only be realized by His molding touch.
He allowed all to fall so it could be built up in Him, strong and sure.
Take heart, weary one. You are not forsaken.
When it all falls down, rest your battered bones in the palm of the Potter. His desire exceeds mere repair of fractured places. Know you are ever in His sight as the apple of His eye. He has a masterpiece in mind!
Therein lies the beauty of being broken.
Nourish Scripture: John 16
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This blog was written by Patience Leino. Patience Leino is a solo mama, a worship leader, and a sought-after advocate and educator in pediatrics. A Maryland native, she graduated from Liberty University with a degree in Biblical Studies and now calls Raleigh home. You can explore her adventures in faith, food, and failure on her blog. © 2019 Treasured Ministries.