Broken Things

Every morning, while I'm getting ready for work, I listen to Pastor Joe Focht from Calvary Chapel Philadelphia. During his teaching today, Pastor Joe said something that struck a chord with me.

"In this world, when something's broken, we throw it away. In God's kingdom, when something's broken, that's when He gets to work. He loves to get His hands on a broken man or woman. Because like the potter, He can tear it down and start over on the wheel, and He can bring something out of it - a beauty that people never would have dreamt and never would have understood....ever."

This is exactly why I get so much joy out of restoring old furniture so it looks new again. It's a reflection of what God has done for me in my life, and what He does for anyone who comes to Him for restoration.

Finding pieces that seem to have no more worth anymore are my absolute favorite projects to work on! The dirtier it is, the smellier the drawers are, the more crooked the legs stand, the more veneer that's chipping off, the better.

Why?

Because the restoration of pieces like these are so dramatic that you can't help but be taken aback and appreciate the new life they've been given.

Cracks become character.

Peeling paint becomes texture.

And something that was ready to be thrown away is now given a new purpose and a new life.

Isn't that what we all want?

To have our nicks, dents, and imperfections smoothed out and covered?

To have our crusty outer layers stripped away so our inner beauty shines through?

For our old life to be washed clean and to be granted a new start?

For someone to look at us, with all of our flaws, and say, "You're beautiful and I see potential in you"?

To not feel forgotten, overlooked, or passed by anymore? For someone to willingly choose us?

It happened in my life back in college. I felt overlooked by people and I was so desperate for someone to look at me and think I was pretty. I went looking for value and worth in all of the wrong places and from all the wrong people. My heart was so broken from being rejected. If someone opened my mouth and dropped a stone in, it would have fallen for a long time until it hit bottom. I was that empty inside.

Are you there?

Let me reassure you, dear reader, you don't have to stay there.

God is in the business of restoration. He sees your value like no one else does. You are worth so much to Him that He sent His Son, Jesus, down to Earth to take care of all your mistakes that you've done, will do today, and will ever do in the days to come.

You can be remade. Your broken joints can be put back into place. You can be sanded down, your empty spots filled in, and you can have a new purpose in life again.

Who doesn't want that?

I did. I wanted it so desperately but I didn't know how to get it. A friend of mine sat with me and explained it was as easy as telling God that it's what I wanted. (Apparently that's all praying is...just talking to God like He's sitting on the chair right next to you.) So that's what I did.

And my life has never been the same.

I've been made new. Restored. Filled in. My life has a different purpose now. I'm loved like no person can ever love me. I'm not overlooked anymore. God found me in the trash heap and plucked me out when I had absolutely no outside value at all. But I have value to Him.

HE picked ME!

I definitely have not "arrived" by any stretch. I'm still being cleaned up, remade, and reworked into His likeness every minute of every day.

There are days when my mistakes poke through.

And some of my ugly layers haven't been removed yet.

God's work won't ever stop in my life until we are face-to-face.

Until then, I'm reminded about my own restoration story with every piece I work on. I thank God with each scrape, sand, hammer stroke, and turn of the screwdriver.

I hope you will experience the same in your own heart.

"Because like the potter, He can tear it down and start over on the wheel, and He can bring something out of it - a beauty that people never would have dreamt and never would have understood....ever."

Now that, dear friends, is a makeover story worth reading about.