Gold in the Cracks – A Picture of Healing
As I scrolled through my Instagram feed, a particular artwork caught my attention. It depicted a woman dressed in a robe that seemed fragmented into countless pieces.
Jesus stood beside her, “decorating” the tears in her robe—or her body—with gold paint. I thought, “It looks like gold glue,” like a shattered vessel pieced back together with gold.
Just like the Japanese technique of Kintsugi, where broken ceramic pieces are repaired with a special golden lacquer. Instead of hiding the cracks, they are deliberately highlighted – as a sign that what is broken is not worthless, but through its brokenness, it gains a new, unique beauty.
Why Brokenness Is Necessary
Embracing brokenness? None of us rejoice in brokenness; none of us want to go through grief, pain, challenges, or low places.
It is essential to experience the power of grace and forgiveness, the power of resurrection, the love of Jesus himself, and to carry it out into the world.
Brokenness isn’t the end—it’s where God’s grace begins.
More than anything, what truly matters is how deeply our relationship with Jesus is filled with intimacy, hope, and trust.
Do We Truly Believe That God Is Good?
Are we truly filled with joy?
Can we honestly say we trust Him and His word 100%?
Do we believe He means well for us and has a future full of hope?
Do we trust that Jesus will not extinguish a smoldering wick?
Even in our brokenness, can we trust that He will still work through us?
When we haven’t “made it” by the world’s standards?
When we are physically ill?
How do we respond when the recognition we long for never comes?
When desires go unfulfilled?
Do we believe God still has a way for us, even if it seems impossible by human standards?
Jesus Heals Our Hearts When We Fully Surrender to Him
This reminded me that brokenness isn’t just painful—it’s also necessary. It draws us back to Jesus, inviting us to sit at His feet and be still. We come to him, offering our brokenness, our past, our pain, our sins, inadequacies, anger, helplessness, and powerlessness. “We offer him” our wishes, dreams, and hopes too.
Often, we don’t allow ourselves to dream, but Jesus wants to touch, heal, and fill our hearts. He truly means well for us.
I believe that only when we reach the end of our wisdom, stop striving on our own, and give ourselves completely to God, saying, “Here I am, my life is yours, do with me what you will,” can Jesus work through us and use us as he desires. The beautiful thing about Jesus is that he is patient and gentle.
This isn’t a one-time thing.
Life with Jesus Is a Journey, Not a Checklist
We’ll always have moments in life when we realize our priorities have shifted, or God reveals areas we haven’t fully entrusted to Him or where we need healing.
Life with Jesus is not a checklist.
Discipleship is a journey, a path, an ongoing relationship. It’s not static but alive. Sometimes it leads through blooming fields, and sometimes through scorching deserts. Yet, with God, nothing is impossible.
True Freedom: Trust Instead of Control
Jesus says in Matthew 11:28-30, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” But why does following Him often feel so difficult?
It’s primarily hard because we often don’t want to surrender control to God. We struggle to truly trust Him, and we try to fulfill the law in our own strength instead of being led by the Holy Spirit and living in freedom (Galatians 5:1). Read more on this here.
Jesus didn’t promise that life would be easy for us in this world, but He did say that He has overcome the world, and we don’t need to be afraid (John 16:33).
He has gone to prepare an eternal place for us (John 14:2-3). And we will reign with Him and overcome the world with Him (Rev 3:21).
It’s all about an eternal perspective. It’s not about the here and now; it’s about whether what we do and believe has eternal value (Col 3:2).
We trust that Jesus will raise us up again, that we are a new creation through him, that we can do great things through and with him. Not by our own strength, knowledge, pride, qualifications, looks, or possessions, but through the places where we have felt sin, brokenness, and shame. Those are the very places where Jesus wants to come in, use us, and transform our lives into testimonies that touch and change others.
If you’re facing pain, loss, or hopelessness right now, take heart—God sees you, and He is with you in the midst of it all.
He holds you and your broken heart.
He will use His gold glue and heal you with love.
Hope in the Desert – God’s Ways Are Greater
Embracing brokenness does not mean pretending the pain isn’t there or offering fake comfort. It means recognizing that God’s love and grace cover us in our deepest pain and brokenness, and His hands gently and tenderly hold our hearts, creating and healing something new, something beautiful.
As it says in Isaiah 43:19: “See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.”
God can make a way in the desert.
He can create life in barren places. Nothing is impossible for him.
