Isaiah 64:8
Yet you, Lord, are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand.
The Holy Spirit showed an image of a beautiful vessel, inlaid with precious metals. The metal veins running through the vase made it more beautiful and more valuable than even when it was originally made.*
And He said, ‘Stop looking at your brokenness, the cracks and the fractures in your life. If you will bring the broken and hurt places of your life to me, I will tenderly fill them with my precious metals. I will cause you to be stronger, more beautiful and more valuable than before.
Then, out of my beautiful new creation, my will for your life will flow more abundantly and effectively than it did from the pot before.’
* This picture is reminiscent of the Japanese art of Kintsugi (‘golden joinery’ or ‘golden repair’) – repairing broken pottery with lacquer dusted or mixed with powdered gold, silver, or platinum. It treats breakage and repair as part of the history of an object, rather than something to disguise.