When I was thirteen, I accidentally broke a very expensive piece of my parents’ pottery. The artist had just passed away, so the value shot up just in time for my rough housing to take it back down. My parents were unhappy, to say the least. When I received the dad-repaired pottery bowl as a wedding gift eight years later, I kept it on my coffee table to centerpiece my history as a clumsy, rough-housing teenager.
Not long after I was gifted the pottery, an incomplete redecorating job combined with a pitch black room presented the perfect opportunity for my misplaced step to smash the pottery bowl, this time separating it into three large pieces.
I was devastated, taken back to thirteen in painful waves, reliving the first time I told my parents I had fractured the value of their pottery collection. I couldn’t bring myself to admit that history had repeated itself, so my husband came up with a plan. “The pottery broke,” he told Dad, never offering a culprit or any explanation for the new cracks. I was praying to be in the clear.
To our surprise, Dad was elated. “How perfect is God’s timing? I was just reading about an old repair process for broken pottery like this!”
As I battled the urge to proudly confess my role in God’s timing, Dad explained a bizarre new word: Kintsugi, he described, is the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery with glue and gold. Instead of throwing away the shattered piece, the artist repairs them. Instead of hiding the repairs, the artist highlights them. No pieces thrown away, no imperfections left uncovered.
I presented kintsugi as a metaphor to the High Point youth a couple weeks ago, asking them to list people from the Bible who illustrated a kintsugi-style life repair. Here are the answers we developed along with the attributes that qualified each person for the list:
This list is not comprehensive, of course, but it doesn’t take every story in the Bible for us to recognize cracks and weaknesses we’ve seen in ourselves. Thankfully we aren’t left alone to fall to those weaknesses!
While studying about the kintsugi process, I came across 2 Corinthians 12:9.
“But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.” (NIV)
Boast about my weaknesses? Why would I do that? I am liberated, restored, and made strong.
Exactly.
In the same way that the focus of Kintsugi is the beautiful gold, not the cracks, the focus here is not on weakness; it is on God’s power, “My power is made perfect in weakness. . . . Christ’s power may rest on me.”
The cracks and jagged pieces you perceive in your life are not throwaways. They are areas that you need to let God piece together and cover with His strength and grace. What you can’t do on your own is what makes you ideal for what you are called to do. It’s an opportunity for God to do it all through you.
Gideon’s life is an excellent example of God’s power in our weakness. When God calls him to lead, Gideon responds, “Pardon me, my lord,” Gideon replied, “but how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family” (Judges 6:15 NIV).
What did God said to that? Oh, I guess you’re right… I didn’t think of that. I should probably use someone stronger and more gifted in leadership than you. NO. God assures Gideon, “I will be with you” (Judges 6:16 NIV). He is telling Gideon that being the “least” is no limitation. Gideon’s weakness will not hinder God’s plan for his life but will instead make a no-questions statement that God won the victory.
God chose you for the task, and He will do through you what you cannot do on your own. When you are weak, He is strong.
The kintsugi-ed pottery bowl now hangs in my house as a reminder:
God’s grace is at work. You can do all things through Christ who strengthens you.
Often people wonder how to get answered prayer. Have you ever been praying over a concern of yours for some time and thinking you should have seen bigger results by now? This has certainly happened to us during our years of following Christ! Over time we learned several important factors that have helped…
First, we realized sometimes results don’t come because of asking the wrong request in prayer. James 4 talks about asking something of God amiss, or asking something for the wrong reasons. Sometimes we discovered years later after praying a prayer, that we really had no idea when we were facing an issue, what it was that we or someone else really needed. Often we humans think we need to give God some advice through prayer about how to best help our personal lives! Have you ever been there?
Some of the best prayers we can offer are praying and declaring God’s Word and His faithful promises over our situation. This allows Him to decide the best way to answer. Isaiah 55:11 says “It is the same with my word. I send it out, and it always produces fruit. It will accomplish all I want it to and it will prosper everywhere I send it.”
Faith begins where the will of God is known. The will of God can be discovered by looking at Jesus’ ministry as well as looking at heaven. So as an example, we know from scripture that it is God’s will to save, to restore broken hearts, to heal sickness and disease, to provide, to have our children and family all serving God, and so on.
One of our favorite prayers to pray regularly over our children and all of our amazing High Point Church family is Colossians 1:9-12.
“So we have not stopped praying for you since we first heard about you. We ask God to give you complete knowledge of his will and to give you spiritual wisdom and understanding. Then the way you live will always honor and please the Lord, and your lives will produce every kind of good fruit. All the while, you will grow as you learn to know God better and better.
We also pray that you will be strengthened with all his glorious power so you will have all the endurance and patience you need. May you be filled with joy, always thanking the Father.”
This scripture also touches on a second reason that prayers sometimes aren’t answered in the time frame we desire. Some things just require faith and patience! If this is the case, put a written scripture up in a place you will see it daily to remind yourself of God’s promise in your specific area of need. Also keep next to this first scripture promise, Hebrews 6:12. “…Imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.”
Lastly, remember to keep praising by faith that you have your victory now, since the Word tells us “NOW faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” Hebrews 11:1.
We praise God now for the victory promised in His Word, even before we see it with our natural eyes. We can boldly approach a His throne of grace and ask for help in our time of need!
Praying for God’s wisdom and grace to abound in the your life!
Have a supernatural September!
Shaun & Amy
“The righteous should choose his friends carefully, for the way of the wicked leads them astray.” Proverbs 12:26
The saying, “Show me the ten people you hang around the most and I will show you where you will be in ten years,” is extremely accurate. The quality of your life, marriage and family will eventually become a reflection of the people you surround yourself with. Do you want to be successful in your walk with God, the best spouse and parent you can be, and fulfill the call of God on your life?
A large portion of achieving these valuable life treasures requires cultivating Christ-like friendships and being receptive to mutual accountability through those friendships. It also includes accepting and receiving insight and correction from authority figures and mentors that God places in our life. When we are receptive to our mentor’s instruction and have Christ-like friends, we will find ourselves increasingly walking in the promises of God. In doing this, we will greatly improve our relationships in the home and achieve greater levels of leadership in our place of work or ministry.
Friendships are just what the word describes. A friend is like a ship. They either help carry us up stream or down steam. Their words and actions have a large impact on us, negative or positive. Do out friends talk about and focus on the good in their spouse? We will be more likely to think and talk about our spouse in a positive way. Do they find fault in their spouse? If we continue to spend time with them, we will eventually begin to find fault in our spouse. Words spoken by those we are close to eventually influence us, producing either good or bad fruit in our lives. It is wise to invest time with those realize they will eat the fruit of their lips; therefore, they speak with wisdom and are guarded in what they say.
We as believers are to be like eagles. Isaiah 40:31 states,
“But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength ; they shall mount up with wings as eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.”
God wants us to soar above life’s circumstances. Our close friendships (or lack of Christ-like friendships) will greatly influence how we soar.
Are your friendships helping you soar?
If they aren’t, we pray that God will send you Christ-like friendships that will last a lifetime.
Blessings to you,
Shaun & Amy
When Paul wrote his letter to the Christians in Philippi, he encouraged them to choose to have Christ-like thoughts, stating:
“Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praise-worthy-meditate on these things. The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you.” (Philippians 4:8-9)
Paul understood the power in our thought-life. He knew when we meditate on good things, God’s peace is then established in our hearts and in our homes. This truth applies to every area of our lives, but let us take a close look at its impact on marriage.
Most of us do not have any problem thinking good of our spouse when he or she is kind to us and doing the things we like them to do. The question to ask is – do we put this Scripture into operation in our lives when our spouse has not invested time with us or has not met our needs?
Notice Paul did not say, “Finally brethren, whatever things are a lie of the devil, whatever things are unkind, whatever things are unloving, whatever things are an evil report, if there is any immortality and anything worth condemning – meditate on these things.” No, Paul knew that these things are what a person naturally wants to do, so he purposefully instructed the church to meditate on the good because he knew that it would have to be an intentional effort on our part!
Whatever we meditate on about others, good or bad, we will draw out more of that in their personality. You have heard the statement, “That person really knows how to bring out the best in me.” If we truly believe in someone, it will be demonstrated through our actions, words and even prayers for the person.
In the month of July we highly encourage you to pay close attention to what you are meditating on about yourself and others, and as you do that, we truly believe your life and your relationships will change for the better!
God bless you!
Shaun & Amy
“Pleasant words are like a honeycomb, sweetness, to the soul and health to the bones.” Proverbs 16:24
When doing marriage seminars, we typically give a sheet of paper for each person to fill out at one of the sessions, asking them to list five things they most appreciate about their spouse. Then they are supposed to give this list to their spouse. Numerous times, we have had women in particular tell us afterward that when they read their husband’s list about them they cried. These women expressed how they had never heard their husband say these things before, and seeing them in writing brought them to tears. It seems couples often think the other one “just knows” they are appreciated. However, how can they know unless they are told?
Just think how powerful and impacting it would be on every marriage if spouses, parents, and children verbalized the things they appreciate about each other on a daily basis. We believe this alone would drop the divorce rates drastically and cause children to do better in school! People have a need to feel significant and do something significant. Interestingly, the more valued someone feels, the more likely they are to accomplish great things.
Our words have great power to set the course of direction for those under our sphere of influence. Often without realizing it, we are making a choice each day to speak words that heal or words that hurt. When we speak pleasantly to those around us, it literally brings health to their body! Have you ever noticed people will often gravitate toward someone who makes them feel good about themselves? Why? Good words refresh the human spirit. When we hear kind words spoken over us it actually empowers us to live a healthy, prosperous life. Similarly, when we speak words of praise and thankfulness to God and others, we are veered away from defeat and propelled towards victory.
There was a study done on women who left their husband before no-fault divorce laws. It showed the top reason wives walked away from their marriage was that they felt unappreciated. If the same study had been done on men, I’m sure the results would have been similar, because everyone needs to feel valued. Mary Kay Ash used to say, make people feel like they are wearing a sign that says, “Make me feel important!”
Throughout the month of June we encourage you to present your words as a gift to those around you! We are sure it will produce good fruit in your relationships and we can’t wait to hear your testimonies!
With love, Pastors Shaun & Amy
