Tag Archives: Julie Miller

What To Do With Broken Things?

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rocking chair on porchWith all the DIY shows nowadays, I wonder, what to do broken things?

How do you handle the broken things in your life which require repair? Do you throw them away? Put them in the closet, garage, basement, attic and forget about them? Fix them?

I’ve done all of the above. Some of the broken things were able to be repaired. Some weren’t. Some are still waiting.

Before Pie was born, a family friend gave me a small antique reed-bottom rocker. I love love love that chair. After a while though, some of the reeds worked themselves loose. The chair needed to be repaired. The restoration job was done by a professional.

I also have one of my grandfather’s old cane-bottom rockers. The bottom is worn out, and the rocker slats are flat after the many years it sat on my grandparent’s front porch. That rocker is in our garage where it has hung for years.

Like I said, some things get repaired. Some are still waiting.

But what about the brokenness of our lives? What do we do with that? Do we stuff our hurts deep down inside and act like nothing’s wrong? Do we live with the brokenness, allow it to define us, and make us feel unworthy?

Do we rewind the tapes of our failures over and over and over until we believe no one would like us if they really knew what we’d done?

Because God created us, he already knows all about our faults, broken places, and shattered dreams. He wants us to bring all our broken pieces to him. In his hands, God can do the necessary repairs. He’s the restoration professional.

God won’t throw us out. He won’t put us in the basement or attic and forget about us. He will restore us and make us much better than we ever thought possible.

What do you do with the broken things in your life? Hang onto them, hoping to repair them someday, throw them away, or set to work restoring what was broken?

Leave a comment below to share your thoughts on the subject. If you think others would appreciate reading this, please share it through the social media buttons.

Yet there is one ray of hope: his compassion never ends. It is only the Lord’s mercies that have kept us from complete destruction. Great is his faithfulness; his loving-kindness begins afresh each day. Lamentations 3:21-23 (TLB)

You can find my August Inspire a Fire post here. Please stop by and read it.

I wish you well.

Sandy

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Jesus Can Restore What’s Broken

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by Sandy Kirby Quandt

There is an area of our yard under a large mulberry tree that is filled with asparagus fern, Thai and ginger plants. When I noticed shredded leaves on the Thai and ginger, I couldn’t figure out what caused the damage.

Then I realized the leaves were fine before I relocated the bird feeder to that area.

Seems the squirrels used the leaves as safety nets when they tumbled from the feeder and destroyed the leaves in the process.

Easy enough to restore what’s broken. I moved the feeder.

As I pounded the metal pole holding the feeder into the ground at its new location, I thought about the times our lives are exposed to toxic sharp nails that shred our souls just as easily as the squirrels shred my plants.

Although the problem of restoring the beauty of my plants was a simple matter of relocating the bird feeder, it is not always so easy to restore what’s broken in lives that have been shredded by life.

It takes courage and strength to remove the destructive elements from our life.

And it takes the love of a Savior to restore what’s broken.

Separated from the squirrels’ destructive sharp nails my plants are thriving. You might say they even look happy!

God promises us the same can happen when we separate ourselves from the things we know harm us. He can repair what’s been shredded, restore what’s broken, and turn our sadness into beauty.

Anything you need to move away from so your joy and beauty can be restored?

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… to provide for those who mourn in Zion; to give them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, festive oil instead of mourning, and splendid clothes instead of despair. And they will be called righteous trees, planted by the Lord to glorify Him. Isaiah 61:3 (HCSB)

I wish you well.

Sandy

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This updated post first appeared on Woven and Spun June 19, 2016.

[bctt tweet=”God promises us the same can happen when we separate ourselves from the things we know harm us. He can repair what’s been shredded, restore what’s broken, and turn our sadness into beauty.” username=”SandyKQuandt”]

Give Jesus Your Brokenness

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by Sandy Kirby Quandt

Ready for 2018? Well, ready or not, it’s just around the corner.

In My Utmost For His Highest Oswald Chambers wrote that sometimes we allow the memory of yesterday’s sins and mistakes; what I’ll call our brokenness, to dampen our present enjoyment of God’s grace. Mr. Chambers states, God allows the memory of our mistakes for spiritual growth in our future, not to keep us chained to the past.

God’s wants us to learn from our failures and stop sinnnig. Satan, on the other hand, wants to use our mistakes and sins to make us feel unworthy of Jesus’ love.

Even though I know I have been forgiven through my Savior Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection, I’m guilty of allowing the father of all lies, Satan, to beat me over the head with my brokenness and sin.

Do any of you have this problem, or is it just me?

Some of our yesterdays hold broken and irreversible things. Just like water that flows downstream, there were lost opportunities that we’ll never get back. But when we let him, Jesus can take our brokenness and transform it.

If we truly consider what we’ve done, what we want to do, what worked, what didn’t, learn from our mistakes, and keep Jesus in the center of it all, we just might find 2018 is our best year, yet.

New year. New opportunities. Opportunities to put our past mistakes into Christ’s open hand, and allow him to take our brokenness and direct us in the way we should go.

May 2018 be your best year, yet.

Are you ready for a new year?

Leave a comment below to share your thoughts on the subject.

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The book of Isaiah the prophet was handed to him, (Jesus)and he opened it to the place where it says:

 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me; he has appointed me to preach Good News to the poor; he has sent me to heal the brokenhearted and to announce that captives shall be released and the blind shall see, that the downtrodden shall be freed from their oppressors, and that God is ready to give blessings to all who come to him.”

 He closed the book and handed it back to the attendant and sat down, while everyone in the synagogue gazed at him intently. Then he added, “These Scriptures came true today!”

All who were there spoke well of him and were amazed by the beautiful words that fell from his lips. “How can this be?” they asked. “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?” Luke 4:17-22 (TLB) 

I wish you well.

Sandy

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The Day Jesus Died

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courtesy pixabayby Sandy Kirby Quandt

We’ve heard the story. We’ve analyzed the motives. We’ve memorized the words.

On the day Jesus Christ, the Messiah, was nailed to a cross and died for the sins of all mankind, and paid the penalty for a debt he did not owe, two thieves hung on either side of him.

One thief mocked Jesus, saying if he were indeed the Messiah, he should get himself down from the cross and spare the lives of the two hanging on either side of him while he was at it. His taunting showed his heart. It showed his unbelief. It showed his eternal destination.

The other thief had a different attitude toward Christ.

He recognized Jesus for who he truly was. The Son of God. And he trembled.

This thief knew he deserved the death penalty for the sins he committed. He didn’t try to courtesy pixabayweasel his way out of the punishment due him.

He also knew Christ was innocent and did not deserve to die a horribly wretched death on the Roman instrument of cruel inhumane punishment.

This thief humbly asked Jesus to remember him once Jesus went into his heavenly kingdom.

Jesus allowed himself to be sacrificed so you and I could understand how deep, how wide, and how strong his love for us is. It’s personal. Christ had each and every one of us in his thoughts and on his heart when he became the Sacrificial Lamb. Our face ran through his mind as he breathed his last breath.

We have a choice, you know.

We can be like the first thief.

Mock Jesus, make fun of him, and refuse his sacrifice.

Or we can be like the second thief.

Acknowledge the fact we are sinners who deserve to die for our sins, who are in great need of a Savior, and in humble gratitude give of our best to the Master.

However that manifests itself in our lives.

courtesy pixabay

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One of the criminals hanging beside him scoffed, “So you’re the Messiah, are you? Prove it by saving yourself—and us, too, while you’re at it!”

But the other criminal protested, “Don’t you fear God even when you have been sentenced to die? We deserve to die for our crimes, but this man hasn’t done anything wrong.” Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your Kingdom.”

And Jesus replied, “I assure you, today you will be with me in paradise.” Luke 23:39-43 (NLT)

I wish you well.

Sandy

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Sunday Scriptures — Let Us Go To Jesus

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Isaiahby Sandy Kirby Quandt

Today I decided to let this song, sung by Julie Miller, do all the talking.

Please take time to consider the words.

Leave a comment below to share your thoughts on the subject. If you think others would appreciate reading this, please share it through the social media buttons.

Jesus told him, “I am the Way—yes, and the Truth and the Life. No one can get to the Father except by means of me. John 14:6 (TLB)

I wish you well.

Sandy

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What To Do With Broken Things?

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by Sandy Kirby Quandt

What do you do with something that is broken?

Do you throw it away?

Put it in the closet, garage, basement, attic and forget about it?

Fix it?

I’ve done all of the above.

Some of the broken things were able to be repaired. Some weren’t. Some are still waiting.

Before Pie was born, a family friend gave us a small antique reed-bottom rocker.

I love love love that chair.

After a while some of the reeds worked themselves loose and needed to be replaced. A professional did the job for us.

I’ve had one of my grandfather’s old cane-bottom rockers in our garage for years. It needs re-caned and refinished.

Like I said, some things get repaired. Some are still waiting.

But what about the brokenness of our lives? What do we do with that?

Do we stuff our hurts deep down inside and act like nothing’s wrong?

Do we live with the brokenness and allow it to define us and make us feel unworthy?

Do we rewind the tapes of our failures over and over and over until we believe no one would like us if they really knew what we’d done?

And what about Jesus? What do we do with our broken pieces when it comes to him?

Because he created us, he already knows all about our faults, broken places, shattered dreams. And he wants us to bring them to him so he can do the necessary repairs.

Jesus won’t throw us out. He won’t put us in the basement and forget about us. He will restore us and make us mo’ better. You can count on it.

What about you? What do you do with the broken things in your life?

Leave a comment below to share your thoughts on the subject. If you think others would appreciate reading this, please share it through the social media buttons.

Everyone has sinned and fallen short of God’s glorious standard, and all need to be made right with God by his grace, which is a free gift. They need to be made free from sin through Jesus Christ. God sent him to die in our place to take away our sins. We receive forgiveness through faith in the blood of Jesus’ death. This showed that God always does what is right and fair, as in the past when he was patient and did not punish people for their sins. And God gave Jesus to show today that he does what is right. God did this so he could judge rightly and so he could make right any person who has faith in Jesus. Romans 3:23-26 (NCV)

I wish you well.

Sandy

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