In the first of her 90 devotionals, titled “Beauty in the Broken,” Vaneetha explains the Japanese art of kintsugi. This is the process of repairing broken pottery in a way that renders it more valuable than it was before the break. The artist doesn’t hide the damage; rather, he or she highlights the imperfections. The artist puts the pottery back together by mending it with gold. The layered, time-consuming process produces pottery that’s stronger and more beautiful. Vaneetha compares that process to God’s work in the lives of broken people:

“God is the Restorer, the kintsugi Master who skillfully and tenderly puts the broken pieces of our lives back together. It takes time, but God leaves no broken piece untouched. I think of the gold resin as the work and power of God, who redeems what is broken in our lives.”

What a fitting analogy to launch her book!

Her Bible-saturated devotionals show God’s artistry in making a hurting person’s life stronger, more beautiful and useful; not in spite of broken-world experiences, but because of them. She shows how a put-back-together life shines the spotlight not on the person, but on the Artist whose redemptive work shows in the person’s life’s story.

 

Sustaining Insights

It’s difficult to select only several meaningful insights from her book, when her writing teems with so many. Here are four that left an indelible impression on me.

Learning to Lament

Lament is a priceless way to approach God when we’re hurting. Vaneetha says, “Lament is crying out to God, even screaming in our pain, while trusting in His goodness.” She employs multiple Psalms as well as the experience of Naomi to explain the practice of lament. Here’s another excerpt:

“God wants us to come to Him in truth. The Bible doesn’t whitewash the raw emotions of its writers who cry out to God in anguish, fear and frustration. Lament may sound like grumbling, but the spirit behind it is different. Grumblers want to talk about God, not to Him. Their questions are accusations, and their mind is made up as they bitterly withdraw. Those who lament want God to draw near, they want God’s presence in their pain. They are trusting and searching, looking to God. Lamenters work out their problems with God with God. In most laments, writers tell God how they’re feeling about their situation, ask for what they want and finally express words of trust.”

Trusting in God, Not an Outcome

Our greatest blessing in times of affliction is intimacy with the Lord, not the outcome or more favorable circumstance we initially desire.  She cites a benefit of reading the Psalms while waiting on God during trails: “The Psalms showed me that God was deepening my faith in my waiting. I learned that my hope wasn’t in an outcome. It was in God alone. The psalms are songs of hope. Not hope that our situation will change immediately, but hope in the God who cares tenderly for us and has all of eternity to show us what He did in our waiting.”

From separate chapters I hoisted additional remarks she made on this theme:

“I realized that my delight needed to be in God and not His gifts. The best gift He can give me is not health or healing or happiness, but more of Himself.”

“I know that even if the worst happens, my pain will pull me even closer to the Lord. Suffering has taken me to the throne room of God, where I’ve had a deeper fellowship with God than I’ve known at any other time.”

“He knows that your greatest need isn’t healing or answers or friends or certainty. Your greatest need is Him.”

“I realized I needed to find God in the present and not wait for my circumstances to improve. God wanted me to find Him sufficient in the midst of trouble rather than just demanding that He deliver me from it.”

Focus on Forever

 A precious, sustaining truth for sufferers is the promise of eternal life with the Lord, where there will be no more death, mourning, tears or pain (Rev. 21:4).  She admits, “Often my hope rests in the assumption that things will get better. But what if they never do? Things may not get better for us in this life, but one day, one glorious day, everything will be made new.” She insists, “My pain will end one day. No matter what we’re going through, if we are in Christ, we know that it won’t last forever. Our suffering is momentary as we consider it in light of eternity” (2 Corinthians 4:14-18; Romans 8:18).

Do the Next Thing

Vaneetha finds this advice from Elisabeth Elliot extremely helpful for handling grief or depression: Do the next thing! Here’s her explanation.

“This advice has taken me through numerous trials and countless days, when I felt inundated and it seemed impossible to accomplish anything. These words gave me a framework after my son died. ‘Do the next thing’ meant take a shower. Write the obituary. Plan a funeral. And afterwards, it was invaluable advice in grieving when I still had the daily tasks of life before me. Make dinner. Beg God for grace. Do the laundry. Call a friend…I just wanted to curl up in a ball and cry. Give in to self-pity. Make it all go away. But I know I can’t escape indefinitely. By just doing the next thing, I was able to make it through. I had enough light for the next step, and that was alI I needed.”

I (Terry) can attest to the value of this simple counsel, especially when “doing the next thing” helps someone else. When despondency holds me in a vise grip, I don’t feel like doing anything. But when I wash dishes for my bride, call someone who’s homebound or write a letter to encourage someone else, I break out of a self-centered mindset. I ask God for the strength to do it, even if the process is a struggle. The next thing I do may not substantially alleviate my despondency, yet I use the time to serve rather than to brood about my melancholy mood.

 

What words describe her writing?

• Clear  You won’t scratch your head and wonder what she meant by a statement.
• Biblically Informed She zeros in on a different Bible text in each chapter. She doesn’t interpret Scripture through her personal experience; rather, she shows how God’s objective truth informs her experience.
• Honest  She consistently expresses her doubts, hard questions and unfulfilled expectations concerning her suffering, then discloses how meditation on God’s Word transforms her thinking and attitudes.
• Hopeful  Vaneetha illustrates how the promises of God’s Word deepen her faith and instill joy, even when the suffering doesn’t subside.

 

Gleanings from Other Christian Writers on Suffering

Though Scripture is the primary source that informs her suffering, she’s well read in extra-biblical sources as well, gleaning insights from authors past and present. She quotes John Newton, Charles Spurgeon, C. S. Lewis, A. W. Tozer, Elisabeth Elliot, Amy Carmichael, Paul Tripp, Joni Tada, John Piper and Randy Alcorn, just to name a few. I highlighted these snippets:

“If we understand that everything happening to us is to make us more Christlike, it will solve a great deal of anxiety in our lives.”   –A. W. Tozer

“Affliction does not come haphazardly, the weight of every stroke is accurately measured….the knife of the heavenly Surgeon never cuts deeper than is absolutely necessary.”  –Charles Spurgeon

“All shall work together for good. Everything is needful that God sends; nothing can be needful that He withholds.”  –John Newton

“They all lived happily ever after is not merely a fairy tale. It’s the blood-bought promise of God for all who trust in the gospel.”  –Randy Alcorn

 

Not Only for Ladies

Men, there isn’t a single chapter in the book that applies more to women than to you and me. It’s theologically sound and practical. You’ll appreciate the raw transparency as she describes her reactions to the physical limitations of post-polio syndrome, the death of a baby due to a physician’s mistake, and the breakup of a marriage due to her first husband’s infidelity. Yet you’ll benefit more from how she shifts the spotlight away from her painful experiences to the sustaining truths in God’s Word.

I also highly recommend her memoir: Walking Through Fire: A Memoir of Loss and Redemption. The Lord keeps redeeming her pain by using her to comfort and reassure others who hurt.