Once in a while I love to allow my skin to breathe. I allow it, even if temporarily, to enjoy being liberated from make up. Yes, I use make up! So don’t judge, just pray if it is your stumbling block. In my arsenal I include a tube of concealer. It helps to hide the tracks of age and any scars. Concealer can handily illuminate the shadows, cloak the wear and tear of youthful tears, stress and the repentant years of neglect. Concealer is certainly for those of us who wish to display the illusion that we are unblemished; “well put together” as my Dad would say.

Through the blessedness of spiritual transformation, God has taught me that I became a more valuable kingdom warrior when I stopped concealing scars; more specifically those spiritual and emotional ones. In the kingdom, I found that my former brokenness was a useful tool. It was a weapon that when exposed was able to bear witness and give hope to others about the Goodness of Jesus! Each wound, each heartache, every sin was cleansed, tossed aside and reinforced by His blood!

In the late 15th Century, the Japanese discovered the physical process akin to how God binds our brokenness. Kintsugi is the Japanese art of fixing broken pottery with a lacquer most often dusted with powdered gold. Kintsugi is also seen as a philosophy that bears “similarities to the wabi-sabi philosophy of embracing the flawed and imperfect (Andrea Codrington 2010).” The repairs to broken ceramic pottery were found to be ornamental and increased the value of the vessels. Not only did the visible repairs of gold lacquer, which sealed the cracks, increase its beauty and it’s worth it also made each break and crack stronger and more resilient.

Jeremiah 18:1-6