I am linking up for Five Minute Friday. The FMF is hosted by Kate Motaung on the new Five Minute Friday blog. Today’s prompt is “Support.” This community is such a gift to me. As I settle into a new community, I am trying to find rhythm and routine once again. The Five Minute Friday Twitter party along with one of my other favorite Twitter chats #SlateSpeak which is hosted by the Slate Project are two places I have longed for and are once again bringing me some routine. I am sad when I miss these Twitter parties. We’d love to have you join us on Thursday nights for our Twitter party.
One must break to become whole again. At the beginning of the summer, I felt incredibly broken. Yet God placed some amazing people into my life; who have helped put the broken pieces of me back together again. There was my friend E.G. who dropped everything, drove 30 minutes, just to be with me. She even brought wine. There were my friends who gave an ear to listen and a shoulder to cry on. This interwoven community of friends and family who have supported me through it all.
God has this way of always knowing what we need and placing incredible people in our lives. A community; online and in the flesh. A community who continually shows me Gods love. A community that truly knows both our pains and sorrows. A community of support that comes in the forms of texts, hugs, packages, phone calls and so much else.
These beautiful souls that together pick up the pieces and piece us back together. We will never be the same. We will forever be changed by our life experiences. God takes us in our brokenness, pieces us back together, and it is through the cracks where the light gets in. Out of our brokenness, we are made even more beautiful! For it is the cracks, that tell our stories!
(Check out the Japanese art form kintsugi)
lovely post that’s full of truth, and I love this song! Thanks for posting it again!
Thank You! And you’re welcome!!!
Love this, Tara. I have a homemade example of kintsugi on a shelf behind me, a huge decorative plate that was on display at a Pier One, and broken. Barb bought it at full price, so the plate would not feel disrespected, and I spent months putting as much back together as I could.
It will never be whole, but it is even more beautiful for that.
Thanks Andrew! That is so cool that you have a homemade example of kintsugi. And indeed it is even more beautiful!
Tara, such a beautiful post. God is truly gracious. He created us to need each other. YOu are blessed to have a beautiful community who surrounds and pieces you back together.
You are a blessing, friend!
Thanks friend. I am indeed blessed. You are a blessing too.
Thank you Tara. Yes such beauty He brings. So glad you were supported this summer. Blessings on your weekend, Julie
You’re welcome Julie! Blessings to you as well.
I’m so glad you have IRL support as well as your online support! Community crosses time and space.
Me too!! Me too friend!
We were meant for community, whether it be physically local or emotional over a distance. I know what you mean about a season of brokenness and I am forever grateful for those who walked with me (and those who still do) through those difficult times. Thank you for the reminder that our brokenness can be make beautiful.
We were indeed meant for community.
I’m so glad you have that community, Tara! I get caught up in “do it myself” attitude and when I stop and let others care for me, I’m so amazed at who God has brought into my life.
Me too, Annie!
I just knew this summer wasn’t all “peaches and cream.” You hid it well. So glad your friends rallied – and now, you have new digs, a new job, and you’ll make new friends. Life will be exciting! xo
Guess I am better at hiding it than I thought. I am so thankful for my friends who rallied too. Life will indeed be exciting. It already is! xo
As soon as I saw your title I knew I was going to love your post! (This will make more sense soon!) I love how God makes beauty out of our brokenness, and I love the song too. It was you who introduced it to me last year when you shared about it in your guest post. 🙂
Aww thanks Lesley! It is such a great song. I often listen to it on repeat.
Yay for amazing friends! Your words remind me of these lyrics I ran by this week: “Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack, a crack in everything
That’s how the light gets in.” -Leonard Cohen
I’m so glad they brought you the filling and the love you needed. You give it all around here.
Love this! That song popped into my head immediately after I posted my post. Thank You! I do my very best to try and give love all around here.
Beautiful, Tara, in words and friendship 🙂 We so need the support of others. And I have always LOVED this song and it was good to hear it again this afternoon.
Indeed!
This was really lovely. God is so good to give us who and what we need when we need it.
Thank You!
Hi Tara! My first comment deleted, so I’m testing this.
Grr….sorry the first comment deleted. Thank you for being persistent!
Passed the test. Okay, second draft!
Thank you for sharing this beautiful post.
This reminded me of wheat. How the husk actually protects the seed inside it, and how that must crack for the seed to become a plant. And the next breaking of the soil as the plant comes up is what leads to the growth!
Why do breaking and dying and growing all seem to cycle together? I don’t know, but I’m there with you, sweet sister!
I can attest that God is GOOD and coming out the other side, His rewards are so great!
You are like Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. You don’t smell like smoke. 🙂
So thankful for your consistent support, every time I post. I am sorry I didn’t make it over your way this week until now. It seems the weekend is my only time to catch up!
Love,
Tammy
Oooh I love your analogy to wheat. As a farmers daughter, granddaughter, niece, it made me smile because it is so true. God is indeed good and God’s rewards are indeed great. Ooh you know, I don’t smell like smoke….thats so true. Love you too friend!
Gah! That song! It’s one of my favorites! Love this, friend! And LOVE that you were so surrounded and supported! God is good!
Of course, it’s one of my favorite songs too! Me too! God is so so good. God is a good good Father. Love you!!!
The cracks reveal the glory of God in us. They show how He uses the weak to accomplish the impossible. Love that. Love you, friend.
Ooh love! And love you right back friend!!!
Oh, Tara, I have just recently sang this song to myself as a prayer. A reminder that God is a creator of beauty in the most messy or barren of situations in life. “Out of our brokenness we are made even more beautiful.” Thank you so much for this reminder
Wow! So cool. And you are so very welcome!
Beautiful post, Tara. I’m so glad you were able to experience that community support — and that God so lovingly puts our broken pieces back together.
Me too!
I’m so happy to hear the support system in your life buoyed you up.
Thanks! They were phenomenal!!!
You’re now the 4th in recent weeks I’ve seen mention the art of kintsugi. What a beautiful art, especially when it’s one that’s applied to our lives by friends. Glad you feel that support through your community of friends.
Funny how that happens. And I am so thankful for friends too!
Yes Tara. One of my very favorite worship songs. And once again we’re writing in similar veins. After a hard year, healing is coming and a plethora of support too. We’re the same yet not the same. I always go back to a talk Patsy Clairmont used to give “God Uses Cracked Pots” We’re cracked and broken, but we’re still useful girl!
I love that it is one of your fave worship songs too. Healing is indeed coming and I am so very thankful for that for both of us. Indeed we are still useful!
“For it is the cracks, that tell our stories!” I got a good chuckle out of that! Those places in me I frantically stuff with this and that are the windows into how God has worked in my life. It’s silly to cover up what will give God glory!
Visiting from #53 in FMF.
God bless!
Right?!?! Oh how easy it is to run right that is the beauty God uses to show God’s glory in our lives.
Tara, so nice to hear reports of people who are being the church to you…encouraging you and supporting you in the ways you need.
Thank You!
Oh, this song! I’m glad you have people around to support you. We need such people in our lives.
Amen!
Tara I just love love love your heart. I am so glad that God has placed so many wonderful supportive people in your life to really show you how much you are loved. They truly were and are His hands and feet.
Love hearing “Beautiful Things” by Gungor.
Thank You so much Kelly! Indeed they were and are God’s hands and feet. I can listen to “Beautiful Things” continuously!!
I’m glad God isn’t done with us when we’re broken, and I’m so glad you had support both online and in your community during this time.
Me either friend! Me either! And me too!
So good to have amazing friends who are just there when we need it, and bring wine – bonus! So glad that you are discovering your rich support network
It is indeed amazing! And that wine was such a simple thing but such a profound gift! Just what I needed in that time and space! 🙂