Mended: Pieces of a Life Made Whole

We love to cheer for the underdog and believe to our core that every life makes a difference. And we are right. There is no one God can''t use and no one whose brokenness is too broken for God. We know this is true for our friends when we want to encourage them. Yet, when it comes to the places of our innermost sense of shame and regret, we often wonder if it is really true that God can work all things together for good for those who love Him. Angie Smith is one who was quick to encourage a friend, but struggled to believe that God could truly make something spectacular out of her broken- ness and disappointments. Responding to God''s leading to both break and reconstruct a simple pitcher, she reflected: It was as though God were saying, here you are, Angie. You are mended. You are filled with my Spirit, and I am asking you to pour yourself out. The image of my life as a broken pitcher was beautiful to me, but at the same time, it was hard to look at all of the cracks. I ran my fingers along them and told Him I wish it had been different. How I wished I had always loved Him, always obeyed Him, always sought Him the way I should. I was mad at the imperfections, years wasted, gaping holes where it should be smooth. But God, my ever-gracious God, was gentle and yet convicting as He explained. My dearest Angie. How do you think the world has seen me? If it wasn''t for the cracks, I couldn''t seep out the way I do. I chose the pitcher. I chose you, just as you are. Mended takes you on a journey to show how faith lived in the regular events of daily life is all that it takes to be a part of creating God''s picture of redemption in your life and those around you. Your life does make a difference--because of how He is magnified in the cracks. Endorsements: Even the blindest heart could behold the gift of God upon Angie Smith. The messages teeming from her life, her voice, and her pen have the capacity to pierce through all our protective barriers. As she communicates, she throws herself into the same lot with the rest of us who struggle with fears and self-doubts and flaws but she leaves none of us languishing there. God speaks hope, help, and healing through Angie and does it so endearingly and even so humorously that you let your guard down and receive, even before you meant to. I first became acquainted with Angie''s story through her blog and remember reading the entire story of her darling baby girl, Audrey, in one sitting. I felt like she was talking straight to me across a small coffee table as she described the heartbreaking news of Audrey''s prognosis, the weeks of pregnancy still to come, and the sacred moments they held her in their arms before God swept her into His. She wrote about how  Audrey would remain in their hearts forever and, through her story, she has remained in many of ours. Once I got to know more of Angie''s journey, I was slack-jawed by the realization that the two of us had our own connection in Christ. The Lord Jesus had called her to salvation as she worked through the Bible study called Breaking Free. What grace to tie two women''s lives together with journeys so different by the same woven thread of redemption! He called me to write that journey out of the restoration He brought from my own brokenness. That He would use it to accomplish something so life-giving in her brought me to my knees. I knew her to be a gifted writer as I read her blog, but it was not long before I saw more than that. I saw God blend a natural giftedness for writing with a clear determination to surrender that gift to one gorgeous end: Christ''s great fame. And then, I also saw a friend. Angie Smith is a true writer- one who has a perspective that comes only from walking through every shade of life and the shadow of death in His tight grasp."  -Beth Moore, Living Proof Ministries.…