Finding Beauty in Broken Pieces: God Makes Broken Things Beautiful

By Dr Anniekie Ravhudzulo

THE BEAUTY IN BROKENNESS
Have you ever tried picking up the broken pieces of a broken ceramic objects or glass and putting them back together? If so, wasn’t it a conscientious task? First, depending on the size of the destruction, you would probably have to search all over the place to recover the broken pieces. Then after collecting all the broken pieces, you are left with yet another formidable task of putting the broken object back to its original form.

God makes broken things beautiful. Consent God to heal the wounds of your past heartbreaks and people who left and anyone who couldn’t fully love you. Allow Him teach you the lesson behind each heartbreak. Broken things are despised as meaningless, but God can take what has been broken and remake it into something better, something that He can use for His Glory.

Sometimes, God just wants you to surrender. This is a key element of Faith. Surrendering is an act of strength, not weakness. Because it takes a great deal of strength and wisdom to admit that you don’t have all the answers and you can’t change your life. Broken things and broken people are the results of sin.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris UK
• Release date: Feb 24, 2020
• ISBN: 9781984593979

Dr Anniekie Ravhudzulo

Author Bio Coming Soon

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Copyright © 2020 by Dr Anniekie Ravhudzulo.

ISBN:      Softcover         978-1-9845-9398-6

                eBook              978-1-9845-9397-9

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Rev. date: 02/24/2020

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Contents

Dedication

Acknowledgements

Chapter 1 Life is Filled with Broken Things

Chapter 2 Broken Pieces in a Broken World

Chapter 3 The Meaning of Brokenness

Chapter 4 The Process of Brokenness

Chapter 5 God Makes Broken Things Beautiful

Chapter 6 The Beauty in Broken Pieces

Chapter 7 When your Life is Broken into Pieces

Chapter 8 Brokenness is Normal

Chapter 9 Brokenness is an Opportunity of Growth

Chapter 10 The Effects of Brokenness in a Marriage

Chapter 11 Pick up Your Broken Pieces

Chapter 12 Obstacles are Opportunities With Thorns

Chapter 13 Going Through Extreme Brokenness

Chapter 14 Your Situation is Temporary

Chapter 15 Negative Attitude Drains

Chapter 16 Never Worship Brokenness

Chapter 17 Life Is Like a Game of Tennis

Chapter 18 God Heals Broken Hearts

Chapter 19 When One Door Closes, God Opens Another

Chapter 20 Turning Your Wounds into Wisdom

To Contact the Author

Other Books by the Author

DVD’s and CD’s by the author

Services by the Author

Dedication

This book is dedicated with love to my beloved husband, Dr Aaron Ravhudzulo, who has consistently given me more than I ever wanted to pray about. Both you and I know that prayer works, and we found the beauty in broken things, I love you!

Acknowledgements

With special thanks:

• To Thendo Ravhudzulo, for bearing the load of another book deadline. Your love as a son, faithfulness as a friend, and richness as a partner in Business can only be equalled by your productivity and dedication as my highly cherished and unique assistant.

• To my six granddaughters Muanza-Zwivhuya, Mulondi, Mukhethwa, Mukona-Zwothe, Ondwela, Wavhudi and a grandson, Hakundwi, for loving your grandfather and I, through the times we modelled for you the best way to run prayer sessions at Kuku Fire’s house. I pray that you will carry all the good you have learned into your own families.

• To Nothing Lasts Forever Ministries of Hope: General Ndamulelo, Mohau & Wavhudi Ravhudzulo, Pastor Soul & Sharon Ratshisusu, Pastor Solly & Velly Sinthumule for all your encouragement and support, enthusiasm about the Ministry and your consistently positive input.

• My special thanks to Mrs. Wendy Ramathikithi for her editorial assistance and helpful suggestions, which greatly improved the manuscript.

Chapter 1

Life is Filled with Broken Things

After all has been said and done, and everything has been destroyed, the only parts of our lives that will have lasting value are the broken pieces at the end of our lives. We feel the blazing pain of every false smile, faithless friend, disappointment in a spouse, and the hard discrimination we see on every side. Life is filled with broken things and if you are honest, most of them are on the inside of that person we see in the mirror every morning.

Remember, your journey is your own, but the human experience is wide, which is why the next time you encounter someone, you can be certain that they are filled with broken pieces too. The good that God brought into existence from the pain you have suffered, might just be the Grace and understanding heart you have for your fellow voyager. There is more room in a broken heart and sometimes God must break your heart to make room for others.

This book, Finding Beauty in Broken Pieces, is a revelation which God wants me to remind you that LIFE is like a puzzle. When life is fine, all the pieces fit together, but when your heart gets broken, it takes a while to get everything back together again. God makes broken things beautiful. God can heal a broken heart, but He must have all the pieces.

The way the world looks at things is so different from the way God looks at them. The world values the decent, powerful, proud, and big. God values a broken and a remorseful heart, a heart that is humble and bows down before the King of kings. Brokenness injuries send pieces of pain throughout your life. Who would want that? Brokenness squeezes a whole lot out of a person, but it can also be of great importance in God’s hands. The value of your brokenness can be used by God to improve the lives of others.

Life requires you to pay a heavy price, but will you receive the value of your brokenness? Will you receive what God has in store for the most horrible things that have happened to you, allowing Him to bring peace in your heart and good to the lives of others from all the pain, shame, ugliness, and heartache?

Today we are living in an era of violence, a time of revolutionary and extraordinary changes. In the midst of these changes, people are living in darkness, despair and discouragement. The homeless, the downtrodden and dispossessed are everywhere including those who suffer injustice, human indignity and unbelievable poverty in a world where there is more than enough for all. Cry out in desperate hope for healing and transformation that will lead to a new day and a new way of life.

In addition, there are abused, mistreated, abandoned children and thousands of others who experience unimaginable pain and misery. My Ministry, Nothing Lasts Forever Ministries of Hope, which God has called me into, is facilitating healing and transformation through Jesus Christ. God sent me out to give people new hope, new confidence to fight against fear and structures of evil. In addition, to give people new strength to proclaim and celebrate new life in the midst of death.

With Him, I say, all things are possible. Luke (1:37) reminds us that nothing is impossible with God. Let me tell you, NO ONE can dim the light that shines from within. I often reminisce the events and experiences that have taken place throughout my life, which have broken me down and ultimately made me the person I am today. As unpleasant as it is to relive the past at times, I have found that occasionally looking back on experiences with deep reflection and gratitude can be a way in which one can find the beauty in broken pieces. God can make your broken pieces beautiful. Pick up all the broken pieces and bring them to the hand of a restoring God.

Life is too short to worry about senseless things. Throughout my life, brokenness is something that I have managed to become very well acquainted with, and is something I have learned to be an essential part of life. I have learnt that God uses broken things. It takes broken soil to generate a crop, broken clouds to bring rain, broken grain to produce bread and broken bread to supply energy. Remember that it is the broken alabaster box that emits perfume.

We are all slightly broken, injured and damaged. We have all experienced some weathering in this thing that we call life. As I was going through, I used to spend so much time grieving over my brokenness with the false conviction that being broken was a bad thing. Nevertheless, I have come to know that it is not. Life has taught me that broken people are the most beautiful people. Brokenness opens the doors to things you never thought were possible. Brokenness makes you strong, and in the end unbreakable. Brokenness allows God to work in your life if you let Him. Moreover, I consider it a miracle and a blessing as we grow in faith.

Therefore, if you are feeling broken, if you feel like the Heavens are silenced, and there is little to no healing soon, my message to you today would be that there is Hope and Healing ahead. The best is yet to come. Even when it feels impossible, it is not, things are never as they seem. Our Lord and Saviour does not leave us comfortless. Let your brokenness propel you to great things and always remember that God loves broken things.

Chapter 2

Broken Pieces in a

Broken World

We are broken pieces in a broken world. Our world is broken on every level, from the family to international relations. The news continuously reports broken relationships, strife-ridden communities and opposing nations. We live in a broken world of suffering, heartbreak and anger. I want to encourage you to be kind to yourself in whatever aspects you can. Pursue balance in your life, it could be work and life balance.

Perhaps this means balance between engaging with the broken world and seeking relief from the brokenness. Possibly it means balance between focusing outward on the world and on the work that needs to be done and focusing inward on your own heart and soul. Life is a marathon, not a race. The great strives for fairness, political rights, security in all four worlds (physical, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual).

There is an approaching presence that brightens all things. Remember to welcome that presence into your life. Possibly that entails making regular time for meditation and prayer. Maybe it requires regular prayer or unplanned prayer, whenever you feel called to speak to God. Perhaps it means spiritual direction, discerning the presence of God in your life. Remember, pain is real, some pain is deep, and all pains are scars.

I have experienced deep pain, but I do not know your pain. I know a God who does. He knows your deepest grief. Jesus was a man of deep sorrow and distress. Don’t be scared to ask for help from God. I have learn that a lot of pain happens when a good desire goes wrong. You want a good marriage and family, great children, a wonderful job and something goes wrong. Situations happen but a lot of times you make the mistake of not seeking help. Don’t let pain stop you because pain is designed to tell you to stop.

I know too many people who have suffered pain and live in defeat. I love the story of the widow in the book of Luke 18. This woman was powerless and broken. A creditor was improperly pursuing her. She refused to give in. As tough, embarrassing, painful and unlikely as justice seemed, she continued in crying out for justice. She never stopped until the judge finally granted her justice. According to Luke (19:7-8) we are told that, And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly.

Have you ever felt or feel traumatized, broken or as if, your life was just in "pieces"? My speculation is that a lot of you will certainly say no. If so, then I urge you to really pause and think about your life both past and present. Have you ever lost a