A Heart That’s Broken

*Each weekly blog is an entry from my diary written on the date and time noted below.

Friday, March 30, 2012   5:00 a. m.

Dear Diary,

An opal is a beautiful stone and the birthstone for October. Ellice Hopkins, who lived from 1836-1904, said, “an opal is a stone with a broken heart” (Ellice Hopkins. Amy Carmichael, Gold Cord, p. 38). Gemologist tells us that an opal is made up of desert dust, sand and silica. This mixture makes an extraordinarily beautiful stone. However, its beauty is due to a flaw. The stone is full of cracks. These cracks allow air to enter. This air causes the light to refract, bending the light like a prism, which sends out beautiful hues of color. Thus an opal looks as if there is an eternal flame of fire burning in the heart of the stone. Our hearts are to be like this opal. We are to be broken over our sin. And through our brokenness we let God’s light enter in which burns as a lamp in our heart, reflecting beautiful hues of God’s love. We must be broken in ourselves before we can glow the beauty of God as an eternal burning flame. “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.” (Psalm 51:17).

A Greater Plan

*Each weekly blog is an entry from my diary written on the date and time noted below.

Thursday, November 19, 2009   7:30 p.m.

Dear Diary,

In Genesis 44:2, when Joseph planted his cup in Benjamin’s sack he only planned to keep Benjamin and told his brothers to go back to their father. But God had a greater plan. God not only planned to bring Benjamin into Egypt, but all the brothers; where He would make a great nation of them. We are incapable of thinking on such a grand scale as God. I’m surprised that Joseph had given up on ever seeing his father again. All he asked for was Benjamin, his brother. But that would have meant that Jacob, his father, would have died never knowing that Joseph was still alive. And his brothers would have gotten away with murder, or they thought. But God was not going to allow that. “Be sure your sin shall find you out.” (Numbers 32:23). Joseph surely knew the pain of betrayal. There is no knife that cuts so deep. I’m sure Joseph agonized for three days when he saw his brothers for the first time, and threw them all into prison for three days. He had to conquer his need for revenge. God had to give Joseph a broken and forgiving heart; which He did, for Joseph said, “Am I in the place of God? You meant it for evil, but God meant it for good.” (Genesis 50:20).

Mountain Stone Pine

*Each weekly blog is an entry from my diary written on the date and time noted below.

Monday, July 6, 2009  4:05 a.m.

Dear Diary,

In Amy Carmichael’s book “Gold by Moonlight,” there is a picture of a Mountain Stone Pine. In the middle of the night a fierce storm swept over the mountainside and broke the stone pine tree. Though the pine tree lay twisted and broken, it was still deeply rooted. Amy Carmichael wrote, “This broken Mountain Stone Pine tree shows ‘God’s children of tempest’ who shall be found unshaken in the morning” (P. 189). Has there ever been a fierce storm of turmoil and unrest that swept through in the middle of the night; and, in the morning, all you were left with was a broken and battered mind and body? The winds of stress and turmoil can sometimes  be tremendous. But God is the Lord of the wind and rain. It is He who calms the storm. No matter how twisted or broken you may be, your faith must remain deeply rooted. As this Mountain Stone Pine tree remained deeply rooted, we, too, must be “‘God’s children of tempest’ who shall be found unshaken in the morning.”

The Law of Sin and Death

Monday, March 4, 2008   6:45 a.m.

Dear Diary,

In Pastor’s sermon yesterday I learned something new. Well, I guess I knew it all my life, but it just became clearer to me. When Jesus Christ died on the cross He broke the law of sin and death. Certain laws were established in the beginning of time. Just like the law of gravity, there was a law established in the beginning that said: If sin entered man, that man belonged to Satan; and because of that sin man must die. That was The LAW. Satan held the keys to sin and death. But when Jesus died on the cross, who had committed no sin, The LAW was broken and Satan’s keys were taken away. Because of Christ’s sinless death we no longer belong to Satan. “For ye are brought with a price…” (I Corinthians 6:20) and that price was Christ’s own blood. Satan lost his hold on us. Amen! I’ve never seen it as a LAW that had to be broken before. I came home from Church and watched C. S. Lewis’, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. It shows this LAW broken by Christ so plainly.

Thought for Today: Jesus says, “I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for ever more, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.” (Revelation 1:18).

Fill my cup, Lord

Saturday, December 6, 1997 10:30 a.m.

Dear Dairy,

I went to a Ladies Victorian Tea party. Each lady was to bring their own tea cup. We had such a lovely time. On the way home I started thinking how each one of us are like those tea cups. We are all different shapes and size, but yet, we are all useful to the master. Sometimes we feel a little cracked, chipped or broken. God wants to mend our cracks and chips, and He wants to put our broken pieces back together. Once we are touched by the Master potter’s hand we are made whole again. God wants to fill us, but if we are too full of ourselves, He first has to empty us before He can fill us with Himself. God wants to use us, but He needs a clean vessel. You wouldn’t want to drink out of a dirty cup. Likewise, God won’t use a dirty vessel. Each one of us will be used by God in different ways. We will all have different trials, heartaches, and pain, but each one will be used for the Master’s purpose. God wants to fill us to overflowing with Himself and be used for His glory.

Thought for Today: Allow God to mend your cracks and chips and heal your broken heart. Keep yourself pure as a clean vessel to be used by God. Ask God to fill you with Himself. “Here’s my cup, Lord. Fill it up, Lord.”