As the familiar saying goes, “Nobody’s
perfect.” While this is certainly true,
it can be easy to misinterpret this to mean that I am hopeless, a lost
cause. If I’m already a failure and
nothing I do can help me, what use is there in trying? Of course not one of us walking on the earth
today is perfect and we are all, in fact, broken. We struggle with shame, shortcomings, vices,
and a pile of other sins that leave us feeling like a shattered vessel. It is this image that Angie Smith uses in her
devotional book Mended to represent the life of the believer who comes
to Jesus feeling destroyed, useless, and disappointing.
Smith begins her book by describing
a bit about her experience of smashing a pitcher and then painstakingly
reconstructing it piece by piece. When
the glue had dried and its previous form achieved, Smith realized that each of
us is like the broken pitcher, imperfect and flawed but re-created in Christ
into something new. He doesn’t magically
morph us into an earthly version of perfection, but instead meets us when the
pieces are scattered and helps us rebuild a life where his grace can be seen
through our weakness. The image of the
shattered pitcher becomes a metaphor that Smith returns to again and again
through the chapters of her book.
Each chapter is derived from Smith’s
writings on her blog, Bring the Rain. She revises the entries into a more devotional-friendly
style so the reader isn’t left feeling like they are just scrolling through a
website. Her writing is detailed and
personal, frequently challenging the reader to thinking critically about their heart,
their struggles, their fears, and their questions. She doesn’t pull any punches, to be sure.
Smith clearly experiences her
Savior and her faith in a very physical way.
In the chapter entitled The
Scarlet Cord, the author describes how she refocuses on Christ by imagining
him right in front of her and in her mind’s eye she reaches out and touches his
face, the thorns on his head, the terrible wounds that cover his body that he
endured for our sake. Moments like this
were very powerful for me to read, but difficult for me to relate to, not
because it was written poorly (quite the opposite!), but because I just don’t
experience my faith in that way. On the
other hand, I love the way that Smith pulls out events from the Bible such as
Rahab in Jericho, Lot’s wife, and Peter stepping out of the boat to help the
reader identify with the people who appear in God’s Word. Smith also uses several anecdotes from her
own journey, from her painful experience of losing her infant daughter to her
ability to learn a truth about God from pulling weeds in her lawn.
Angie Smith truly has a gift for
writing to women. She connects with them
with Jesus in a way that not many can. I
underlined a lot of passages and made several notes in the margin to re-read
when I’m feeling insufficient, undeserving, and too broken for God to fix. I enjoyed this book very much and I
definitely recommend reading it slowly and purposefully, with a journal and a
Bible at the ready because Smith provides several opportunities for deeper
study and meditation.
As a devotional book that helps encourage a deeper, more personal relationship with Jesus, I
would give this book 3 stars. I like it a lot, but I think it was more a stylistic disconnect that keeps me from giving it 4 stars. My learning personality just didn't jive perfectly with the way Smith teaches, but her principles are sound and her personal approach is nothing short of endearing.
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