SHATTERED MIRROR-JOSEPHINE'S STORY BY ETTI HALL

While I was cleaning out my attic, I pulled a shattered mirror from one of the boxes of forgotten ‘treasures.’. The disjointed image looking back at me seemed to reflect how I felt inside. I don't know what shattered the mirror, but I do know what shattered me leaving behind a fractured soul (emotions, dreams, likes, dislikes…the part of our humanity that makes us who we are).

The details of my situation aren't important, but the lesson this shattered mirror taught me is worth sharing. It’s my nature to understand WHY things are the way they are, so I began to wonder why a crack in a mirror divides the image and doesn’t just show one image with lines across the face? The reason is that each broken edge reflects light. Due to all the new angles, the broken mirror actually reflects more light.

My mind immediately went to the Gospel of John when it says Jesus is "the life and that life is the light of men." Since I believe that God is good and that He can redeem anything, , I chose to believe that He would use the events that shattered me to reflect more of His light in my life and the world around me.

(Romans 8:28). I have come to realize that each of the broken pieces of my soul can reflect the light of Jesus if I let Him enter in and show me how He wants to redeem them. It has been a process. There have been some dark days when I couldn’t see how this could be possible, but God is faithful.

He has given me opportunities and ministries that I never would have imagined that day when I was sitting in my attic staring at that shattered mirror. I felt so stuck and so defeated that anything could ever get better. He continues to graciously reveal false belief systems that had pressed down so strongly that they sent splintering cracks across my soul. As I listen to who God says I am and I let His word come in and illuminate the shattered pieces of my soul, I am able to reflect His light to a hurting world around me in ways I never could have if I had never experienced being shattered.

One of my ministries is a weekly newsletter/Bible study called Death by Disorganization: Learning to Die to Self, Rest in peace while Living Abundantly. It’s geared toward women who have filled their lives with stuff in an attempt to cover the emptiness they are feeling inside. The trouble is that eventually, there is so much stuff that it can no longer be managed. Sometimes it gets put into a box and stored in the attic (or closet, bedroom, living room, every nook and cranny in a home). If you want to follow along, you can find me on Instagram (@deathbydisorganization).