All Things New... What about the broken pieces?

Addiction shatters lives. Not only the lives of the addict but their families. The chaos, the insanity of loving someone lost in addiction leaves a wake of broken hearts, broken promises, broken dreams and broken lives. The chaos, the insanity of loving someone lost in addiction leaves a wake of broken hearts, broken promises, broken dreams and broken lives.
 
After years of living with someone lost in addiction, I looked at my life and couldn’t image how anything good could come from the broken mess. I struggled with Romans 8:28, “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” How could God take all the broken pieces and make something beautiful? How could He make “all things new”?
 
As I wrestled with the truth of scripture in contrast to the dark reality of my life, I began a journey that I could not have dreamed possible. Second Corinthians 5:17 tells me that I am a new creation, the old has gone, the new has come. In my mind, I picture shiny, perfect, unused, new. As my children and I have fought to rebuild our broken lives and as I have attempted to share hope with others in Hope For Addiction, I have questioned this picture of “new.” The perfect, new image in my mind is not matching real life. So is God’s Word wrong? Or is my understanding wrong? Of course, God’s Word is infallible, so I must be missing something!
 
So what if “new” is something different? Can God make something new, yet still reveal evidence of brokenness? I believe the answer is yes. Scripture never ignores the reality of life. The Psalmist is raw in his cries of suffering. Paul talks candidly of the struggle. We live in a broken, fallen world. To expect something different is unrealistic.
 
Then these realities collide in the most precious picture. Jesus. It always comes back to Jesus. He still carries the scars of His suffering. The suffering He endured because of my sin. He took God’s FULL wrath so I don’t have to. And, He did this to make me new! If Jesus still carries scars, why wouldn’t I?
 
He makes things new. This is true. What if “new” means beautiful, different, unique, not the same? He puts the pieces back together, makes us new, but the evidence of brokenness remains.
There is another promise that gives us hope. Revelation 21 reminds us that there is a day coming when Jesus will return for His children. That day He WILL make everything right. All that is broken will be made new; the shiny, perfect new. He will wipe away every tear, death will be no more, there will be no mourning, no crying, no pain.
 
No more brokenness. ​
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Until then, we all carry the scars of the brokenness of this life, but with the hope of what Christ has done for us and His continuing work in us. He has made us new. His healing of our broken lives is evidenced by the scars that remain, making us beautiful, new and not the same as we once were. That is great hope!

 
Liz Beck, President
​Hope for Addiction, Inc.