So We Can Be Mended

There is only One who can truly mend us.

As we've continued to work on our book, and as life goes on in all its joy, heartache, laughter, and sorrow, that is one statement that has become all the more real in my life. There is only One who can truly mend us. I did learn much more than just that from writing this book. Mended has numerous themes running through it. Trust, forgiveness, and letting go of guilt are a few. But the main and most important theme of all is healing. We wanted to write a story of how God can take ugly, horrible circumstances and transform them into something beautiful. We wanted to show how freedom can be found even in the midst of heartache.

God can take our brokenness in His mighty, loving hands, and mend us.

This story resonated so deeply inside both Kirsten and I as we wrote it, then read it, then edited. Every time my eyes passed over the words, something inside me responded to them. We got the same response from many of our first readers. But I have to believe that it wasn’t the twisting plot, or our characters, who I find are so easy to care for and relate to, that made people love this book.

It was because of the theme. Being mended. Because all of us, as humans living in a fallen world, are broken. We may have decent - even wonderful - lives where a scarcity of awful things happen, but deep down inside, and even as we look at the circumstances of this world, it is painfully evident that not all is as it should be.

The world is shattered.

We are broken.

And we ache to be mended; to rise out of the ashes and become beautiful and whole.

This is not just the story of Ian, Lily, and all the other characters of Mended. This is the story of the world--of humanity. Of me. Of you.

However, the beautiful thing about this is that God didn’t leave us in our wretched, broken, hopeless state.

Instead, He offered a way to mend us.

His name is Jesus.

Our Creator stepped down into history to heal us. Not just that--He was broken so that we might be mended!

But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, And by His scourging we are healed. (Isaiah 53:5)

It blows my mind. Jesus came down to Earth and walked with us in this fallen world. He lived a sinless life, and then He allowed Himself to be shattered for us when we could not save or heal ourselves. It fills me with great humility, abundant joy, and a deep sense of awe.

I (Marit) have seen this theme in my own life and in my family. We’ve gone through some really rough times in the past few years, especially 2017. When I first met Kirsten, I was about to go through some of the roughest months of my entire life. I had no idea what I was about to face. But I did know Who God is and what He can do. As I wrote this book and watched my life shattering before my eyes, I clung to the truth that there is only One who can mend us. Jesus was there. He would get me through it. He would take care of my family. He could heal us. He could take what was wrong and use it for His glory.

There is a scene in Mended where one of our main characters, Lily, comes to the end of herself and realizes that Jesus is the only way she can be healed.

“Oh, Jesus, set me free,” she whispered. “Free me from my scars, my fear, my anger. Give me liberty from the chains that are keeping me back. I want to trust You. Be my deliverer, and set me free. Heal me. Mend me.”

She swiped at the tears that had begun to run down her cheeks. “Mend me!” she cried.

“And let me see my freedom.”

Lily’s prayer, I believe, is--and should be--the cry of humanity, from a broken people searching for healing.

That healing is our Savior, Jesus Christ.

Relaying this truth is the whole purpose behind our book. The reason Mended exists is to shout out glory and praise to an awesome God who can make beauty out of ashes.

I pray I never lose sight of the wonder and love of Jesus. He died so we can live. He gave himself up so we can be free. He was broken so that we can be mended.

Nothing gets more amazing than that.