<\/p>\n

Only four, my small but mighty one. Vying for attention, a mischievous grin, he spins wild in circles and tiny pieces fly in every direction. I cease to breathe for a split second.\u00a0 Unintentional words and emotions fly and the mess scatters to all four corners.
\n<\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

The sparkle fades in those sapphire eyes and the voice yells loud,<\/p>\n

You are wearing rough his edges. Threatening to steal that shine.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I frantically grab hold of, gather up and try to right my wrong.\u00a0 I vainly gather like sand, slipping fast through my fingers. I look around at four sets of deep ocean blue eyes staring wide at me.<\/p>\n

The voice, it shakes me again,<\/p>\n

You are not worthy to behold such treasures.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

My world spins wild and my center of gravity fails me. I fall dizzy to my knees. Releasing my grip, the spinning subsides. I cry out and Jesus gathers me gently.\u00a0 My center of gravity, restored.<\/p>\n

I look up into the fullness of His glory and I know that he sees beyond the weary in my eyes. He speaks steady and soft,<\/p>\n

My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.\u201d
\n2 Corinthians 12:9 (NIV)<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

He then holds out His scared hands, revealing my many broken pieces. Once dull, rough, the edges jagged and sharp- piercing, wounding, breaking Him.<\/p>\n

Now shining bright, the edges rounded, smooth. Radiant in the light of His grace.<\/p>\n

So we’re not giving up. How could we!
\nEven though on the outside it often
\nlooks like things are falling apart on us,
\non the inside, where God is making new life,
\nnot a day goes by without his unfolding grace.”
\n2 Corinthians 4:16 (The Message)<\/em>
\nParaphrased by Eugene Peterson<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Only four, my small but mighty one. Vying for attention, a mischievous grin, he spins wild in circles and tiny pieces fly in every direction. I cease to breathe for a split second.\u00a0 Unintentional words and emotions fly and the mess scatters to all four corners.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":371,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"footnotes":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.magnoliaheart.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/beautiful_broken_pieces.jpg?fit=1000%2C563&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2YMk4-5V","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.magnoliaheart.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/367"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.magnoliaheart.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.magnoliaheart.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.magnoliaheart.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.magnoliaheart.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=367"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.magnoliaheart.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/367\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":699,"href":"https:\/\/www.magnoliaheart.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/367\/revisions\/699"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.magnoliaheart.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/371"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.magnoliaheart.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=367"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.magnoliaheart.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=367"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.magnoliaheart.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=367"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}