I placed my cup of Hope in the sink and let the tub fill with bubbly water. I reached into the hot soapy water and picked up the cup with my left hand. I made a single swipe through the inside of the cup with the dishcloth, then, "Drop! Splash! CRASH!" My special cup of Hope was broken.

I fished broken pieces from the water. At first glance, it looked as though the handle was all that had been broken. 'No problem,' I thought. 'I can superglue it back together and it will be as good as new.' Upon further inspection though, I realized the cup housed a crack that ran from the center of the base completely to the brim.

My first reaction was disgust with myself. I chastised myself for removing it from its perch atop my desk. And as silly as it may seem, I mourned the loss of my cup.

You see, I had been broken in spirit for quite a while. Even though I continued in writing words of encouragement and hope for others to be uplifted, I felt as though I was traveling downhill fast. I felt alone, desolate and barren. I was disappointed in myself. I felt as though there was no hope left for me. All my dreams and hopes seemed to be in shambles and my heart and emotions were in a wrangled, trodden mess.

My broken cup of Hope had symbolized the culmination of my work as a writer. Now, just as the broken cup lay in pieces, so did my heart.

I placed my hands on the counter and stood there for a moment. I prepared myself to throw the cup in the garbage with the rest of the trash. In that very moment of hurt and brokenness, God spoke to my heart, and I realized not all was lost.

Sure, the cup was broke. No, I would not be able to drink from it again. But it could be fixed. The pieces that remained could be glued together. It was the perfect size to pot a small houseplant. A new function would take place of the old. Something beautiful could be planted in it. New hope would spring forth!

Psalm 34:18 says, "The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit." (NIV) At some point, we all face heartache. We each feel the pain of a broken heart. We are wounded by words or deeds. Sometimes it feels like our heart is too cracked and fractured to be put together again. We feel exposed, given out and scraps of the person we used to be. We may even tell ourselves that we are too broken to be of any use to God again.

Even in the midst of our brokenness, there is still hope. It is in these times of sorrow that God is nearest to us. In our very lowest moments, He is there to rescue us from our hurt and despair.

We may look at the shreds of evidence of what we once were and think that it is not possible to make any sense of it all. Feelings of hopelessness and abandonment may tell us we'll never be good enough again.

God picks up the pieces. He holds them gently in His nail-scarred hands. He puts us back together again, with His tender love and mercy. When he does, we are never the same again.

Through His forgiveness and grace, we are made whole once more. No, we will never be the same. We can never go back and do things the way we did before. This time there is a greater purpose for our lives. From broken pieces sprouts new life!