Brokenness can lead to wholeness.

我们虽破碎，因主得完全。

We have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.2 Corinthians 4:7

我们有这宝贝放在瓦器里，要显明这莫大的能力是出于上帝，不是出于我们。-哥林多后书4章7节

In 2011, a magnitude 9 earthquake and a resulting tsunami took nearly 19,000 lives and destroyed 230,000 homes in the region northeast of Tokyo. In its aftermath, The Nozomi Project, named for the Japanese word for “hope,” was born to provide sustainable income, community, dignity, and hope in a God who provides.

在2011年，日本东北发生9级强震并引发大海啸，造成近1万9千人丧生，23万户民宅遭损毁。一个名为希望计划（Nozomi Project）的社会企业于灾后诞生，为灾民提供基本收入、社区关怀、并重建他们的自尊与信心，更帮助他们认识那位供应一切的上帝。

Nozomi women sift through the rubble of homes and furnishings to discover broken china shards that they sand and insert into fittings to form jewelry. The jewelry is sold around the world, providing a livelihood for the women while sharing symbols of their faith in Christ.

参与这项计划的妇女在残破的房屋与家具中，寻找并筛选瓷器的碎片，加以磨光之后再制成珠宝饰品。这些饰品被销售到世界各地，为这些妇女提供了生计，也显明她们对基督的信心。

In New Testament times, it was customary to hide valuables in the unlikely vessels of simple clay pots. Paul describes how the treasure of the gospel is contained in the human frailty of followers of Christ: jars of clay (2 Cor. 4:7). He suggests that the meager—and even at times broken—vessels of our lives actually can reveal God’s power in contrast to our imperfections.

在新约时代，人们习惯将贵重的物品，藏在简陋的瓦罐里。保罗描述软弱的基督徒就像瓦器一般，盛装着珍贵的福音（哥林多后书4章7节） 。他也指出我们的生命虽如同瓦器一样薄弱，有时甚至破碎不堪，其实更能够彰显上帝的大能。

When God inhabits the imperfect and broken pieces in our lives, the healing hope of His power is often more visible to others. Yes, His repair work in our hearts often leaves the scars of cracks. But perhaps those lines from our learning are the etchings in our beings that make His character more visible to others.

当上帝修复我们生命中的不完美和破碎之处时，人们能因此看见上帝医治的大能，得着盼望。当然上帝在我们心中的修复工作，会留下修补的痕迹。然而，在学习历程中，这些留在我们生命里的痕迹，会让人们看到上帝的全能。

Dear God, please show others Your power as I share the treasure of Your gospel in my broken, but beautiful life.

亲爱的上帝，当我用破碎却美好的生命

与人分享宝贵的福音时，求祢让人们看见祢的大能。

2 Corinthians 4:7-18New International Version (NIV)

⁷ But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. ⁸ We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; ⁹ persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. ¹⁰ We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. ¹¹ For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake,so that his life may also be revealed in our mortal body. ¹² So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you.

¹³ It is written: “I believed; therefore I have spoken.”^[a] Since we have that same spirit of^[b] faith, we also believe and therefore speak, ¹⁴ because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you to himself. ¹⁵ All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God.

¹⁶ Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. ¹⁷ For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. ¹⁸ So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

整理：于姊妹