Before you do anything else, watch the book trailer at the bottom of this page. This was my first introduction to Mended the book, a video of Mrs. Angie Smith (wife of Todd Smith from Selah) passionately speaking about a pitcher she personally hammered into pieces, then tediously glued the shards back together to form a noticeably imperfect pitcher. You can watch the video yourself to see why breaking ceramic can be so therapeutic, yet also provide a valuable teaching lesson. 😉
This lesson wasn’t trite, which is why it had such a magnetic pull on me. This brief story of beautifully broken ceramic is the first story in a series of mini stories. Rather than a book that focuses on one topic, and covering this one topic throughout the book, Mended is like the pieces of fractured ceramic. Each chapter is a separate stand-alone story that is read more like a devotional entry or blog entry. All stories are “mended” together to create the final structure of Mended the book.
The Author Makes the Book
What someone may not notice behind the smile Angie Smith flashes in many of her pics and videos is the looming heartache in spite of her rooted faith. This woman has been through a gauntlet of trials, especially in the reproductive area which gravely hits the female population more than what’s talked about. Angie Smith has experienced miscarriages, as well as the struggle of almost losing her twins. A medical professional relayed to her that the two souls sheltered inside of her were on “the cusp of vitality.” To delay her pregnancy, they gave her a medication that sent her into a torrent of hallucinations for over three weeks. Her twin daughters miraculously survived, but one was buckled into the car seat, while the other was in the neonatal unit. Angie’s husband was still a working man and had to be sent off to perform away from the house, and away from the heartache at home. Stress mounted as Angie had to be in two places at once, nursing her daughter cocooned in the crib and to her little one struggling for health at the hospital. Time ebbed on before Angie and Todd were expecting another daughter. This one resulted in the death of her freshly born baby. I wish I would have read these accounts in Angie’s’ previous book I Will Carry You which chronicles the pain she endured. A more in-depth backstory of her life would have made the mini-stories of Mended resonate all the more.
Broken, Yet Whole
Throughout the book, we get a glimpse at the brokenness of Angie Smith’s trials that aren’t glazed over. Some of the trials
mentioned are heftier like the ones already mentioned, and others are ones most of us can relate to, such as comparing ourselves to others. In one of my favorite mini-stories, Angie Smith mentions how God is not looking for us to be like Moses…or any other famed figurehead. She mulls further, “I don’t know who your ‘Moses’ is, but I can think of several people in my life whom I have seen myself as a pale shadow of- people I want to look up to and emulate in some sense. At the heart of it, it isn’t even what I see as greatness in them, but rather the way it casts light on the weaknesses I perceive in myself. How much time do I spend comparing, contrasting, evaluating, doubting, and allowing myself to feel the disappointment when the Lord tells me over and over that He loves me?” (My emphasis added.)
Through every mini-story in Mended, we see the heart and mind of a woman who holds grief to this day (and understandably so) but also a woman who wishes to encourage others through their own moments of darkness. In the end, it becomes more understandable that we all need mending.
I received this book for free from B&H and the opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”