My Beautiful Broken Shell- I am Beautiful in my Brokenness

I came across a wonderful little book today, 'My Beautiful Broken Shell: Words of Hope to Refresh the Soul', by Carol Hamblet Adams.  The illustrations are watercolor seashore paintings by D. Morgan.  Both the writing and the illustrations are gentle and inspirational.  In searching for shells, she picks up a broken one, and rather than rejecting it, she sees her life in it.

We are all broken in some way, but that doesn't make us any less beautiful and worthwhile.  Having the brokenness can help us to learn and to grow.  One of my favorite pages is this: 'Thank You, Lord, for all that I learn from my brokenness...for the courage it takes to live with my pain...and for the strength it takes to remain on the shore.' 

There are a number of pages where the author thanks the Lord for things in her life. As a Jew, I am uncomfortable with books that address Jesus, even though the message may be one that I like. She is non-specific about the Lord (ie, she does not specify Jesus),  so I was comfortable with the writing.

When I looked on Amazon to find the link to this book, I found 6 with the title 'My Beautiful Broken Shell', all by the same author, with different subtitles. You might want to check out the others, as well.  This is a simple, basic concept, but so easy to forget.   'Broken shells inspire others and demonstrate the will to go on in a way that no perfect shell could ever do.'