A couple of months ago, while mowing the yard, I noticed the grass in front of the house was wetter than expected. Since there hadn’t been any rain, I assumed Sari had watered the plants and some sprayed onto the grass. Yet, the next time I mowed, the same soggy patch greeted me. Last Tuesday, Sari went out again to water the plants and found the ground ‘squishy’—far too wet for the little rain we’ve had.

Curious, I grabbed a shovel and started digging, unsure what I’d find. After reaching just below the slab foundation and uncovering nothing but muddy water, I called Riley, our small group’s resident plumber—every small group needs one, trust me. Riley and Hannah arrived, shovels in hand, and it wasn’t long before Riley noticed a tiny black spot in the grout line of the cinder block. As he cleaned the area, water started visibly seeping out through a small crack in the cement.

Riley asked about the crawl space, but remember, I dug the hole just below the SLAB.  That meant we were facing a slab leak. Some pipe encased in the concrete beneath the house was leaking and soaking the yard. For all the novice plumbers out there: this isn’t good news! Was it the hose spigot, the shower, the toilet, or the sink right on the other side of that wall?

We shut off water to the spigot and decided to keep using the bathroom and try the process of elimination. After about 36 hours, the puddle began to subside. As I write this, we still don’t know exactly where the leak originates, but one thing is clear: fixing it likely won’t be simple. If you have a crawl space or a basement, you can find and fix the leak with minimal disruption. With a slab leak, sometimes the foundation—meaning the bathroom floor—must be broken apart to reach the problem pipe and make repairs.

I’ve been a pastor long enough to know that there’s a sermon illustration hiding in every situation. Sometimes, God has to break us before He can fix us. To repair a bad pipe, you may need to break a good foundation. God, in His wisdom and mercy, knows exactly what needs to be broken in us—those foundational thoughts or habits—to address the sin leaking out of our lives. Scripture gives us many pictures of this truth.

Paul thought he was serving God by persecuting Christians—until Jesus confronted and broke him on the road to Damascus, restoring him to be God’s “chosen instrument” (Acts 9). Job suffered through brokenness and emerged refined, saying, “But He knows the way that I take; when He has tested me, I will come forth as gold” (Job 23:10). John the Baptist declared, “He must become greater; I must become less” (John 3:30).

Brokenness in the Bible is often the doorway to healing and wholeness. Brokenness leads to breakthrough. Sometimes our foundations need to be busted to repair the sinfulness we harbor in our hearts. It’s not pleasant and can feel costly, but the result brings true healing.

So ask yourself: Is God breaking up old habits, sinful patterns, or bad attitudes in your life? Is there pride needing to be broken into humility, self-sufficiency into dependence on the Holy Spirit, greed into generosity, anger into peace, addiction into meaning and purpose?

May we trust the hands of our loving God, knowing that when He breaks us, it’s always for the sake of making us whole again.