This vision from our heavenly Father was given to minister to my broken heart from a relationship that had ended badly. May this vision encourage and comfort you in such a time, as it has touched my heart and helped me move on with life. The vision began early in the morning, as I woke from my sleep and started to dwell on my past relationship with someone I loved for the past 5 years which ended on a bitter note.
I saw a woman dressed in a grey rugged old dress, smashing a precious and beautiful alabaster jar. The woman smashed the jar using her hand with such great force against the wall that the jar broke into many small pieces. The great impact caused some of the jar pieces to fly and injure the woman’s eyes, face, hands, feet, and even made a cut on her dress.
Like the woman who smashed the precious alabaster jar, and sustained the wounds, I ended the relationship with such force and got wounded by the experience. The woman felt the pain of seeing her efforts to keep this alabaster jar new and intact - smashed into pieces, and the pain of breaking something so dearly cherished. It was exactly how I felt about my breakup, the pain of losing someone dear in my life.
In the vision, the Holy Spirit led me to see each wound closely and how our heavenly Father healed it. First, the wounded eyes: The woman’s eyes were red and teary from the cut in her eyes, just like how my eyes were after crying at night before I slept. I saw a man walk up to the woman and waved his hands pass her eyes. After his hands passed her eyes, I saw her eyes healed. It was beautiful, clear and white, not a single redness in sight. It then dawned on me, that the man is Jesus. He came to heal this woman from her pain and wounds. The Holy Spirit was telling me Jesus is wiping my tears away, taking away my blindness to see past the hurt. I could now see Jesus’ love for me clearer and the opportunities and road ahead.
Secondly, the woman’s face had a cut on her cheek which was healed by Jesus with a wave of his hand again. This symbolized how I felt (unattractive) after knowing the person I loved has his eyes on someone else. The Holy Spirit was telling me not to compare with other people’s physical traits. What matters to our heavenly Father is the inside, our hearts and attitudes. I felt God’s encouragement upon me to see beauty in the person He has created in me, and not the physical attractiveness.
Thirdly, I saw Jesus taking my own hand, as though I became that woman I saw, and gently wiping away the blood and wound, leaving the skin of my hand renewed and restored. Telling me I can go on with life, doing things normally. God was telling me to dutifully use my healed hands to accomplish tasks He will assign to me to further His Kingdom. God saw this little sacrifice of breaking away from this unhealthy relationship and has opened up opportunities for me to serve and glorify Him more.
Fourthly, the woman’s dress had a tear just above her chest area. It signified her body and the feelings of shame, embarrassment and disgust over the exposed skin, near the woman’s intimate breasts. Just like how I felt when the person I loved tried to be intimate with me. I saw Jesus not only close the tear on the woman’s dress, but He gave her a brand new purple and white silk dress! It was so beautiful and shimmering. It symbolized God’s forgiveness and His ability to cleanse us to be as white as snow. The colour purple signified royalty, just as how the woman is of such importance to God. Again, I felt the Holy Spirit telling me gently that my sense of self-respect over my body has been restored and I no longer need to feel shameful.
Lastly, the cut on the woman’s feet was healed. This signified that God can heal us so that we need not stagger on with life alone, but to walk well with God by our side. The vision ended with the woman and Jesus walking away from the smashed alabaster jar together, with the weeping woman being comforted as they walked onto a long path ahead of them. I sensed God’s comforting words to me, as though He was telling me, “Dear daughter, your grieving over this broken relationship may seem like a long painful process but it will end soon and you will be well.”. From this last part of the vision, I have learnt to trust God to be beside us, on our journey of life. To seek Him, know Him more and rely on His great strength and love to continue to walk on. I have come to know what it means to have God as our pillar of strength.
Sometimes such painful experiences are used greatly by God to mould us and change us, to teach us something that we didn’t appreciate before and bring us closer to Him. So what I am trying to say is, do not let bad life experiences stop you from discovering the fullness and goodness that God has to offer you. Learn from it and move on. It is a sign of good Christian growth for a Christian life is not a smooth sailing easy life, but a life with many challenges. Remember, our rewards are in heaven :)
As you learn not to look back and dwell on the past hurts, pain, disappointments and regrets, your eyes will be opened to see the promises and the good plans God has in store for you. May you always walk closely with Christ in your life and seek him as your counselor, teacher, comforter, healer and heavenly Father. This vision ministered to me about a breakup but I believe the meaning of breaking the alabaster jar applies to anyone. We all have our own ‘alabaster jars’ in our life. It could mean breaking away from a bad habit, an unhealthy relationship that tears you down and brings you further from God or learning to break away from over-commitment to work, neglecting your family, etc. As I pondered on the alabaster jar, I saw the beauty of Jesus’ mighty sacrificial act on the cross for us. By focusing on this sacrificial act, it helps us to see which areas in our life can and should be sacrificed to Jesus, so that it pleases and glorifies him. This has helped me to develop a sacrificial mindset and attitude to all my relationships, to cultivate a heart of giving, not taking, and to be a blessing, not a burden to people around me. I hope you can take time to reflect and find areas to improve. As you make little sacrifices in your life for Jesus, he sees your sacrifices and will richly bless you more than you can ever imagine.
“I delight greatly in the Lord; my soul rejoices in my God. For He has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest, and as a bride adorns herself with jewels” (Isaiah 61:10).
Jesus delights in us coming to him with our Alabaster jars - material or immaterial things we treasure most, things he's granted us in the first place - to be offered back to him as a sacrifice. When I read the vision my Sister in Christ wrote, I was shocked that it was revealed to her that we often take up our Alabaster jars and smash them in front of our Lord Saviour, in bitter vengence and hurt. We don't care anymore, we don't want to cherish the good, and don't want to offer our situation it up to the Lord. We break down, inevitably and inadvertently displaying outwardly the havoc that's wrecking us internally. God sees that, and though He might reprimand us for it, He still offers us what we need most at that time - comfort, and a healing hand.
Finally, the last part of the paragraph was intentionally quoted. Somestimes, the people around us don't understand the sacrifices we make. They think of practical ways our sacrifices could be better used. But don't be disheartened for we should indeed offer our greatest worship onto Him, whatever the cost. Easier said than done, and I'm definitely not the exemplar of Christlike-ness. But lets encourage one another along the way, and build each other up :)