Happy Friday!! Or whatever day you’re reading this. I hope you are abiding in God’s peace today!
This subject was given to me by the Lord about 6 weeks ago, and today was the day to write it. I am learning to not question God’s timing, and I am really starting to see just how Sovereign He truly is. It’s something I have known, but now I am starting to really know. If that makes sense. I suspect some of you who are reading this have noticed that you are listening to Him more and more and you’re starting to see and hear things you haven’t before. In the natural and supernatural! This is for you, friend. I see you and God sees you. And if you’re not noticing you’re hearing Him more, this is for you too. If you want to hear Him more, here’s how to start.
On the subject of this post, I do have authority to speak from experience. Sometimes we read or see or hear things and have the thought,
“Yeah…but you have no idea what I have been through or am going through. That may work for you, but my situation and circumstances are just too much for what you’re talking about.”
I know exactly what you mean, and I have had these very thoughts before. The last 5 years total have accrued quite a story in Frank and I’s and our girl’s lives. This will be coming out soon! Until then, I am going to write without specific details but with much knowledge on the things I’m talking about. I am just now embarking on something new and uncharted territory for me! So, you get to walk with me in my transfiguration, and I hope you are also always allowing yourself to be clay in the Potter’s Hands. Jeremiah 18.
One thing I am really just actually beginning to know and see with my own eyes is the goodness of God! I have seen His hand on countless areas of my life over the years, and I’ve known He’s a Good Father. However, I didn’t realize just how much more there was with this! There’s another layer of what it’s like to know His goodness. I’m just beginning to tap into it on the deepest spiritual levels I ever have. It’s almost frightening in a way, but it’s the fear of the Lord. I don’t think I ever actually knew what this fear felt like. Solomon in Proverbs 9:10-11:
“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. For by Me your days will be multiplied, and years of life will be added to you.”
We go through trials that can absolutely level our lives. Like, there is literally nothing left — not even the rubble. Sometimes the pain is too great that even the smoldering ashes have been taken. I know this type of pain, and some of you might too. Pain is pain, and there should never be a comparing game, either. I’ve seen folks do that. And even with me, I felt like people sometimes said, “Well, what I’m going through is nothing like what you’re going through. I shouldn’t complain.” Many times I stopped people in their tracks and told them that what they are feeling is just as legitimate as what I am feeling. God sees all of us as it’s just us and Him, and we are the only souls in our bodies. It’s a very intimate relationship, and God has tailored a God-shaped whole in each of us that only He can fill. So everything about us is uniquely crafted as He saw fit, and we are that special to Him. You don’t have to believe it for it to still be true, but I do hope you believe it! It’ll make your time on Earth so much fuller and what it was always intended to be!
Regarding the actual title of this post, I wanted to throw something out there. You guys ever feel like a season of life or an experience was totally wasted because there was so much pain in it? Things and circumstances where it’s so difficult to find just one good thing. Or if you’ve been lied to, deceived and thrown away. And you think of all the times and things that happened in a season of life and find out that it wasn’t actually what you thought it was? Or times when you’ve made decisions like a job, a move, a trip, a relationship, etc that turn out to be totally worthless (from your perception, at least). Sometimes anger creeps in, and we not only get bitter and hardened to others — but to ourselves as well. We start to take nosedives in the skies of the “if-only’s” and it’s hard to regain emotional stability while looking back at the past like that. These emotions cause blindness to Truth in our hearts. It causes the good to be immediately thrown out with the bad. Folks, I am here to say God IS good. He was always there, He will always be here, and He will always be there.
I am here to say that it’s time to stop throwing the baby out with the bathwater. Every second of our days have been accounted for by the Lord, and whatever your past holds, so does God. Nothing is ever wasted by Him! Romans 8:28 tells us that God works all things together for good to those who love Him. Keep the proverbial baby and get rid of the bathwater. There are good things interwoven with all of the bad, painful, horrific, grievous, nasty things as well. This is because God has never left us or forsaken us!
Our worship pastor shared a story he had read about a master tapestry maker. This man was teaching his granddaughter how to make beautifully perfect and amazing tapestries like he had made. He got her all set up to make her first one, and by the time she had finished it — it was the most incredible tapestry anyone had ever seen! Many came to see this masterpiece, because it was simply a miracle that she could make something like this with being so seemingly inexperienced. They asked her grandfather how he taught her so well.
His reply was profound but simple, “I anticipated where she would make her mistakes as I set up her loom, and I arranged the loom with the fibers so she could work and make what she was supposed to.”
There are some things in our lives that happen and are absolutely no fault of our own. There are things that are on us and we must own them. If you don’t think you have anything to own, ask the Lord. I guarantee you that in your life there are things to ask forgiveness for. I know my life has been littered with my own shortcomings, but God has made provision in His Sovereignty for my mistakes. Remember, Romans 8:28! He is my Master Tapestry Maker Teacher. He is your’s as well.
However these things got there and however they happened; however you got to this point right now and you’re reading this — you are meant to be. Everything about you, things you think are mistakes, things you think are amazing. Everything in your life means something, including the unity of good and bad and what these things mean to you. Joy and pain. Heartache and laughter. The night and the day. In death and in life. You aren’t powerful enough to change God’s design for you and thwart His plans! He is the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and The End. He’s in everything, cares about everything and knows everything. If you’re still alive, there is nothing you have done that is strong enough to keep you from the Father’s hands and Jesus’ blood of redemption. Today, make the decision to thank Him and praise His name! I used to emotionally give in to my pain and simply refused to see anything good in certain things. God has been gracious to me though! He has been opening my eyes to things –little snippets– of some of the reasons why things that have happened the way they have. It’s like staring into a picture from a perspective I’ve never seen before, but with His perspective. Incredible!
The reason I wanted to write this to you is so you, too, can see what your future can hold. Regardless of what things may look like here on Earth. What we see with our physical eyes isn’t eternal like the things our spiritual eyes can see by the work of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is like the muscle of the Earth! I heard that said at church a couple of years ago, and it’s stuck with me. Just like what Proverbs 17 is talking about, God multiplying your days and restoring what the locusts have eaten and redeeming time that was stolen. This is for you.
Give this life a go.
Start fresh right now. In Jesus’ name!
I love you all! Enjoy your weekends.