The more I read, the more I see how the Scriptures paint a portrait of a God who sees.
A God who knows even me.
Especially me.
And who uses my life to paint His glory.
He who is good and kind, just and righteous, divine and man. Acquainted with suffering and intimate with grief. He who knows all things and holds all things together.
He sees me. And He sees you too. And nothing is an accident to Him, even when it seems like it is to us. From His perspective, it’s all just as it should be.
He paints a portrait of beauty from my mess, and from yours too. [Tweet that]
Offering our mud to Him, and Him using it as His paint, making a masterpiece from all our grime and grit. He crafts the texture and uses the smudges. And shades each piece with His glory woven through each stroke.
All I see are strokes of dirt–all the mud and all the mess.
But His view is not my own.
Does He really know what He’s doing?
Oh how I struggle with control. Wrestle with my desire to see His canvas. Now.
My patience wanes and even this process of doubting, hands more mud over for Him to use because of my complaining. More mud because of the doubting. Dirt and grime because of the questioning.
But that’s no problem for Him. In fact, He takes all that too. And He’s planned to use all that extra from the beginning, crafting it in.
Working it all for good.
I wade into the shame and guilt of my smallness in comparison to Him, and begin to go under–drowning in the deep water. But without end, He throws me His mercy again and again, as a life-preserver for my soul. And as I grab hold, He pulls me in with His grace. And I float in trust, and breathe in hope again.
No matter how many times I’m rescued, my chances are never exhausted.
He is faithful and true.
And I give thanks.
Day after day, he readies Himself to paint with my meager mud.
Every morning He throws me His life-preserving mercy that never ends.
And with each rising dawn, He crafts a canvas of beauty along the way. One I’ll never ever deserve. But one I so desperately want.
He is the Master, using my muddy messy life as His paint, to show a portrait of His love to the world.
What beauty has God painted with your mud?
I’m joining Lisa-Jo, over at her site today, to just write. The challenge is to write with the prompt she gives. And today, her prompt:
Paint…
Photo Credit: Steve Snodgrass, Flickr Creative Commons
Stopping by from FMF. What beautiful words to remind us how God can use us to show his wonderful grace.
I needed this post today! It has been a very messy week for me! God is so faithful to use us even when we are a mess! Amen!
This is absolutely beautiful! I’m so thankful He creates beauty out of my mess and knows me.
What beauty has God painted with my mud? Sometimes I think I’m so bleary eyed from having it in my eyes and being a matted mess of mud that I forget He’s making something beautiful. In my life, in my families. I focus too much on the mud and not enough on the Master. Thank you for reminding me of the beauty! This was great Jacque.
God is beauty, satan is ugliness – and he’d have it no other way than to keep reminding us of the mud mess of our lives – this only blinds us to the truth of God’s love and grace, power and sovereignty – God, give us understanding and confident trust in your love for us, your patience and faithfulness to never let us go! Thank you for this reminder Jacque!
I’m with you – my life has been SO messy! But God grabbed me out of the mess and saved me. He started to change me! I used to be so hateful and mean and hurt, and now He has taken all those things away and replaced them with joy and love and healing. I’m so thankful! Right there with ya!