No matter the season in life that you find yourself, God has designed you specifically for that season! He has known you before the beginning of time. He formed you. He created you. He has molded you through the years and designed you for the moment you are in right now. Even on your worst day, in your worst season, and yes, even in those death moments, when you wonder if He’s even near, He knew you would be there. He knew what you would need to survive, to make it through and to escape those dark moments.

Trial. Sickness. Childbirth. Teen years. Dying parent. Loss of job. Location move. Loss of friend. He has equipped you to get through it. He has trained you and provided for you the means to conquer and to win!! I used to wonder why God would have allowed me to be a child of a neglective father, a daughter with an opposing personality to my mother, a person who is very flexible, sensitive, quick to shed a tear, and tender hearted toward things that, sometimes, maybe seemed odd to “tougher-minded” people. I didn’t know then that He would one day have me marry a man called to the ministry, that I would encounter people from all walks of life, and be called upon to reach them in some way. I had no idea those wounds, those places of pain that were so hard to endure throughout my youth, would be the very things which helped me to relate to those around me, those who were hurting and wondering if God even cared for them. I never thought that my eyes that so easily shed a tear would one day be the very things that helped me see another’s pain. I never knew, those many years ago in my childhood, that my love for writing would birth a blog-writing passion as an adult, and that passion for writing would be projected from a pulpit on Sunday mornings and end up reaching people I hadn’t even personally met. I never knew that my easy going, yet, love for details-type personality would be tailor made for my strong-minded, type-A, leader husband, and that this same personality would help me to raise our two very strong-minded, independent, and adventurous boys, but it is, and this has been the perfect compatibility to make for a fun-loving, safe, secure and warmth centered home.

You see, each of us are handcrafted to think a certain way, talk a certain way, and even to act/react a certain way. God has designed us to fit the plans He has for us. Now, we can mess all that up, and we can reject His plans for our life, and we can even delay His best when we stubbornly hold onto those things which He desires us to lose. However, if we submit our lives to Him, even through our screw-ups, He is continually working things out for our good. Even through tragedy and other people’s sins toward us, God can still work His good into our lives. It doesn’t mean God makes these tragedies and these wounds happen to us; yet, He does know they will come. He does know when they will happen, and I can’t answer all the whys that we each may have in those moments; however, I can tell you He is a God who knows our pain, feels our pain and can comfort us in your pain. I can tell you He is a God who can take our pain, our tragedies and our failures, and He can mold and create a beautiful work of art from it! He is a Master Potter, a Master Artist…He can work a masterpiece from just a muddy lump of clay!!

Sometimes, I see it as a fine tapestry, which if only seen on the backside, it appears to have no pattern, no design and definitely no beauty that could be apparent to anyone of reason; yet, when that same tapestry is turned over, the most beautiful artwork will appear. When that same tapestry is hung in a great hall to be viewed by many, it brings great admiration and even reverence for its beauty. When placed in the mighty hands of our Creator, our lives can be as this beautiful tapestry. He miraculously weaves and interweaves His beauty to bring forth His beautiful plans for our life.

If you find yourself, in this moment, wondering why your past is as it is, and you wonder if there could possibly be any good to come of your life, I encourage you to just place your hand in the hand of the One who created you. Just take that little step toward Him, and you will find He is already there, waiting on you to call His name. Submit your life to the One who intricately formed and designed you for His purpose and His plan. He can see so much more than we can see. He knows so much more than we could ever know. Why would He not be the perfect One to guide and direct our lives?