a beautiful thing

"But God demonstrates His own love

for us in this: while we were still sinners,

Christ died for us"

(Romans 5:8)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As I glance back at the course of my life, I stand in complete awe of the generous grace that God has bestowed upon me time after time. He has reached down into pit after pit and pulled me up, setting me back on solid ground. And He always does it with such love and such sweetness. He never acts like He tires of it, but I know He does. I know it must frustrate Him, especially those times that He pulls me out of the same pit more than once. 

He has put the broken pieces of my life back together so many times, I wonder if the lines might begin to show on the outside where He has glued me together over and over. I wonder how in the world I can even stay intact. 

Only by His grace. And His tender mercy. And His unending love. Oh, how I love Him.

Only God can take all those broken pieces and turn them into a masterpiece.

Only God can hold those jagged pieces in His hands and see the beauty for which they were created.

Only God can cradle those broken pieces in love and then start the process of remolding them into something usable for His glory.

Broken pieces. Shards of my human frailty. A shattered life. The aftermath of trying to do this thing called life on my own. Trying to do things my way. Playing by my own set of rules.

It never works that way. I don't know how many times I have come to that realization only to fall back into the same trap and the same cycle of sin. Flesh takes over and I crumble once more. Crumble into a heap of broken pieces that seem unfixable. 

I am so thankful that I am a child of God's. That in my weakness, He is strong. In my failures, He is the victory. I am so thankful that He loved me before I was even born. And that He continues to love me now.

This Christian walk is a daily walk. It is a battle against our flesh day after day. We have to purpose in our hearts to follow Christ and obey His commands. Follow Him and walk in His ways.

Our focus has to stay on Him. Unwavering and steady. When we allow ourselves to be distracted by the world, we put ourselves in danger of stumbling. When we do stumble, the quicker we become aware of it, the quicker we can repent of it and seek forgiveness for it and get ourselves back on the right path with Him.

It is a gorgeous thing that God  can look at a handful of brokenness and see hands full of purpose. He gazes at the pieces in His Hands and sees beauty. He see wholeness. He see what we are on our way to becoming. What He purposed and crafted us for. He sees what He desires for us.

You see, our precious Lord is a restorer. A redeemer. Our Master Potter can mold us, even in our broken state, and form us into a beautiful vessel. One that can be used for His glory. And that is a beautiful thing indeed.