{painting}

I have been doing a lot of painting the past 3 weeks. And a whole lot of painting the past few days. My parents have graciously taken my kiddos for me to get all of my work done. Which means, I have had long stretches of uninterrupted work....long stretches of uninterrupted thoughts.  Mary Blake and her Daddy started playing this "game" of how everything in this world points to Christ.  So that got me thinking. I have always known that the gift God has given me should point to Him, I should glorify HIM through all I paint.....but then I started thinking a little deeper about it. Our lives, our walks as believers are so much like one of my paintings. Lots of times I feel like there's no way to fix a painting, no way to make it come together. I go to bed, wake up, take another look at it and suddenly it's not so bad. Just add some color here are there. GOD'S MERCIES ARE NEW EVERY MORNING! {lamentations 3:22-23} I have been overwhelmed and defeated many days and then I would wake up to a new day, new mercies, new outlook...

As I start a painting, you really can't tell what it is going to be. Brad loves to walk by and guess what it's gonna turn out to be. As I continue to paint, I have LOTS of mess-ups. Lots of ugly splotches. I have to let those dry - wait - paint over.  The finished product of every one of my paintings comes from layers and layers of paint that alone look quite bad. The truth is, without the mess-ups, without the accidental spills, the painting would not be what it was meant to be....
My life - our lives - are full of mistakes (every single day), full of things we didn't plan, full of frustrations..... All of those come together to make you who you are. They are all part of our beautiful story. All a part of God's redemptive love. They  come together to make the beautiful picture of who we are in Christ.  

Don't be scared to slap a coat of paint on as God leads you. He's got more layers than you can ever imagine to go over it to make it beautiful.
HE WHO BEGAN A GOOD WORK IN YOU WILL PERFECT IT UNTIL THE DAY OF JESUS CHRIST {Philippians 1:6}