Tangled Mess

I am convinced and confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will [continue to] perfect and complete it until the day of Christ Jesus [the time of His return]. Philippians 1:6 (AMP)

What Are You Doing God?
by: Author Unknown, Source Unknown

When I was little, my mother used to sew a great deal. I would sit at her knee and look up from the floor and ask what she was doing. She informed me that she was embroidering. As from the underside I watched her work within the boundaries of the little round hoop that she held in her hand. I complained to her that it sure looked messy from where I sat.

She would smile at me, look down and gently say, “Son, you go about your playing for a while, and when I am finished with my embroidering, I will put you on my knee and let you see it from my side.

I would wonder why she was using some dark thread along with the bright ones and why they seemed so jumbled from my view. A few minutes would pass and then I would hear Mother’s voice say, “Son, come and sit on my knee.”

Then Mother would say to me, “My son, from underneath it did look messy and jumbled, but you did not realize that there was a plan on the top. It was a design. I was only following it. Now look at it from my side and you will see what I was doing.”

Many times through the years I have looked up to heaven and said, “Father, what are You doing?” He has answered, “I am embroidering your life.”

I say, “But it looks like a mess to me. It seems so jumbled. The threads seem so dark. Why can’t they all be bright?”

The Father seems to tell me, “My child, you go about your business of doing My business, and one day I will bring you to Heaven and put you on My knee and you will see the plan from My side.

I know that life feels like a big, tangled mess for some of you right now.  I can’t begin to answer all of the questions you have, but I can point you to the One who has ALL the answers.  We never truly appreciate the design in many things.  The embroidered design does look like a mess when you look at it from the wrong perspective.  I have no idea how to embroider, so I can appreciate someone who works on an embroidered project.  I do know that I have looked at the tangled mess underneath and it doesn’t look all that pretty.

Many times I find myself looking to God and asking what He’s doing in my life.  Yes, it looks like a tangled mess to me.  The colors don’t look right and it certainly doesn’t feel right.  I know how I would have things go, if I were in control.  Or at least I think I know how I would have things go.  The truth is I really have no idea because I don’t know how one action could effect another action.  I don’t know what the whole picture is, only God knows.  In fact, I take a look at these last few sentences and think to myself “things need to change.”

It (tangled mess) doesn’t feel right ~ living for God isn’t about feelings!

I’m not in control ~ God is in control!

I don’t need to know how things go ~ God knows how they are going and how they will go!

So what do you say…  Let’s stop looking at life from the bottom of the embroidered project.  It is a tangled mess from where we see things.  We’ll never fully understand things from this perspective.  However, I do like the idea that one day God will invite us to hear the story of how it all comes together.  The plan, the pattern, the design…it is a work in progress…you my friend are a work in progress!

Dear Father God, I admit that I become distracted by the mess I sometimes see in life.  It’s difficult to not understand the things that happen around me and sometimes in me.  Lord, I know I don’t need to have the answers to follow You.  You are the Answer.  I continue to give my life to You and all that I am.

Giving my Tangles in Life to You,
Sarah