​​Vol. H-0009  No. H-0001 January 2002

TAPESTRY

​Our lives are like radiant tapestries hued with color and depth. Some areas are vibrant and moving. Others may seem notably dark, lonely, even desolate; threads woven here appear to be void of peace and happiness. Yet from God's perspective each is being used to weave into our lives a dimension of His love and hope.

It is here, in the varying colors of life, that you discover His plan and distinctive pattern for your life. Even if you have not been given the advantage of seeing life from God's perspective, you can trust Him because He is faithful. (Deuteronomy 7:9) You can know that because of His sovereignty He has designed the overall pattern of your life into something of beauty and wonder.

You are "His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that [you] would walk in them"(Ephesians 2:10).

Regardless of whether you feel or understand it, God has given your life a design and purpose. Some believe that because of past sins the tapestries of their lives are dark and frayed, but God brings beauty out of their failures. He is able to cleanse us of our sin and restore the tattered portions of our lives.

We can become earthbound in our view of God and His mercy.  We think in terms of what we accomplish in life as having purpose and meaning.  But the apostle Paul tells us in Ephesians 2:8-9 that "by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast."  There is nothing you can do to avoid some of the experiences of life. They happen because life happens.

On the other hand, you certainly can say no to sin. But understand that when you do fall there is Someone who loves you and accepts you and is willing to restore your fellowship with Him completely.

He is the same One who can take even the darkest threads of your life and use them to t r y
bring color and dimension to His design.  These knows the potential your life holds and He is threads - the threads of sorrow, heartache,             committed to completing what He has begun. failure, disappointment, and sin - are used by              Even if you feel walled away from Him, He the Master Weaver to select the richest color       wants you to know that He is concerned and and the deepest dimension in the fabric of your     He will not give up on you. "He who has begun life.  These colors are the colors of His grace           a good work in you will complete it until the day

given to you.                                                                    of Jesus Christ"; (Phil. 1:6b)2 Don't waste the

sorrows that come your way.  Allow Him to use the color of these threads to weave a deeply   He holds the threads of your life in His hands.   rich and spiritually inviting pattern into your He may choose to use a brilliant yellow or a life by submitting your will to His loving plan. mossy green, or the sunset blues and pinks        Love and acceptance are basic needs that each which we all enjoy.  But also there are the           one of us experiences.  It is a wondrous thing to autumn times of our lives, when we live in the        know and realize that God made the first move realm of earth-tone browns, oranges, and even toward us in love when He sent His Son to to the point of black.  But remember, if white is    earth.

the absence of color, black is the combination of all colors mixed together.

  Seasons when we feel as though we will never   When you accept Him as your Savior, you laugh again are the very times God is weaving             turn away from the darkest threads of life and an inner thread within us that is stronger than              toward Someone who has the power to weave any we have known.  Difficulties can bind your hope and light throughout your past and future. heart to the heart of God like nothing else.        You are a child of God, saved by His grace,   In the darkness of our fear or distress, there is            and on your way to heaven.  Never forget why the comfort of His burgundies and teals, with  you are here: to enjoy His fellowship, to learn hints of golden cords woven throughout.  No        more about Him, and to serve Him while experience in life is void of many colors.  Tears  experiencing His love and acceptance in can catch the sunlight just as they can blend             preparation for the day you will be with Him with the grays of a rainy day.         for all eternity.  Never forget what God is doing

in your life.  He is at work, and He will bring

  You may be thinking, "But I don't even feel      whatever He has started within you to pass. (1 God." You don't have to.  None of us feels His             Thessalonians 5:24) These are foundational presence all the time.  Learn to live by what   principles to your relationship with God.

you know is true first, then your feelings and

emotions will fall in line with what is right and    If you think that God is not happy with you, not what is error.  Studying His Word and    then you will experience difficulty in accepting researching His promises are key ingredients to            yourself and others.  You may end up feeling as living a life securely attached to truth. Keep  though your existence is nothing more than a your focus on God. 2 He is the One who is             treadmill through life.  But God is not interested running the sewing shuttle back and forth               in your performance.  He is interested in your throughout your life.  Just as He chooses to use    devotion to Him on an intimate level. a dark thread in one place, He will use brilliant   On the night that Peter denied the Lord, Jesus colors in others.  The dimensions of your life            was not so concerned with His disciple's will always pick up on a pattern that brings        performance as He was over the fact that Peter

glory to Himself.                                                             lost sight of who he was called to be.  Peter's

  You may not understand why God wants you   heart devotion slipped.  This is why later Jesus to go through a certain season of difficulty.  It             took the time to restore Peter.  He wanted His can be hard to see victory in darkness, but God           disciple to know that His love for him was


unconditional.  He had not changed His mind about Peter.

  It was this act of restoration and later the empowerment through the coming of the Holy Spirit that finalized Peter's commitment.  There was nothing Peter could do own his own.  God did it for him.  It was God's grace poured out that changed Peter from an impetuous disciple to a man of God, filled with devotion and love for His Savior.  Every inch of Peter's life gave way to a beautiful design.

  The tapestry of your life has all to do with God.  Don't be so quick to walk away from His plan for your life.  If there are dark times, know that He is in the process of using each one to bring a fullness to your life that you cannot gain through any other set of circumstances.

  What do you do if you suddenly realize you have taken a wrong turn?  Is the tapestry of your life ruined?  Is the pattern unrecognizable? No. God knows your life from beginning to end.  Even before you took a wrong turn, He knew it was coming and has a plan in mind for using the error to complete His design for your life.           

Does this mean that if you sin, it won't matter? Certainly not.  Whenever we violate God's law, we grieve His Holy Spirit.   There is nothing more heart wrenching than to know that you have hurt or grieved someone who cares so greatly for you.  It is God's love 2  that keeps you firmly grounded.  Jesus said He did not come to judge, but to seek and save.

(Luke 19:10) He will not condemn you. (Romans 8:1) Just as He restored Peter, He will restore you fully and completely in light of His design.  How can He do this?  He is God. There is no person anywhere who loves you more than He.  His love saves you, and His love adds eternal color to your design.1   Many of us are facing crisis's now.  Some are due to the terrorists attack on the United States and the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Some families are facing attacks from satan wanting to rip their families apart, many have lost jobs, many are sick with no visible hope of recovery.  The list goes on and on.  But through all of life, whether we are going through hard times or good times, we have a God who loves us so much that He gave us His only Son.  He sent Him to us to live among us, to show us that there is a Love in our lives that will never leave us or forsake us.  Jesus' Love transcends all of life's ups and downs.  It is greater than any success we may have.  His Love is greater than any problem or sickness we may be enduring right now or in the future.  HE will guide our lives and help us in those dark times when the colors of life seem to be closing in on us and choking our lives out from God.

  I wish I had the words to make everyone's hurts disappear, but I do not.  But I do know that God has a plan for your life and He WILL see it fulfilled in you.  He will use our hurts to bring about His will and purpose in our lives just as He said in His Word.

  Bow before the Lord and ask Him to forgive you of your sins and indwell you and give you peace in your heart and mind.  He's just waiting for you to ask. Why?  Because He Loves YOU just as you are - unconditionally! The Tapestry
Have you ever studied a tapestry                  

The lovely colors there                                 And wondered how a human life               Could fit into a square?

Interwoven with emotion, intertwined

relationships                                          

Forming knots, patterns and twists              Tying on, one to another

When standing too close to a tapestry         

Your vision may become blurred                     

It is in the backing away, you see                   The miracles that have occurred.

Each human life a cord to weave                   

The picture we can’t see                            Along with many others                                 It’s difficult to perceive.

So do not count your life for loss                 

And also not for gain                                    

But in the total sum of things                      Your soul  to be renamed. Copyright. Used by permission

  Seek the LORD while He may be found; Call upon Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way And the unrighteous man his thoughts;  And let him return to the LORD, And He will have compassion on him, And to our God, For He will abundantly pardon.  "For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways," declares the LORD.  "For {as}the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways And My thoughts than your thoughts. "For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, And do not return there without watering the earth And making it bear and sprout, And furnishing seed to the sower and bread to the eater; So will My word be which goes forth from My mouth; It will not return to Me empty, Without accomplishing what I desire, And without succeeding {in the matter} for which I sent it. "For you will go out with joy And be led forth with peace; The mountains and the hills will break forth into shouts of joy before you, And all the trees of the field will clap {their} hands. Isaiah 55:6-12 NASB

  "Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful. John 14:27