It’s so easy for me to see all the ugly, chaotic, crazy messes in the world- and most especially in myself. Life is so complicated and confusing and there are always a million different things running through my head and my heart, not to mention everything else going on with the people around me and the world.
We are complex, intricate creatures in a complex, intricate world. There is no right or wrong, up or down, left or right. It’s all relative and about perspective and how in the heck are we supposed to order this mess of our lives?
God has shown me that in the mess there is beauty– in fact, in the mess, there is Him. When everything is spiraling and we can’t see clearly and our hearts are troubled and we are looking for answers in all the wrong places, He is calling to us as our solid rock.
As our order in the mess.
As our calm in the storm.
As our simple in the complicated.
Life doesn’t have to be so messy if I keep my focus on Him.
But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. ~Matthew 6:33
When we focus on trying to control the mess or fix it, or perhaps (in my case) try to run away from it, only a bigger mess will be made. We cannot fix this world (or ourselves) in our own strength- it’s all God’s doing. My trying to fix my own mess is a result of my lack of faith and trust in Him. He is the great Healer, Physician, Handyman- the ailment to all our ills. HE is the one who does the work, and OUR job is to trust Him to do it instead of taking it into our own feeble and incapable hands.
Meanwhile, the moment we get tired in the waiting, God’s Spirit is right alongside us helping us along. If we don’t know how or what to pray, it doesn’t matter. He does our praying in and for us, making prayer out of our wordless sighs, our aching groans. He knows us far better than we know ourselves, knows our pregnant condition, and keeps us present before God. That’s why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good. ~Romans 8:28 MSG
Sometimes God wants us to sit with Him in our mess until we can no longer bear it- He needs to show us what we’re doing to ourselves and those around us until we HAVE to make a change- or else we will continue to deteriorate inside and out. Although this is incredibly painful, it is the way He brings us closer to Himself and closer to who He wants us to be. When we come to Him in humility with our burdens and our failures, He doesn’t scold us, mock us, or shame us. He forgives us and sets us free.
How grateful I am to have a Father who meets me in my mess- and who wants to take me out of it. It is amazing to know that my story and my past, my choices and my failures, don’t define me; that HE alone does. That He’s taken away my sin and my shame and set me free to live the life worthy of my calling- to experience the abundant joy of living in a broken world as a redeemed person, continually pouring out my brokenness and messiness to Him, who can handle all of it. In return He gives me life and wholeness.
He can handle all of it: every single little messy thing about you. Everything that doesn’t fit with who you think you’re supposed to be, everything you try to hide and avoid, everything that’s secretly killing you on the inside. He will never flinch or turn away or abandon you- He doesn’t see you as a sinner but as a Saint.
Please hear these words. I am in awe of who He is and what He is capable of; that He could set someone like me free- someone who struggles every day to know and live into my identity in Him. If He loves me that much, there isn’t a person in this world He can’t save with His unconditional love.
No mess is too big for God.
rhythms of grace 