A Song for Sunday: "Masterpiece"

Heartbreaks, a bittersweet sound

Know it well It's ringing in my ears

And I can't understand

Why I'm not fixed by now

Begged and I pleaded

Take this pain but I'm still bleeding"

I'm still looking for a full-time teaching job. I'm still dealing with pain of cutting ties with family members. I'm still crying at nights sometimes, trying to escape the pain of my broken heart. I don't understand sometimes why I'm not fixed by now. I am still bleeding, but I don't want to be.

"Heart trusts you for certain
Head says it's not working
I'm stuck here still hurting..."

My heart trusts in the Lord. I run to Him for comfort. But my head does tell me at times that it's not working, because I am still hurting. I feel alone at times, like God may have turned His back. 

"But you tell me....

You're making a masterpiece

You're shaping the soul in me

You're moving where I can't see

And all I am is in your hands.

You're taking me all apart

Like it was your plan from the start

To finish your work of art, for all to see.... you're making a masterpiece"

This mess of a life is somehow your masterpiece. The miracle comes not in the removal of pain, because it's still there. It comes in the grace that You are walking with me through it. You are taking my life all apart and it's painful, messy, and I don't like it. But it's all part of Your plan, even though I may not understand. Somehow you are working all of this for good. Somehow you are making me a masterpiece. 

"Guess I'm your canvas
Beautiful black and blue
Painted in mercy's hue.
I don't see past this,
You see me now,
Who I'll be then,
There at the end
Standing there as....

Your masterpiece"

The canvas of my life does not look so beautiful to me right now, in this moment. Somehow I am painted in Your mercy and to You, it is beautiful. Because you see beyond right now, beyond this moment. You see me and who I will be in the time to come. You see me at the very end. I can't see that. 

This song "Masterpiece" by Danny Gokey reminds me of who I am in Christ. How He sees me. Beyond the pain, beyond the mess, I am His masterpiece. It also reminds me of a poem from Corrie Ten Boom, which I will include here. 

“Life is but a Weaving” (the Tapestry Poem)

“My life is but a weaving

Between my God and me.

I cannot choose the colors

He weaveth steadily.

Oft’ times He weaveth sorrow;

And I in foolish pride

Forget He sees the upper

And I the underside.

Not ’til the loom is silent

And the shuttles cease to fly

Will God unroll the canvas

And reveal the reason why.

The dark threads are as needful

In the weaver’s skillful hand

As the threads of gold and silver

In the pattern He has planned

He knows, He loves, He cares;

Nothing this truth can dim.

He gives the very best to those

Who leave the choice to Him.”

― Corrie ten Boom

I am merely the work, He is the worker. I am the tapestry and He is the master weaver. I forget so much sometimes only He sees the upper, the finished product, while I see only the underside, full of tangles and knots. The underside looks ugly, like one big mess. And I think how in the world does God use this? But God sees the finished result, the upper part, and how it all comes together to make a beautiful pattern He has planned. 

No matter what comes your way in this life, rest in this. That you are still His Masterpiece. Even through the pain, the hard nights, and the mess of a life. He is working in you still. Keep trusting and don't always listen to your head. He is moving where we can't see and He is shaping us. Always.