“You see that faith
was active along with his works, and
faith was completed by his works; James
2:22
The message in the
masterpiece
It is easy to see
God’s beauty in nature, the glorious rainbow, the trees, the mountains, the glassy
ocean. It is discovering God’s wonder in the storm, the tragedy and trial that
is difficult. Sometimes it is hard to
see or believe that he has a plan and purpose for every breathe we take. Believing
that he has planned even the minutest details in our lives is hard to
fathom. Amidst the eye of the storm when
all you can see is chaos, believing that there is a beautiful divine purpose in
this desolation is unimaginable.
Watching, as the artist paints the masterpiece, uncovering each detail
with precision and magnificent beauty, I watched as the God I serve painted a
masterpiece of my life. With each brush stroke, growing, stretching me with his
grace and his mercy. The brilliant colors and embellishments creating a painting
of my walk, and with it, a message of his unfailing love.
It began three
years ago, I prayed for my husband and our family. We had just purchased our forever home. I as enjoying every facet of our life
together, our children were happy and healthy, we had a place that finally felt
like home and I had a job that I adored and a church family that fed our
spiritual needs. For my husband …..
Something was missing. He worked in the
oilfield, as he had been doing consistently for 14 years. Most nights he got home long after dark and
left in the morning around dawn. He spent long hard hours in the sun, almost 90
hours a week. Despite our blessings, his
joy was missing. When he came home at
night, he was so tired and so used to being alone that his words were sparse,
conversations short, as was his temper.
My prayer during the next 3 years was for him to reclaim his joy, to
become the husband and father that I married.
He missed field trips, class parties, baseball games, first words, first
steps, but mostly we missed him. Quitting was never an option, he was trained
for this job and had put in his time.
Finally the storm came, and with it, the masterpiece of an answered
prayer.
The Spring of
2014, just four days before our son’s 6th birthday and a few days
before I would be out for the Summer, he called letting me know he had been let
go from his job. They were downsizing their office and had lost some clients. My stomach turned, my head ached and my world
felt broken. The rest of the day was
blurry as I tried to focus on the teenage students in front of me but holding
back tears wasn’t easy.
That night, we
prayed together, as we did often. My husband almost gleefully prayed for
direction. My prayer was for peace and
guidance. This frustrated me, I was
always in motion and couldn’t understand how he could sit, pray and let God
handle this without even breaking a sweat.
I voiced my concern all too
harshly and his response was always “
God has us, he loves us and he will show us what to do”. Each time he gave me this response I had a
panic attack inside. SIT, WAIT, TRUST GOD…. Sure. One of my favorite verses has always been,
Be Still and know that I am God, Psalm 46:10
But following and believing
has always been difficult for me to do,
To make extra
money while my husband searched for a profession that would pay him as well as
the oil field, I taught summer school and worked a sports camp and tacked on a
coaching duty to my regular teaching schedule. He watched the kids while I worked, and most
days I came home to a joyful household with blanket forts, clean laundry and
happy children. This puzzled me, I was
dying inside. Monetarily our money was
dwindling and our future was…. Left to
be seen. God’s plan began to take
place in a glorious unfolding and he worked, putting together the artful pieces
of my heart.
Brandon
has always been handy, he can put things together in record time, he figures
things out by the time I have the instructions unfolded. One day while I was gone to take the kids on a
summer adventure, my way of escape, I came home to this,
It
was a gorgeous headboard turned into a bench, it was lovely and I was
impressed. He glowed with excitement telling my how he put the intricate pieces
together. He said he thought he could sell it for 200.00 or so. A simple,“Nice
“was all I could muster. Day after
day, I came home to a new piece of woodwork and what was beginning to look like
a disastrous garage. Each day he was
happier than the last as he created beautiful works of art. One afternoon, I came home, and it was too
much to take, I asked him to come talk to me on the patio. I said, “Listen, I know you don’t
understand or maybe you don’t care but, our bills are due on the 1st
and 15th of every month and your “crafts” are not going to cover,
what we need”
He
responded,” I know you are right, but I know that God has something prepared
for us, I know there is divine plan, I am just waiting patiently for him to
show us the path” . Little did we know
he already had.
As
the months would go on, I found Jesus meeting our every financial need and
exceeding our expectations. . We continued to pray, Month after month he met
our needs, with the help of our loving family.
He delivered in ways that only he can. One afternoon I was rifling through our junk
drawer, and my fingers felt a piece of paper, I pulled it from the drawer only
to discover it was check given to us by my grandmother almost 2 years ago. I
checked the back and it had not been endorsed. The check was for 300.00. A God
send, a brush stroke of his masterpiece.
I used my grocery store time to pray and one afternoon after reaching
the store, I got out and stooped to pick up some paper. The paper was 200.00
tucked under my tire. I searched the parking lot thinking surely the owner was
missing the money, the parking lot was almost empty. I smiled as I thought of
his gracious unfailing love. Time and
time again, he delivered on his promise to take care of our needs.
“ All things work for good, to
those called according to his purpose” Romans 8:28
As our faith grew so did Brandon’s
craftsmanship. He had acquired tools to
make his wood projects in various ways.
Some were handed down to him, some were garage sale finds and a few were
purchases in non-working order on
craigslist. One such piece was a
lathe. This is a machine that you use to
turn legs for tables, benches etc.. When he came home with this, I was
skeptical. I read a blog about the guy
on “fixer upper” that spent 2 years learning how to turn legs on a lathe. I
researched other similar businesses that bought legs generated by a CNC
machine, a computer that carved and turned legs. He spent one morning watching a few Youtube
videos and reading various blogs about it.
By that afternoon he had a beautifully turned leg, carved and smoothed
to perfection. I could no longer deny his God-given ability and gift. His Works was born.
He
started getting more and more orders, custom and creative pieces. In the beginning, my friends began ordering,
tables, beds, etc. I was grateful, but I couldn’t help feel that it was out of
pity that they were asking him to do work for them. As he started to gain popularity, his craft
could not be denied. I helped him create
a website, and a facebook for his business.
Watching the joy return to his heart by doing what he knew the Lord had
intended was indescribable. One night, after
we had put the kids to bed, he snuck back out to work on a piece he was finishing
up. Waking up around 1:00 I heard his
sander still working, I crept to the door and opened it a crack. I stopped and watched, mesmerized. Sanding, smoothing, and piecing together. As
I watched tears rolled down my cheeks. I looked at his creation and in it I saw
God’s work in me, in us. The wood was
already made beautiful by nature, the knots and imperfections only creating
more character, uniqueness and value. Sanding,
smoothing and staining, changing and making the piece original. Bolts, screws and fittings, making it
stronger to withstand pressure and time.
It was me, it was us. During the
years that I prayed for my husband, he answered my prayer by changing me too.
Growing my faith in ways I could not fathom. Developing a trust in God that I
cannot explain. “ fear not for I am with
you” This verse lifted me up in my
darkest hours as I questioned his plan and purpose for our lives and our
future. During this time of trial he
strengthened our bond, our faith and created a message in a masterpiece of undeniable
proportions, along with a peace that passes all understanding. While
he continues to work on our business, I anxiously await the next masterpiece God
will unfold and trust that it will be more than we could ever imagine.
“You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was
completed by his works; James 2:22
* I am eternally grateful for our family and
friends that were the face of God during this time. Thank you for your friendship and your Godly understanding
and Love. Thank you for the support and
encouragement. It has been a blessing to watch God at work in our lives.
And so it begins, the most festive time of the
year, sleigh bells, sparkles, lights and all.
I have a love/hate relationship with the season. I know this sounds
terrible, but I do. I love the season of
giving, of celebration and Jesus. I also
love the imagination and wonder in my children’s eyes. What I struggle with are the stresses, the
anxiety and the pressure I feel in month of December. I love to go to my friend’s homes and smell
the cinnamon and evergreen, but it tends to remind me that my house smells like
dirty little boy feet and last night’s dinner. The posted pictures of Pinterest perfect décor,
ahh …the pressure. I love watching a
tutorial for making a pool noodle wreath, but find that the time and energy to
make one escapes me. I stare in wonder
at the edible snow globe cupcakes, and then the realization hits me that it
would literally take 1 solid hour to make just one. I
just can’t…And that is not something I admit often.
