During the pandemic I was forced to expand my television viewing experiences. Joni loves HGTV and I slowly began to embrace it as well. Don’t worry men, I balanced it with the NFL Network. I loved to watch Hometown with Ben and Erin Napier as they restored old homes in Laurel, Mississippi. One of their signatures is taking an item that would normally be trashed and repurposing it into something beautiful.

I watched Ben and Erin see the beauty in something I would throw away without thinking twice. And then it occurred to me that God is the ultimate repurposer. God can take lives that are broken and even ugly and repurpose them into something beautiful. Satan lies that God can’t use someone like you. The author of lies says you have no value to God. But our loving Heavenly Father sees the beauty in your broken life. In fact, it is times of brokenness when He is most ready and willing to repurpose your life. Just when you are feeling like your life is worthless here is what the quiet voice of the Holy Spirit whispers to you.

You are my child.
I love you.
You are uniquely designed for a role only you can fulfill.

In Ephesians Paul encouraged the new followers of Jesus with these words.

For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the
good things He planned for us long ago. (Ephesians 2:10, NLT)

Did you get that second part? God isn’t scrambling to come up with some trivial task for you to feel better about yourself. God planned before you existed things that only you can do for the advancement of His plan. How exciting is that? Another amazing gift of grace.

In His infinite mercy God does not reveal the ugliness of my heart in one gigantic and loveless revelation that would destroy me. He chooses instead to gently chip away at the rough edges of pride, selfishness, and disobedience. The famous artist Michelangelo would often select a block of marble that others thought unworkable and then begin carving that ugly hunk of rock.  He once remarked, “I saw the angel in the marble and I carved until I set him free.” That is what God’s grace means to me. He sees the beauty in the stubborn piece of rock that is me. And He sees the beauty that no one else sees. He lovingly and gently carves away the ugliness until a little beauty begins to come through. But He never gets angry and gives up if another strata of ugly crops up.

As I was writing this an old song from my past came to mind.

Something beautiful, something good
All my confusion He understood
All I had to offer Him was brokenness and strife
But he made something beautiful of my life

For five decades God has been oh so lovingly and patiently making something beautiful of my life. If my time ends soon and folks have anything kind to say about me please let them know this truth.

It was Jesus who made something beautiful of my life.

Waking Up Slowly is a 21 Day Journey to become more connected to God and one another. Check it our here.