Why We Can Look at the Dark Parts of Life With Hope

I have a beautiful tapestry of a cottage garden hanging on my kitchen wall. As I look at the tapestry from afar the picture is beautiful, but as I draw closer I begin to see the intricate details in the cottage garden. The stunning colours that are weaved throughout the flowers, the birds and the winding pathway captures my attention and pulls me in. Each individual thread is vital for the overall vision that the tapestry portrays. The various colours and threads are weaved into the tapestry with great care and precision because every thread is essential to the finished design.

Our lives are like a tapestry in action being woven together by the Creator. Every thought, dream, heartbreak, desire, and tear are threads in our tapestry. The joy that you experienced on your wedding day, the sadness of a lost friendship, the delight of holding your firstborn, the brokenness of rejection, the excitement of getting that promotion, the disappointment of crushed dreams, these are all threads being crafted and interlaced to create the masterpiece that is your life.

So often we want to pull at the threads, we desperately try to tug at the threads of pain and heartache. We want to remove the uncomfortable or the embarrassing threads that have been weaved into the tapestry of our lives. We believe that if we can just remove the darker threads then our lives will be admirable. However, we fail to realise that it’s the darker threads that give depth to our design.

For years I tried desperately to pull out the dark threads of depression and anxiety that marked my life for more than 10 years. I was ashamed, afraid of judgement and rejection. However, the more I tried to remove the threads the more I denied my own story. When I embraced the grace and kindness of God that led me into freedom I no longer saw my dark threads of pain as problems, but as threads of hope and life.

Our Creator God, the Master Designer of our life desires to weave together all of the threads that our life produces. He desires to gently and wisely weave these threads together to make a stunning tapestry that will leave people breathless.

“And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them” (Romans 8:28, NLT).

We are deeply loved by God and it’s only His grace and His love that can weave together our pain with our purpose, our disappointments with our greatest desires, and our past with our future.

When we allow His grace and love to weave together every thread, the dark and the light, the joy and the pain, then our lives become the greatest tapestry of love that reflects the heart of our beautiful God.

As the tapestry of our own life is woven together, God is also weaving all our lives together into a tapestry of love. Our stories are joined together like a beautifully handcrafted quilt. Our story is a significant thread in another’s tapestry. We must be brave enough to share our story because it will add threads of joy, hope, and encouragement to the tapestry of another.

“I want you woven into a tapestry of love, in touch with everything there is to know of God. Then you will have minds confident and at rest, focused on Christ, God’s great mystery” (Colossians 2:2, The Message).

We are not alone; look around and see that we are all being woven together into a tapestry of love. Take heart and find rest as you focus on Christ and the threads of love and grace that He is weaving through your life. Be courageous and embrace every thread that God wants to weave through your life.

Stand strong knowing that you are never on your own, you are being woven together with others and the threads that run through your life will intertwine with those around you creating a stunning tapestry that beautifully displays Jesus and the hope that He brings to all humanity.

Be encouraged today, God is designing a spectacular tapestry out of your life!

If you want to know more about starting a relationship with God, click here.

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You’ll also like Our Story: From Pregnant Widow to Family of Four, Battling the Mind Monster: A Letter to My Mom, Freedom in Faith, Battered Faith: Holding on to Hope Even When You Struggle, and What My Faith Says About My Purpose

We also recommend our recent podcast: Is it Time for Counseling? A Therapist Helps You Decide (with Dr. Zoe Shaw)
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