God's Masterpiece

I was talking with my friend about a project he had to do for an art class. He said he had to think up something to put on paper and then pass it around for others to work on it as well. Jacob said that by the end, "It wasn't even completely mine." I was thinking about how awful it would be to pour your heart and soul into something for so long just to have someone who can't even see the vision or purpose of it to come and put their prideful two cents in. How awful it would be for me to see the end of it and grievously say to myself, "This isn't completely mine."

Let me tell you how I think God views us: God's Word says that when he created Adam and Eve they were perfect. We are God's most prized pieces of art created to point to Him in our every quality. We are his handiwork. God sat there and dreamed up exactly who He wants us to be. Then, he made it a reality. This I feel is exactly what we do when we create something. We dream it up and then use whatever we can to make it a reality. We are his most prized masterpieces and He gets to have a relationship with us! I remember making a collage last semester and thinking about how great it would be if I could ask it how it's day was going. We get to talk to him about the world He created for us!

To connect with Jacob's story, I thought about how the World comes into our lives and passes us around to put a twist on what God originally created. Things like our beliefs, security and identity find authors ignorant of the purposes we were designed for. I thought about what God must feel when our beauty becomes twisted to mirror the world and turn into something He never intended for us to be. How he grievously must say, "This isn't completely mine."

I also thought about how when a creator has a certain idea in mind for the creation, there is a certain perseverance that pushes the creator to stop at nothing to make it into exactly what they have in mind. It's all the lines that get erased, all the melodies that get rewritten, all the photos that get retaken. When the creator has a specific idea, settling for anything less than what was dreamed up isn't even an option. Who wants to settle for less when you know it could become something much greater!?

I believe this is how God feels toward us. We are daily being molded into what God dreamed up for us to be. Lisa taught me that when Paul says in Philippians 3:12, "Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me," he is pressing on to take hold of exactly what made Christ pursue him: God's dream of what Paul would be. God reminded me that He won't ever give up on me. That he won't stop until I become the woman He dreamed up for me to be.

God won't settle, but sometimes I do. I thank Him for the grace to see when I do settle so I can let him do His great work in me.

Thanks for dancing with me, Dad.

May I Have This Dance?

So the story behind the blog starts with an Alto Frio camp this past year.

I was in my Youth Pastor's group and that day we were playing the Knot game. I stuck my hand out and a handsome 17 yr old grabbed it. I said to myself, "Alright Angel, he's only 17. You better watch out because you don't want to get yourself into something that isn't very wise." We all got messed up in coordinating our hands and had to drop them to start over. Well, I dropped that guy's hand and stuck it out to start the new game. To my surprise, he quickly grabbed it again. For the rest of the game I tried not to read into it (because we girls love to do that). (p.s. Nothing happened with me and that guy after the game just in case you were on the edge of your seat.)

During worship that night I cried. I realized that, for a while, I had been strong. I hadn't really thought about a boyfriend since the summer started. I realized that I wanted someone to hold my hand the way that guy did. I wanted someone to eagerly pursue me (someone = not that 17 yr old fellow). I forgot that I was a girl. I wasn't crying because I didn't have a boyfriend. I was crying because I know that God puts a desire for a companion in everyone, and I was feeling that desire especially so that night.

So, I prayed. Then the worship band started to sing a song that said ,"You are all I need," and I realized that God really WAS all I needed. As I prayed I realized that every opportunity I get to worship God is an invitation to spend time with himself. It was like God was telling me that every time I open my Bible, sing a song about Him, or listen to a sermon He was reaching out HIS hand for mine. He was sending an invitation to me, hoping I would accept and grab His hand right back so we could dance and intimate dance together.

-"May I have this dance?"
-Yes, you may.

I hope this post will cause you to say "yes" to the Lord of the Universe who wants to spend quality time with you. Thanks for reading.