Rojoice over the brown strand!

And REJOICE before the LORD your God at the place he will choose as a dwelling for his Name—you, your sons and daughters, your menservants and maidservants, the Levites in your towns, and the aliens, the fatherless and the widows living among you. Deuteronomy 16:11

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Sometimes, God whispers to get our attention. Sometimes, we simply feel the "look". Sometimes, He will use people to speak to us. And other times, He needs to SHOUT through life experiences and say, "HELLO! You need to focus! You have a job to do! I love you and I NEED you to get your priorities straight."

Well, for me, the latter came when my internet got disconnected. I was so involved and wrapped up in other stuff that my attention to the "real world" was no where to be found. God needed my focus and attention to be on my children, on my spiritual life, on my own flaws, and I was seriously not there!!!

Ah...I love God! Even when I ignore those small, gentle, and then bolder whispers, HE still takes the time to SHOUT. He seeks me out over and over again to get my attention. He spends heart energy preparing the way for me, and makes sure the distractions are gone so I will really hear Him. He is so gentle and loving and even when He SHOUTS, He still does it gently and lovingly. I am in awe today of the awesomeness of God.

Seriously, I PRAY THAT YOU..."may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God." Ephesians 3:18-19

EVERY DETAIL! God knows! God plans! God uses! And when the time comes to fruition, He reminds us of every detail of our past that HE weaved together to form a beautiful tapesty called our lives. All of those brown strands (our mistakes from our past) are so ugly alone, but in the end, God makes them shimmer and stand out, adding the most gorgeous and slightest touch of detail amongst the many colors of beauty.

Look at a piece of material or a blanket and notice the gold strand weaved throughout it to give it that beautiful and completed look. Without that, it is a plain, pretty, but plain color. God takes the pretty, but plain part of our lives and weaves in those things we think that God could never ever use to make us beautiful. God takes our "brown" and turns it into "gold"...

And for that, today I rejoice...