The Tree of Life

 

Tree of Life Tapestry Google image

"Faith is the deliberate confidence in the 

character of God whose ways you may not understand at the time." ~ Oswald chambers

🌳Have you ever worked on a needlepoint for what seemed like an endless amount of hours?  Me either.  I don't have the patience.

How about painting using George Seurat's pointillism, where he used a method of painting small distinct dots of color without mixing them, so only when you stood back and looked at it as a whole did you see the way the colors come together so beautifully?

La Seine a la Grande Jatte by George Seurat, 1888

🌳Again, me either.  

However, I have been known to spend a fair amount of time on a good dot-to-dot with my grandkids, where the picture is revealed as the numbers are connected.  Seriously, so fun.  

🌳This blog is not about me and my minimal amount of patience, stamina or talent.  

It's about our gracious Heavenly Father, who on our worst days loves us unconditionally and displays His mercy by protecting us from things we'll never know til heaven.  He is always working in our lives.

🌳The tree of life happens - our kids are having troubles, or someone in our family continues on in their disobedient lifestyle, or people at work seem to create a barrier because we're the Christians, or our finances just don't reach far enough.  We feel like our leaves are withering and we are swaying in the wind.

We pray for God to heal, to find us a new job, to rain hot lava on this or that (harsh, I know), to remove these circumstances.  We think we just can't take it any longer and we get discouraged and our relationship with God is affected.  

🌳We wait.  We pray.  We wait.  Chuck Swindoll says "We don't like waiting, but that's when God does some of His best work on our souls." 

Sarah and Abraham waited several years for their son Isaac to be born.  
Noah waited a long time for the rain to stop.  
Moses waited 40 years in the wilderness.
Joseph waited in and out of prison to finally reconcile with his brothers.  
King David was anointed king but waited years before actually becoming king.  
Jesus waited about 30 years before really starting His ministry.

🌳Why does God have us wait?  We know He hears our prayers, so why aren't they answered instantly?

When we are growing weary of waiting, always go back to His Word.  Be assured of His character and His love for us: 

"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."

Rom 8:28

"If God is for us, who can ever be against us?" Rom 8:31

"Be still in the presence of the Lord, and wait patiently for Him to act.  Don't worry about evil people who prosper or fret about their wicked schemes." Ps 37:7

🌳Just like the back of a finely woven tapestry, He takes all the loose and frayed ends of our lives and knots them so they produce the unique beauty of His completed work. 

He's establishing our roots, firmly planting them, causing new branches and fruit to grow.  And maybe letting some of the bad be pruned away.  

Sometimes we don't see the full picture of it until later; like the dot to dot, we don't see where it's leading.  Maybe we won't know not at all til we get to heaven.

🌳 But we trust in the One and only true God whose character and love for us does not change.  In the hard wait, He is equipping us, deepening our faith, and growing us-creating the masterpiece of each or our trees of life.  

✙ Heavenly Father, help us in the wait times. Sometimes we choose to not wait on You, but take our circumstances into our own hands, try to direct our own lives-forgive us.  Deepen our faith in You so we obediently give control of our lives and our loved ones to You.  Strengthen us with Your Holy Spirit, and thank You for knowing we would need help.  Amen.