Imagine that you are standing in front of a wall, and this wall is 5 stories tall and half a block wide. Now on this wall is the most intricate and breathtaking mural you can imagine, an array of colors and images that portrays your life, your experiences, the people that matter most to you…the moments that helped to reveal who you are, the moments that brought joy, the moments full of pain…from the moment you took your first breath until this very second. Now imagine that you are standing inches away from this wall. What would you see? Without looking around, the scope of your vision and your perspective would take in a small segment of this mural, perhaps a few colors. Perhaps a snapshot of something much greater, or only a small piece of a single moment. It would be impossible to take in the full scope of what is on this mural as long as you remained in that position, with that perspective. But if you were to step back, look around, and to put yourself in a position where you could take in the entire scene, then something would shift dramatically. You would now be able to see everything, every moment, every color, every shade. That shift in perspective would instantly change your reality of that wall.

This life is a journey, and it is woven with moments of joy and moments of pain. Moments where we are uplifted by relationships and experiences, and moments where we are weighed down with burdens and pain. The peace and assurance that we experience inside of these tougher moments is connected to our perspective. Are we so close to the circumstances that we cannot see the bigger picture? Are we so wrought in the NOW that we are unable to see God’s Sovereign Hand working in our lives? Like Abraham waiting on a promised son…Joseph sold as a slave and imprisoned for years in Egypt…the Israelites enslaved for 400 years…Moses in the desert searching for the Promise Land for 40 years. If their lives were defined only by those moments of suffering, uncertainty, grief, and pain then they would miss the Sovereign Hand of our God working in them and through them to bring them to a greater reality than they could even imagine. Putting our trust in Him says that we know He is at work, and even though we may not be able to see the big picture right now, we trust that it is His hand that is creating the brush strokes, it is His hand that is putting this beautiful picture together.

Psalm 16:8  I have set the Lord continually before me; Because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken.

Romans 8:28  And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.