Paint and God's Plan

Last night we painted our living room (well, at least part of it) in the dark. Not the dark, as in no lights, but in light with funny shadows and dark corners where you can't really see what you're doing, but it needs to be done. There was that moment when I thought, “What have I done?” I was tired, cranky and the color was not looking like what I had envisioned. I was close to tears and ready to quit, it has been a long week of working on the house. We have torn out a fake brick wall, gutted and painted a room in our basement and a bedroom, built platforms, moved furniture (lots of furniture) around, cut and installed trim, hauled stuff to the dump, installed drywall and mudded it, primed walls and trim for hours on end and we were finally to the point of painting the walls and regaining some order out of the chaos we have been living in for the last week. And there I was standing in the middle of the room, paint roller in hand with tears ready to spill over because I was sure that the paint was going to look horrible. My husband reminded me that paint always looks different when it is dry and it would look much better in the morning—and it does. The color is much richer than I thought it was going to be, and while it is not exactly what I thought it was going to be, it is better.

Sometimes life is just like painting walls, we make choices or decisions that we are confident in, but somewhere along the way we find ourselves questioning those choices. Is this really what God wanted? Can He really make this work for good like He promises? We stand in the middle of our choices and let the dark shadows of doubt and fear cloud our hearts and minds, ready to give up before we are barely even started. We grow weary from the battles that have already been fought and discouraged at the thought of battles to come. Satan knows that if he can keep us from pushing forward and clinging tightly to the promises of God, he has already defeated us.

God is faithful, and like the morning light that revealed more than I hoped for, God's grace and mercy will bring us through and reveal the very rich glory of His purpose for our lives. Hold fast to His promises! Do not be discouraged, because morning will come and God's radiance will illuminate your life and then you can see the true beauty of what is before you!

“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” Romans 8:28


“But the plans of the LORD stand firm forever,
the purposes of his heart through all generations.” Psalm 33:11


“For the LORD is good and his love endures forever;
his faithfulness continues through all generations.” Psalm 100:5