Your life: holy threads, consecrated strands, hallowed fibers, blessed filaments

Your job, as a memoirist, is to do the hard work of discerning and writing about "the designing hand of God and his intervention in our lives" (Ravi Zacharias).

Think about God's footprints alongside ours, His fingerprints all over our lives: Divine intervention.

Sounds good, doesn't it? We like having God intimately involved in our lives.

But " . . . divine intervention is nowhere near as simple a thing as we might imagine," writes Ravi Zacharias (Grand Weaver: How God Shapes Us Through the Events of Our Lives). 

Think about this: 

Sometimes our footprints, and those alongside ours, are muddy, or worse.

Sometimes tattered, holey shoes left those footprints.

Sometimes God's fingerprints all over our lives are sticky, smudged, scarred, bloody. Sometimes the fingerprints we leave behind are, too.

Divine intervention "cannot be only a journey of unmistakable blessing and a path of ease," Zacharias continues. "To allow God to be God we must follow him for who he is and what he intends. . . ."

Each of us has countless blessings and yet, each of us has experienced heartaches, disappointments, failures.

Sometimes life knocks the air out of us.

Too many experience betrayal. Unfaithfulness. Rejection. Abuse.

Some know hunger and sickness and handicaps and homelessness.

We know loss, grief, exhaustion, confusion.

Hopelessness. 

At such times we can be tempted to despair, thinking God doesn't love us enough, or that His plans for us are not good enough. We think we deserve better from Him.

Other times our lives seem hum-drum. We're boring people living boring lives. We wonder if we matter, if we are worth anything of value.

". . . Incident follows incident helter-skelter leading apparently nowhere," Frederick Buechner writes, "but then once in a while there is the suggestion of purpose, meaning, direction, the suggestion of plot. . . ." (The Alphabet of Grace).

That's what Zacharias calls us to see: "the designing hand of God and his intervention in our lives" so that "we know he has a specific purpose for each of us and that he will carry us through until we meet him face-to-face. . . ."

Yes, sometimes life is overwhelmed with sadness, other times life is blah, but if we let Him, and work with Him, God uses all of it to shape and polish us, to mature us and beautify us, even though we might not understand it at the time, or even see it.

Zacharias challenges us to imagine our lives as exquisite fabric: vivid, brilliant colors with threads of gold and silver intertwined. He wants us to see God as the "Grand Weaver . . . with a design in mind for you, a design that will adorn you as he uses your life to fashion you for his purpose, using all the threads within his reach."

You are important to God. You are His workmanship, His treasure. Your life is sacred.

God is custom-making the fabric of your life. Look back over the years and search for each thread and color: the dark ones and the pastel ones, the heavy ones and the light ones, the coarse ones and the golden ones. Those are holy threads. Consecrated strands. Hallowed fibers. Blessed filaments.

Search. Make it your quest to discover the excellent, one-of-a-kind pattern the Grand Weaver is creating out of you.

Go back: Look for spools of thread, God-designed, for you alone. Watch and listen for the sound of the shuttle going back and forth in God's hand. He's making something beautiful: YOU.

The more you grasp

how important you are to God,

and that He's crafting you

into His masterpiece,

the better you can write

your God-and-you stories,

the better you can share them with

your children,

grandchildren, great-grandchildren,

and generations yet unborn. 

Holy threads, consecrated strands, hallowed fibers, blessed filaments

God’s footprints alongside ours, his fingers all over our lives: Divine intervention.

Sounds good, doesn’t it? We like having God intimately involved in our lives.

But “...divine intervention is nowhere near as simple a thing as we might imagine,” writes Ravi Zacharias (Grand Weaver: How God Shapes Us Through the Events of Our Lives).

Think about this:

Sometimes those footprints alongside ours are muddy.

Sometimes tattered, stinky, holey shoes left those footprints.

Sometimes those fingerprints all over our lives are sticky, smudged, scarred, bloody.

Divine intervention “cannot be only a journey of unmistakable blessing and a path of ease,” Zacharias continues. “To allow God to be God we must follow him for who he is and what he intends….”

Each of us has heartaches, disappointments, failures.

Too many experience betrayal. Unfaithfulness. Abuse. Bullying. Racial prejudice and profiling.

Some know hunger and sickness and handicaps and homelessness.

We know loss, grief, exhaustion, confusion.

Hopelessness.

Other times our lives seem hum-drum: We’re boring people living boring lives. We wonder if we matter, if we are worth anything of value.

“…Incident follows incident helter-skelter leading apparently nowhere,” Frederick Buechner writes, “but then once in a while there is the suggestion of purpose, meaning, direction, the suggestion of plot….” (The Alphabet of Grace)

That’s what Zacharias calls us to see: “the designing hand of God and his intervention in our lives” so that “we know he has a specific purpose for each of us and that he will carry us through until we meet him face-to-face….”

Yes, sometimes life is blah, but other times life knocks the air out of us. If we let him, and if we work with him, God uses all of it to shape and polish us, to mature and beautify us—though we might not understand it at the time, or even see it.

Zacharias challenges us to imagine our lives as exquisite fabric—vivid, brilliant colors with threads of gold and silver intertwined—and to see God as the “Grand Weaver . . . with a design in mind for you, a design that will adorn you as he uses your life to fashion you for his purposes, using all the threads within his reach.”

You are important to God. You are his workmanship, his treasure. He is custom-making the fabric of your life. Your life is sacred.

While writing your memoir, look back over the years and search for each thread and color—the dark ones and the pastel ones, the heavy ones and the light ones, the coarse ones and the golden ones. Those are holy threads. Consecrated strands. Hallowed fibers. Blessed filaments.

Search for—make it your quest to—discover the excellent one-of-a-kind pattern the Grand Weaver is creating out of you.

Go back: Look for spools of thread, God-designed, for you alone. Watch and listen for the sound of the shuttle going back and forth in God’s hand. He’s making something beautiful: You.

The more you grasp

how important you are to God,

and that he’s crafting you

into his masterpiece,

the better you can write

your God-and-you stories—

and the better you can share them

with your children,

grandchildren,

great-grandchildren,

and generations yet unborn.

God can use your stories to teach others

That they, too, are important to Him.

They are his workmanship, his treasure.

He is custom-making the fabric of their lives,

And their lives are sacred.

P. S. I can't get the links to work today. This new computer might be the problem.... Sigh.... Anyway, here are links:

Grand Weaver, by Ravi Zacharias: https://www.amazon.com/Grand-Weaver-Shapes-Through-Events/dp/0310324955/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1509044209&sr=8-1&keywords=Grand+Weaver%3A+How+God+Shapes+Us+Through+the+Events+of+Our+Lives

The Alphabet of Grace, by Frederick Buechner: https://www.amazon.com/Alphabet-Grace-Frederick-Buechner/dp/0060611790/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1455245629&sr=8-1&keywords=alphabet+of+grace

You are important to God: https://spiritualmemoirs101.blogspot.com/2011/05/you-are-important-to-god.html

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers:  https://www.amazon.com/My-Utmost-His-Highest-Paperback/dp/1572937718/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1509047085&sr=8-2&keywords=my+utmost+for+his+highest

You? Write a book? What makes you so special?

You are important to God.

Your stories are important to God and your family.

So you’ve decided to write your memoir—but you hear nagging little whispers.

“Who do you think you are?”

“You? Write a book? What makes you so special?”

You might ask, “Who am I, that I should write such stories? I’m not a Moses, or a David, or a Paul, or an Abraham….”

But wait! Moses got so mad he killed an Egyptian and ran away and hid in the desert for 40 years.

And later, when God said He was sending Moses to Pharoah to bring the Israelites out of Egypt, Moses made all kinds of excuses and balked and wailed, “O Lord, please send someone else to do it” (Exodus 4:13).

Here’s the important point: It’s not that Moses was so great—it’s what God did: He enabled Moses to lead the Israelites out of Egypt and into the land of milk and honey—and so much more.

Then there’s David, and Paul. It’s easy to think of them as saints, but they really messed up sometimes. Their lives were a mixture of faith and willful disobedience, spiritual success and failures, yet God used them in mighty ways and continues to do so today. It’s not so much what David or Paul did, but what God did.

“Abraham is…one of the most important men in the history of the world,” writes Richard Peace. “What makes him so important … is not his sterling character (which he did not have), his outstanding intellect (which may have existed but it is not mentioned), his charming personality (he could be pretty annoying) or substantial personal accomplishments (he has few, apart from his pilgrimage to the promised land). What Abraham is remembered for is his faithfulness in obeying God’s call to undertake a long and demanding journey. It was not so much what Abraham did, but what God did…. In Abraham we see not so much a saint in action; rather, the faithfulness and graciousness of God…. In Abraham we see an ordinary man who is used by God, not because of who Abraham was, but because of who God is….” (Richard Peace, Spiritual Storytelling)

So…. How does that make you feel? Can you see yourself as an ordinary person used by God?

Bottom line: Write your stories—not because of who you are, but because of who God is.

It’s not that we think

we can do anything of lasting value by ourselves.

Our only power and success come from God.

2 Corinthians 3:5, NLT

…Our adequacy is from God…. Therefore, having such a hope,

we use great boldness in our speech [and writing]….

2 Corinthians 3:5, 12, NAS

Write your stories!

Depend on God to make you adequate for this awesome task.

Use heavenly boldness in your writing.

Your stories can help readers

become all God created them to be.

Holy threads, consecrated strands, hallowed fibers, blessed filaments

God’s footprints alongside ours, His fingerprints all over our lives: Divine intervention.

Sounds good, doesn’t it? We like having God intimately involved in our lives.

But “…divine intervention is nowhere near as simple a thing as we might imagine,” writes Ravi Zacharias (Grand Weaver: How God Shapes Us Through the Events of Our Lives).

Think about this:

Sometimes those footprints are muddy.

Sometimes tattered, holey shoes left those footprints.

Sometimes those fingerprints are sticky, smudged, scarred, bloody.

Divine intervention “cannot be only a journey of unmistakable blessing and a path of ease,” Zacharias continues. “To allow God to be God we must follow him for who he is and what he intends….”

Each of us has heartaches, disappointments, failures.

Many experience betrayal. Unfaithfulness. Abuse.

Some of us know hunger and sickness and handicaps and homelessness.

We know loss, grief, weariness, confusion.

We know hopelessness.

Other times our lives seem hum-drum: We’re boring people living boring lives. We wonder if our lives matter, if we are worth anything of value.

“…incident follows incident helter-skelter leading apparently nowhere,” Frederick Buechner writes, “but then once in a while there is the suggestion of purpose, meaning, direction, the suggestion of plot….” (The Alphabet of Grace)

That’s what Zacharias calls us to see: “the designing hand of God and his intervention in our lives” so that “we know he has a specific purpose for each of us and that he will carry us through until we meet him face-to-face….”

Although sometimes life is blah, other times life knocks the air out of us, if we let Him, and work with Him, God uses all of it to shape us and polish us and mature us and beautify us—though we might not understand it at the time, or even see it.

Zacharias challenges us to imagine our lives as exquisite fabric—vivid, brilliant colors with threads of gold and silver intertwined—and to see God as the “Grand Weaver… with a design in mind for you, a design that will adorn you as he uses your life to fashion you for his purpose, using all the threads within his reach.”

You are important to God. 

You are His workmanship, His treasure. 

Your life is sacred.

God is custom-making the fabric of your life. Look back over the years and search for each thread and color—the dark ones and the pastel ones, the heavy ones and the light ones, the coarse ones and the golden ones. Those are holy threads. Consecrated strands. Hallowed fibers. Blessed filaments.

Search for—make it your quest to—discover the excellent, one-of-a-kind pattern the Grand Weaver is creating out of you.

Go back: look for spools of thread, God-designed, for you alone. Watch and listen for the sound of the shuttle going back and forth in God’s hand. He’s making something beautiful of your life.

The more you grasp

how important you are to God,

and that He’s crafting you

into His masterpiece,

the better you can write

your God-and-you stories—

and the better you can

share them with your children,

grandchildren, great-grandchildren,

and generations yet unborn.

You are important to God

You are important to God. Yes, you!

Some people are skeptical about that. Some doubt God considers them important. Are you one of them?

I used to be.

For decades I assumed I was as significant as one grain of sand on all the ocean’s beaches.

When I was young, I imagined that if someone in heaven were to nudge God and point down to earth and say, “There’s that little Linda,” God might say something like, “Oh, yes, that freckled one, the lefty with curly hair.”

I suspected, however, that He’d be so busy taking care of all the other little specks of sand that I’d get lost in the crowd.

I’ll never forget when, decades later, I read Psalm 139:13-17. The message changed my life. From that moment on I never, ever felt like a mere grain of sand.

Read it for yourself because it’s not just about me—it’s all about you, too:

You [God] made all the delicate,

inner parts of my body

and knit me together in

my mother’s womb.

Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex!

Your workmanship is marvelous—

how well I know it.

You watched me

as I was being formed in utter seclusion,

as I was woven together

in the dark of the womb.

You saw me before I was born.

Every day of my life was recorded in your book.

Every moment was laid out

before a single day had passed.

How precious are your thoughts about me, O God.

They cannot be numbered!

(Psalm 139:13-17, NLT)

The first time I took in those words, my heart cried out, “Such thoughts are too wonderful for me!” (Psalm 139:6)

Look at this ultrasound of my grand-niece, Anna. It captures God at work—God knitting Anna together in her mother’s womb in utter seclusion—just like the Psalm described.

Now look (below) at this picture of Anna at about age four. (Isn’t she a beauty?!)

In His marvelous workmanship, God had already determined Anna’s eye color, skin tone, height, and talents—and He was making it happen.

God’s holy hands crafted Anna’s hair texture, nose shape, toe length, fingernail shape, and tooth enamel.

With loving attention, He created Anna’s soul, her heart, and her most charming personality.

In divine complexity, He has planned the moments and days of Anna’s life. He knows the calendar pages of her life.

Friends, with the same intimate knowledge and love, God created you. 

With holy hands, He determined your appearance, your attributes, your soul. You are the precious work of His hands. With delight, God created you with a unique purpose for your generation.

“He says you are a work of art, a masterpiece.

When He made you,

He placed you in the perfect setting,

gave you the desired appearance, abilities,

temperament, gifts, strengths,

and yes, weaknesses.

When you were born He said,

‘Look at you! You are just what I had in mind—

just right for your place in My story.

I have a great storyline already planned….”

(from Living the Story, by Judy Douglas; emphasis mine)

The more you grasp, and accept, how important you are to God, the better you can write stories in your memoir about what He has done in your life and—of great importance—the better you can share with your children, grandchildren, and all your readers that they are important to God.

Remember, your stories can: 

• help shape your readers’ faith, 
• define their identity in God, 
• and feel secure in their place in your family.

Write stories to help them grasp they are not mere accidents. God intricately created them and planned for them from the beginning.

Write stories to impress upon your kids and grandkids and great-grands that they are important to God.

Write stories to let them know their lives are sacred.

Write stories to let them know they’re God’s masterpieces.

Tell them God treasures them.

Impress upon them they’re God’s workmanship, created deliberately by Him (Ephesians 2:10).

Your memoir could change your readers’ lives.

Believe it.

Ask God to help you write.

Determine that in 2016, you will write those stories!

You are important to God

Welcome, Jamie Jo and Kimberly, to S M 101!

.
You are important to God. Yes, you!

Some people doubt they are important to God. Are you one of them?

I used to be.

For decades I assumed I was as significant as one grain of sand on all the ocean’s beaches. I imagined that if someone up in heaven were to nudge God and point down at earth and say, “There’s that little Linda Kay,” God might say something like, “Oh, yes, that little freckled kid, the lefty, the one with the big ears.” I suspected, however, that He’d be so busy taking care of all the other little specks of sand that I’d get lost in the crowd.

I’ll never forget when, decades later, I read Psalm 139:13-17. The message changed my life. From that moment on I never, ever felt like a mere grain of sand.

Read it for yourself, because it’s not just about me—it’s all about you, too:

You [God] made all the delicate, inner parts of my body

and knit me together in my mother’s womb.

Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex!

Your workmanship is marvelous—

how well I know it.

You watched me

as I was being formed in utter seclusion,

as I was woven together

in the dark of the womb.

You saw me before I was born.

Every day of my life was recorded in your book.

Every moment was laid out

before a single day had passed.

How precious are your thoughts about me, O God.

They cannot be numbered!

(NLT)

The first time I took those words in, my heart cried out, “Such thoughts are too wonderful to me!” (Psalm 139:6)

Look at this ultrasound of the newest member (#40!) of our family, Anna, my grand-niece. God is, as I type, knitting her together in her mother’s womb, in utter seclusion.

In His marvelous workmanship, He is determining Anna’s eye color, skin tone, height, and talents.

God’s holy hands are crafting every last detail: Anna’s hair texture, nose shape, toe length, fingernail shape, and tooth enamel.

With loving attention, He’s creating Anna’s personality, her heart, and her soul.

In divine complexity, He’s planning every moment, every day, of her life. He’s filling out her calendar pages.

Friends, God created you with the same intimate knowledge and love. With holy hands, He determined your appearance, your attributes, your soul. You are the precious work of His hands. With delight, God created you with a unique purpose for your generation.


“He says you are a work of art, a masterpiece. When He made you, He placed you in the perfect setting, gave you the desired appearance, abilities, temperament, gifts, strengths, and yes, weaknesses.

“When you were born He said ‘Look at you! You are just what I had in mind—just right for your place in My story. I have a great storyline already planned.…’” (from Living the Story by Judy Douglas at http://inkindle.wordpress.com/2011/03/06/living-the-story)


The more you grasp, and accept, how important you are to God, the better you can write stories of what He has done in your life and—of great importance—the better you can share with your children, grandchildren, and all your readers, that they are important to God. They are no mere accidents. God intricately created them and planned for them from the very beginning.

Remember, your stories can help shape your readers’ faith and define their identity in your family and God’s family.

In what specific ways will you use your stories to impress upon your children and grandchildren that they are important to God? Let them know life is sacred.

Write stories that tell your readers they’re God's masterpieces. Tell them God treasures them. Make sure they know they’re God’s workmanship, created deliberately by Him (Ephesians 2:10).

Related post: What is memoir?

http://spiritualmemoirs101.blogspot.com/2011/04/what-is-memoir.html


Several of you are finding surprises of joy in writing your stories, and I pray that will be true for all of you!

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