Do you ever look back on your life with regret? Wishing you’d made different choices and wondering if you had, would you still be in the mess you currently find yourself in?

It’s easy to be hard on ourselves, holding ourselves responsible for what’s happened in the past and for what’s going on currently. When situations aren’t changing and we become frustrated, it’s easy to slip into trying to figure out where and when it all went wrong.

But this week, God made something really clear to me, and I know he wants you to know this as well… that regardless of what’s gone before, why things have happened or how long you’ve been struggling, the truth is he can and wants to make something beautiful out of it all.

This truth comes from the verse, Ecclesiastes 3:11 NIV:

“He has made everything beautiful in its time.”

He’s inviting us to let go of the self-blame and feeling like it’s all our fault, to release the heavy burden of all the what-ifs, and exchange it for hope.

No matter what’s happened or what is happening, he can make it beautiful.

Jesus reminded me of the poem “Life is but a weaving,” which was frequently quoted by Corrie Ten Boom. I would encourage you to read the whole thing, but here is an excerpt:

Not till the loom is silent,
and the shuttles cease to fly,
will God unroll the canvas,
and reveal the reason why.

The dark threads are as needful,
in the weaver’s skillful hand,
as the threads of gold and silver,
in the pattern he has planned.

The poetic imagery reveals how it takes all the different threads in our lives – the dark, the hard, and the confusing, as well as the gold and silver, the highlights and best moments – to truly make a beautiful tapestry.

And it’s God who’s weaving it all together.

It’s not woven by our own will and efforts. The threads are in his hands.

But like the verse in Ecclesiastes 3:11 says, he makes it beautiful in its time.

It’s not something we can rush or force. He is doing it, and he will do it, but we have to let him.

We can stay uptight trying to figure it all out, or we can lean back and rest on him, trusting in his promise.

Easier said than done!

But he will take care of you and make something beautiful out of your life, however impossible that feels some days.

If you have a moment, have a listen to the song “Beautiful Things” by Gungor. It really captures the hope of God making something beautiful out of the struggles we find ourselves in.

And I end with this quote from the song:

You make beautiful things,
you make beautiful things out of the dust,
you make beautiful things,
you make beautiful things out of us.

— “Beautiful Things” by Gungor