Two Sides...

Jigsaw 3-11-25

I love to work with wood. I can draw almost anything on a piece of lauan plywood and cut it out with my jigsaw. I have a small band saw, but I love my jigsaw because I can twist, turn, and maneuver with ease. It is relaxing and a sense of accomplishment. After I cut out the shape, I sand, then get out my paints and go to work. A blank piece of 4 x 8 wood becomes anything from Moana to a palm tree, a boat to an owl, a giraffee to a kraken. If I can get the outline on the wood, I can cut it out. Sometimes I succeed beautifully, but other times I will brake a piece of by accident and have to scrap that piece and begin again. At other times, I can make a mistake only to see the beauty in the flaws and move forward. My family knows my saying when it comes to my woodworking. If they have flaws, they have character. The mistakes give the piece character. Just like the woodworking, God uses a blank pieces in our lives. He molds us, shapes, cuts, paints, and glues back together the pieces that are broken. We have character.

There is a man I know who has been through fire. He has scars. He has made mistakes and through those mistakes, God has put him back together. He uses this man. I can see Godly in him, although sometimes I don't think he sees it in himself. This past week we were talking briefly and I made the comment that I know God is using some disappointments in my life to strengthen me. I told him that I knew the devil was using some other people's rejections to get to me. He mentioned that he was going through some things like that as well. He said, "Greater is He that is in me!" 1 John 4:4. "You are from God, little children, and you have conquered them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world." Now I am old enough to be his mother and we are neither "little children", but we are God's children.

Sometimes the most Godly people are used by the devil to plant seeds of doubt, rejection, and interfere with our Christian walk. I struggle with this, as I do many things. I know that the devil is using some people who are faithful in their walk to plant seeds of doubt within me. I know this man is allowing that as well. How do we counteract the devil? We cry out to God? We submit to God and God rebukes the devil? James 4:7 says, "Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you." In Zechariah 3:2, "The Lord said to Satan, "The LORD rebuke you, Satan! The LORD, who has chosen Jerusalem, rebuke you! Is not this man a burning stick snatched from the fire?" If you look up the meaning of this scripture, it is a wonderful interpretation of God's protection for His people. Yes, Jerusalem made mistakes. They had scars like the stick in the fire that will have burn marks but not be fully consumed. God protects us through His mercies and goodness. God heals our wounds, protects us from being consumed in the fire, and gives us life everlasting.