Thankful Thursday

As I met with my mentor on Saturday, we talked about how God is like a sculptor.  He is shaping me into the man He wants me to be, chiseling, filing, and sanding in just the right places to create a beautiful work of art.  The process is lifelong, and sometimes even painful.  But the end result will be a vessel that brings Him glory.

He knows me completely.  Even before I was born, He saw who I was and had a plan for how He would take me from a man of sin without any thought of Him to a person of worship.  Just like Michelangelo saw king David in the piece of marble even before he started the process of creating a masterpiece, God saw me, and began patiently removing the parts that didn't belong.

I'm thankful God has the blueprint.  He doesn't need my input.  Sometimes I'm confused by the pieces He chisels off, thinking they looked good, or really belonged.  But I need to submit to His refining process.

I'm thankful for God's patience with me.  Even when I resist at times, He continues to work, continues to refine.  He is for me.  What a wonderful truth.  The maker of the universe, the One who placed each star in the heavens, and knows all their names, is intimately involved in my life.  He loves me with an everlasting love.  He sent His Beloved Son to suffer the agony of separation from Himself as He bore my sins on the cross, so that through faith I would not need to suffer that punishment for my sin, but enjoy fellowship with Him eternally. 

I'm thankful He is my Shepherd; going out ahead of me, calling me to follow, showing me where to find food and water for my soul.  At times His voice grows dim.  Not because He has stopped calling, but as a result of me being distracted.  

I'm thankful He isn't controlled by my response.  And I'm grateful His ears are always open to my cries.  I don't have to worry that He will be distracted when I call out to Him.

I'm thankful for His grace and mercy, poured out abundantly in my life.