I don't know about you but "Beautiful" is the last word that comes to mind when I think about a mess. I don't know about you, but stress, anxiety and disaster seem like more acceptable words. This topic was placed on my heart to share with you last week... but in my own "mess" the words didn't come. However, this past Saturday I got up early to go for a run. What would typically be a long run of 6-10 miles turned into barely just 2. I ended at this beautiful marina near my house and sat down to enjoy the last few minutes of quiet before I was due home. As I sat there listening to the birds chirping and watching families slowly prepping their boats for a beautiful day out on the water, I began to pray. Somewhere over the past few weeks I'd managed to get way off track. My house was a mess, the laundry was piling up, I'd been eating terribly and working out inconsistently. As I prayed it occurred to me somewhere over the past month I had quit trusting God to help me and started relying on my own strength. As you can tell, it wasn't going so well. When I started doing God's job, things quickly began to unravel. As I sat there on that park bench I took a deep breath and asked God for forgiveness.. then I took all my mess, all the stress and worry and I gave it all to him, once again.

I remember the story of Peter in the bible, when in the last day of Jesus' life he denied knowing him not once or twice but three times (John 18:15-27). Talk about messing up big, right? I imagine Peter after it was all said and done feeling overwhelmed with guilt and anger with himself. He had messed up big time and there was no way he could take it back. In John 21 we see life after Jesus' death, before his return. Peter, feeling down decides to go out onto the sea of Galiliee to fish. As a fisherman I imagine it was his place of comfort.. going back to his roots of sorts. Along with the other disciples, they spent an entire night on the water without catching any fish. It wasn't until the morning that they saw a man on the shore. The man told them to cast out their nets and when they did, they pulled it up overflowing with fish! At that point, Simon new it was Jesus. He shouted for Jesus and dove overboard and swam to shore. When he reached the shore he saw that Jesus had prepared breakfast for Simon and the others. The coals were even burning hot, ready to prepare the fish for them. After all the mistakes Simon had made, after he had denied Jesus 3 times, Jesus STILL stood on that shoreline, with a warm breakfast, wanting Simon to continue on doing His work. 

As I sat there on Saturday, watching the boats come and go I felt very much like Simon. ONCE AGAIN I had messed up. I'd gotten off track and I've relied way to much on my own strength and so little on God's. The great thing about our loving Creator is that he loves us way too much to throw up his hands in frustration with us when we mess up. God has this amazing plan for each of us and he has a way of taking our broken mess and making it something beautiful. Ephesians 2:10 says, " For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus,so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.". No matter how many times we find our self in a mess, we can bring that to God and not only will he give us the strength to get through it but he will make us anew with this never ending grace. He will put us back on our feet and take that broken mess and use it for His glory. God has a plan for you, an amazing one (Jerimiah 29:11), don't let your brokenness stand in the way of the plan God has for you. Offer it up to him and let him make something BEAUTIFUL out of your mess.