Looking over my journal entries from last year, I was amazed to read about the predictions I had written down about my life and how I thought this year would look like. Not all – in fact, few – of my “predictions” actually happened. I am a planner. I love to know what’s going to happen. When something goes “wrong” (not how I think it should go), I am often disappointed.

As I sat there reading my journal, I was struck by the thought: God’s ways are higher than mine. He is in control of my life, not me. I can trust Him. It reminded me of a poem some sweet friends shared with me for my pearls of wisdom tea party. It compares our lives to a tapestry:

My life is but a weaving between my Lord and me;
I cannot choose the colors, He worketh steadily.

Oft times He weaveth sorrow and I, in foolish pride,
Forget He sees the upper, and I the underside.

Not ’til the loom is silent and the shuttles cease to fly,
Shall God unroll the canvas and explain 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.

He know, He loves, He cares, nothing this truth can dim.
He gives His very best to those who leave the choice with Him.

I remember working on a quilt several years ago. It was big and the upper side was beautiful. But on the underside I could see all the strings and raw edges of fabric. Threads stuck out most disgracefully, and the pattern was barely distinguishable. But when I sewed the backing on, no more to see the raw underside, all I could see was the beautiful top of my quilt.

Just as I saw the upper side of my quilt, God sees the “master plan” of our lives. He knows what He is doing. Even when He brings hardship into our lives, let’s not forget that “He sees the upper, and we the underside”.
Romans 8:28
“And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.”