I love to sew, I love fabric, threads and yarns... I love being surrounded by all of it! But there is a special place in my heart for tapestries and needlepoint. Have you ever studied the intricate stitches? It is an absolute miracle how someone can hand sew all the endless stitches hours on end. What I love most though, is the “other” side we rarely see of these tapestries, the work side. That side is different with its messy, chaotic threads that can look like a frustrating discombobulated mess. Not so beautiful! Back when I was around 10 years old, our manager's wife, Frenda, gave me my first needlepoint project. I remember looking at my finished product (on both sides), and listening to her compare it to our lives on earth. One side, the back, is equivalent to our effort and works... thread is hanging from being tied off, some funny knots, a few dropped stitches, and threads that can seem to go the length of the work to save time. Then we turned it over to the front side, the completed picture. This represented what our efforts in life can look like when we involve the Lord. He measures our hearts and then takes our efforts, problems and mistakes and turns them into something absolutely beautiful.
We can sometimes get frustrated with our lives feeling like all is impossible and nothing will ever be accomplished, especially if we focus on the messes and dropped stitches we create. But remember there is another side to our tapestry, that side is the beautiful picture the Lord is creating with us. When we put our trust in the Lord and keep following His directions and commandments, with our eyes on Him, even when it feels like we’ve made a mess of things, He’s allowing us to learn and will show us the way to a beautiful, finished work. It’s easy to blame God for the knots or trials in our tapestries but that is not where they come from. Like with Job, the Lord allows us to experience trials and test and then He gives us solutions! Its Godly knowledge or light only gained though faith in Him. He will always lead us through difficult times, it’s promised!!
In John it says: “Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.”
That is an incredible promise. Just like He led Moses through the Red Sea to safety. He will do the same for us with our Red Seas. The people following Moses had to be terrified wondering if they would all be drowned, but they followed showing their incredible faith. And because of that faith they were saved. They asked for help and then kept their eyes on the Lord.
Dallin Oaks said: “He is perfectly positioned to lift us and give us the strength we need to endure our afflictions, we need only ask.”
We need only ASK and we will have the strength we need!
Remember Heavenly Father is YOUR Father, He Is the Father of our spirits and will help us with whatever we need. He has always been turning your knots and dropped stitches into a beautiful tapestry! The next time you admire a tapestry or handmade project remember, the side that is hidden from view—that’s the side that makes the beautiful picture possible. Then remember, the beautiful picture God can make with our lives when we just ask Him🙏