From Drab to Fab!

Glory Haus mug: Joy comes in the morning!

Are you familiar with the company Glory Haus?  They are a faith based home decor company that manufactures a lot of hand painted decorative items, such as canvases, tiles, boards, and ornaments.  Their products are whimsical, fun and faith based.  I love their products and the people who create them.  My favorite of the Glory Haus products is the coffee mugs.  They’re large and fit well in your hand.  They are always vibrant with rich colors and uplifting sayings.

The first artist with Glory Haus was Laura Kirkland.  She’s amazingly talented.  I’m blessed to call her friend.  I remember sitting in her living room floor as she painted and dreamed out loud of a day her artwork would be picked up and sold worldwide.  It has been exciting to see God make her dream a reality.

This morning I pulled my mug out of the cabinet to make a cup of tea and was staring at it as I waited for the water to boil. I thought back to the early days when Laura would hand paint each individual product herself and then fire them in her kiln under her house. When she painted a plate or mug, the colors looked drab, dull, and boring; however, after the items spent some time in the kiln under extreme heat, the colors came to life and the item would go from drab to fab.

You are a smart cookie.  You can see where this is going, but it’s true.  We all go through difficult times.  Many times we wonder if God is up there looking or if He’s taking a coffee break. There’s an old hymn called “Just As I Am” and that’s how God will accept us, just as we are, but He loves us too much to leave us there.  He will shape and mold us and even let us go through some intense heat in life to create a beautiful masterpiece of our life.

Malachai 3:3 says,

He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; He will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver. Then the LORD will have men who will bring offerings in righteousness”

I hope you didn’t miss the first few words of that verse.  He may allow us to go through the fire of life from time to time, but He’s right there with us.  He sits there with us allowing the trial to purify us and make us more into His likeness.  The later part of that verse also tells us why He allows us to struggle or suffer.  He isn’t a harsh God.  If He allows difficulty to come into our lives it is because it will serve a purpose.

Today, the newspapers and television stations are covered with pictures from the bombing in Boston.  It leaves many asking why.  I don’t have an answer anymore than I have one for the young sex trafficking victim I met yesterday.  But I do know God is good, I know He loves us, and I know He will work it all together for good in the end [Psalm 73:1, John 3:16, and Romans 8:28].

Are you feeling a little heat in your life right now? Remember Psalm 30:5,

…weeping may remain for a night, but rejoicing comes in the morning.”

God is at work.  Trust Him and your life will go from drab to fab!