Unraveled

The other night I was crocheting. As I compared the panel I was currently working on to another I had already completed, I noticed a drastic change in size. I had done one way too tight and so there was half an inch difference in width and length. The individual panel looked great, but compared to the other it was greatly deficient. I pulled out hours of work and rolled it into a big ball, which is devastating.

My life feels like that right now. It feels like my life in the minuscule looks good, the stitches are lined up and put together. But... when compared to the grand scheme of life, of this Christian life, I am deficient. God has been unraveling me, to put me back together as a closer image of His Son. He's unraveling my short fuze at school. He's unraveling coping habits that have been engraved in my head since high school. He is unraveling the old self that still moves and lives inside me. He is currently putting all those into a big ball of yarn.

It is hard to be unraveled. There is a sense of loss. If I just look at the piece in front of me, I think that it looks good and there is no reason to take it apart. But in the big picture, God pulls apart so that He can restore, so that all the pieces will work together to make a beautiful whole. So this gives me hope. Lord God, please unravel all that does not conform with the image of your Son. I want to look like a beautiful replica of His character, and that can't happen if my good enough panels don't all match up. Thank you for making me more than good enough.