I made a mistake and God blessed me...

Awhile ago on the Christian Soul Care Blog I referred to building a library in the loft of our home. Designing and building built-in bookcases and desks has been quite a challenge! So much measuring, cutting, staining, building...

It's a reminder of why it'd cost me upwards of $10,000 to have someone else do the work.

Yesterday, God gave me a great blessing...

I had made a mistake on my cuts for one of the base board pieces - getting those angles right, especially with a hand saw!, is difficult. So I was disappointed and frustrated when I had to set the board aside to be thrown out - along with a few others! That felt like getting a sore arm and working 30 minutes for nothing.

Of course, so much of life is like that: doing little jobs, making mistakes on things, feeling unproductive... I know that all of life is meaningful, that it's an opportunity to pray. And as I work I remind myself to pray. Sometimes on this library project I've prayed, "Lord Jesus, I want to be a good carpenter like you, to build things and people for you." But often I'm not so prayerful and just I'm just pushing through the work and getting tired, stressed, or frustrated.

So my blessing was when I realized that the "throw away" piece of wood happened to fit just right and have the angles just right for an odd section I was about to measure and cut for.

God reminded me that he redeems my mistakes and my sins; through Christ, God brings good things even out of my bad! This helps me not go into guilt or self-condemnation when I make a mistake. It's better to just run into Jesus' open arms!