Thank God for mistakes.

I like to put my iTunes on shuffle and just let 'er rip. Whatever it plays I joyfully listen to. Several songs hit me right in a row, which really got me thinking...
The first one was "Glass in the Trees, by Dead Poetic". That song was instrumental in developing me in perhaps one of the darkest moments in my life. You can find all the lyrics here. The entire song is powerful, but the end of the song in particular was what brought me through the struggle.

We'll wait for you to come back home to the broken little foes.
Until the guilt grows and grows.
When the time that's wasted comes back to haunt me.
And I'll deserve every bit. because I'm not spiritual yet.
I'm just reading the lines they gave me from the pulpit.
And it's not fading off, we remember the years.
As we sift through the laughter to find all the tears.
And I'm not worthy of grievance, I did nothing to prevent this.
And standing at your grave, I could have caused this.

Just listening to this song took me back there. Back to the pain and the hurt. This song spurred me on, to not be like the author, to not make the same mistakes, to let God do what he wants and not get in His way.

Well, that song was followed by, this song. Which is "I so hate consequences, by Relient K". The bridge in this song took me to the result of that dark time. Allow me to post the lyrics for you.

When I got tired of running from you

I stopped right there to catch my breath

There your words they caught my ears

You said, "I miss you son. Come home"

And my sins, they watched me leave

And in my heart I so believed

The love you felt for me was more than

The love I'd wished for all this time

And when the doors were closed

I heard no I told so's

I said the words I knew you knew

Oh God, Oh God I needed you

God all this time I needed you, I needed you

Thank God for mistakes and thank God for deliverance from our own mistakes. If it weren’t for those mistakes, my life would be very different. If I had done what I should've in the first place, those mistakes never would've been made. Isn't it incredible how God can take our own stupid mistakes and turn them into something beautiful?

You intended to harm me,

but God intended it for good

to accomplish what is now being done,

the saving of many lives. -Genesis 50:20

Leave it to me to miss the point.

Last night as I drove home from a late night elders meeting, I was struggling with the usual "extrovert struggles". If you are an extreme extrovert like me, you know what I am talking about. The thoughts like "Did I say too much?" "Was that joke out of line?" "That was stupid why did I say that." "Man, that came out all wrong. That didn't sound like what I meant at all." Ever have those thoughts? Well I was in a room of men that I have a great deal of respect for, for four hours. I can barely sit still for fifteen minutes. Plus it was late! So I was at the top of my extroverted, A.D.D. game. And driving home, the enemy was really beating on me, with the thoughts mentioned above. Then the song below came on. And all of a sudden I realized that I missed the point. I missed the entire point of the "60 days of beauty project". Well maybe not the entire point... but A BIG ONE. He thinks I am beautiful. Just the way He made me. I'm a guy... I never think of myself in that light... I spend less than 30 seconds looking at myself in a mirror everyday. But He thinks I'm beautiful. Even when I'm a spaz and annoying, He thinks I'm beautiful. Even in my worst moment, He thinks I'm beautiful.

Today, may you see the beauty in yourself, the beauty that He sees.