Do you ever wonder, think, or daydream about The End of the Story…what does God’s final act truly reveal? Where will I be? How will life exist? Will all this “stuff” be fixed? I have spent some time just contemplating this stream of “The Final Painting”…what does God’s “Final Painting” look like for you and for me? I mean wouldn’t it be just calming to have that “Final Painting” in hand so that we could grab it & hold it for those difficult & trying days or weeks across life’s journey…it’s so easy to focus on the “stuff” of our present context that we lose sight of where we and everything is ultimately heading. Even in the mundane daily routine…to come back to the context of: Where are things truly heading? What will things finally look like? I call this God’s “Final Painting” and I pray and hope that today this “Final Painting” will give each of you a deeper and broader sense of Hope…real Hope in Him and His ultimate beautiful Plan for you!

I was reading this past week in Isaiah and ran smack dab in the middle of a beautiful portrait delicately laid out by the writer Isaiah in Chapter 42. In this text, Isaiah gives you and me real, tangible HOPE in the framework of “The Final Painting” through a picture of Jesus who would hundreds of years later come on the scene and begin His 2-fold Restoration “Painting”…this is what you and I have to look forward to once we have come into a relationship with Him…listen to what he says (The Message, vv.1-4): “…He’ll (Jesus) set everything right among the nations. He won’t call attention to what He does with loud speeches or gaudy parades. He won’t brush aside the bruised and the hurt and he won’t disregard the small and insignificant, but he’ll steadily and firmly set things right. He won’t tire out and quit. He won’t be stopped until He’s finished His work–to set things right on earth…” God’s tenacious and passionate Redemption & Restoration work in and through Jesus…He will make all things new…He will heal the broken hearts…He will free the slaves & captives…He will heal, restore, and redeem you & me to a Glorious state…as His children in relationship with Him, this is our “Final Painting.”

I was blessed to see David Crowder last month sing @ the Dove Awards his song, ‘Everything Glorious’…in it he says, “…You make Everything Glorious…and I am yours, so what does that make me?…” God is passionate and relentless in Restoring you and me as His children…the “Final Painting” depicts God taking every hurt, every pain, every sorrow, every bruise, every broken bone, every lonely season, every failure, every death, every fear, every worry, every wound, every and Restoring all of it into something Glorious & Grand part of His Story…where He takes your “stuff” and your “junk” and redeems all of it in the “Final Painting” into something beautiful, restored, healed, whole, and glorious! Wooaah…now this shouts HOPE…this gives you and me Hope today to walk with Him through whatever is on our plate across Life’s Journey…we know and have a glimpse of His “Final Painting”…and this gives me the ability to have rest, peace, and true calmness of soul even when I screw up like I do all the stinkin’ time.

You & I need to be reminded every single day of God’s “Final Painting”…where are we going…this gives us Hope to face the challenges, the questions, the trials, the stress, the failures, and the twists & turns that life’s journey will throw our way. I don’t know where you are today…some of you are attempting to grab the paintbrush from God and begin the next scene on the Painting canvas because you are tired, weary, and just plain ‘ole sick-n-tired of the current color He is using in your Painting…for some, this is abandonment…where the people you loved in your life and were supposed to be there chose for whatever reason to abandon you–maybe a father; maybe a husband…for others, it is financial failure and stress–everything you choose to do with money and your job/career tends to always backfire and end up ‘a mess’ for you and your spouse…for others, it is fear, maybe a fear of not being good enough to be unconditionally loved and accepted and thus this fear moves you to be driven and ‘do more’ because you are afraid of not being ‘good enough’ to be loved and accepted for who you are down deep inside…for others, it is doubt and lack of faith that God can show up and do the unexpected in your life, because you feel like He never has come through & done that before for you…whatever colors you find in your painting today, I have good news for you…God’s “Final Painting” is not here yet…it’s in process…and as a son or daughter of His, He is relentless to finish “His Work” in you & His “Final Painting” with your life as part of His Restoration Story! Take heart today and allow His “Final Painting” to be a “Huge of Hope” to deepen your roots of Hope in Him, as you allow His brush & colors to continue His masterpiece work in you.

Resting in Him,

Jared S. Faellaci