What have you wanted to recreate? Have you ever wanted to change a situation or timing in order to learn from it better or enjoy it more? Perhaps you’ve read a book and thought, “If only I’d heard that ten years ago.” Perhaps you’ve listened to a speaker and thought, “If only so-and-so was here to hear this.” Perhaps you believed your vacation was almost perfect, but one family member was missing—or, perhaps it would have been perfect if one family member had been missing! Even when your preference for a slight or major change, or re-creation, of something is driven by good intentions, the bottom line is that you’re dissatisfied with something. You might use statements such as if only or what if.

What if you turned what if into what is? Focusing on what you’re missing can easily lead to discontentedness, and it can pull your attention away from the purpose and provision God has for you. You can miss the blessing God intends by looking away from him. As you trust and follow God, he is recreating your life. He created it in the first place. He knows you intimately. He knows your past, present and future. He knows the hope and promise of your life. He knows how to weave the disappointments, mistakes, and suffering into your purpose.

God gives you freedom to choose, and he’ll use whatever choices you make, but you must trust his timing and wisdom along the way. You might want to see the results of God’s work in your life much more quickly than is good for your re-creation. Growth takes time and effort, and you have to yield, respond, and be obedient in order to get results. You might not even see some of the results. Some of the results come in what seems to be a disconnect to the learning process—either in time or situation. However, you can trust your Creator to re-create the best you possible on this earth. God knows what he’s doing.

Dig Into God’s Word…

But you are a chosen people, royal priests, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession. You were chosen to tell about the wonderful acts of God, who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. In the past you had never received mercy, but now you have received God’s mercy. (1 Peter 2:9-10)

Lord, you have examined me and know all about me. You know when I sit down and when I get up. You know my thoughts before I think them. You know where I go and where I lie down. You know everything I do. Lord, even before I say a word, you already know it. You are all around me—in front and in back—and have put your hand on me. Your knowledge is amazing to me; it is more than I can understand. Where can I go to get away from your Spirit? Where can I run from you? If I go up to the heavens, you are there. If I lie down in the grave, you are there. If I rise with the sun in the east and settle in the west beyond the sea, even there you would guide me. With your right hand you would hold me. I could say, “The darkness will hide me. Let the light around me turn into night.” But even the darkness is not dark to you. The night is as light as the day; darkness and light are the same to you. You made my whole being; you formed me in my mother’s body. I praise you because you made me in an amazing and wonderful way. What you have done is wonderful. I know this very well. You saw my bones being formed as I took shape in my mother’s body. When I was put together there, you saw my body as it was formed. All the days planned for me were written in your book before I was one day old. (Psalm 139:1-16)

Live It Out Loud…

Re-create one of the verses above by re-typing it. Try to look at the verse and type without looking at the keyboard or screen. Don’t stop to fix mistakes. When you’re done typing, check for accuracy. Re-creating isn’t easy if you can’t master all the areas that need to be focused upon at once: seeing the reference verse, the keyboard, and the screen. Commit your re-creation to God. Focus on him. He does a much better job at multi-focusing.