From Here To There

The Beloved Project a mosaic by Margot

From Here To There
A Devotional by Margot Cioccio

Isaiah 42:16 NIV

I will lead the blind by ways 
they have not known, 
along unfamiliar paths I will guide them;
I will turn the darkness into light before them 
and make the rough places smooth.
These are the things I will do; 
I will not forsake them.

Life is an unfamiliar path, every step, every day. I am often blind to what God is doing in the trials and triumphs and the ordinariness of each day. Yet God promises to guide us. There are so many times that I have looked ahead and the way seemed dark, impossible, and far beyond my ability.  There have been things that I have wanted to do that often start with a spark of inspiration. In that instant I can see for a brief time the end of a project. I try to capture those ideas in a journal or a sketch.

How to get from here to there can seem at times like a vast canyon, far to big to walk around and to deep to walk across. How does one even begin such a journey?  I thought today I would share a bit of how I have gotten from here to there.

I trust God to order my steps. I trust that He will turn darkness into light, that He will make rough places smooth.  I don't let go of that wisp of inspiration I hold it in my heart. I do the things I need to do today. I take the steps that I can take today and I trust that as I move day by day in faith, that God is working as I believe and trust and look to him to help me figure it out. I don't just sit around moping about how it is impossible.

Beloved Sketch

Take for example the Beloved Project in the photo above. Three years ago it was a wisp of an inspiration that came to me during a church service. I don't recall if it was from something said in the message or if I was listening beyond the message to what the Spirit was saying. In that moment I sketched what I saw. I pinned to my bulletin board. About a year later I was motivated to draw it on a big board. Then we moved and lots of life happened and it sat for a long time as a board in my studio. Life was busy and I was working on lots of smaller mosaic projects. It was never forgotten, it waited for me to be ready to start to work on it. Another year passed and it began to prod at me to take the next steps of committing it to glass. It may have been something someone said to me, or things in my life helped me to better see, understand and feel the piece. I don't always know what it is that flips the switch and causes the light bulbs to turn on for me. I just know that if God has shown me something, He will help me to turn the darkness into light.  I have seen it happen over and over in my art and in my life. Suddenly what was dark becomes light, what was rough becomes smooth, and I can see the next steps to take.  I take them one after another until I find myself to have traveled from "here to there." When the way seems dark, I hold on to what I have seen and I actively watch and wait. In that time I am seeking God for wisdom and insight and inspiration. I often see things far off that I don't know how to get to. I am confident that if God has shown it to me He will also in His time show me the way.  Journeys of faith begin when you catch a glimpse of a vision and decide to take the first steps into the impossible and the unknown.

Prayer:
Dear Lord,
You know the things you have shown us and put in each heart. You love it when we trust you and take steps of faith to go from here to there. Help us take the steps that we need to take today. They may not even seem related at this point. Take my hand and lead me, I don't know the way but I know you do.