I spent some time going through my clothes and jewelry last week to see what I really needed and wore, and what I could donate. I came across a necklace that was tangled and it made me think of my dad.

Whenever my mom, sister, or I would get jewelry tangled up, we would set it on my dad’s dresser and within a day or two it would be laying on the kitchen counter, magically be untangled. My dad is basically a necklace untangling pro.

I must have been feeling pretty introspective while going through my belongings because thinking about my dad untangling necklaces made me think about how God untangles messes in our lives.

I feel like constantly mess up things in my life. I make mistakes, big and small. I fail. I ruin opportunities and chances. I feel cowardly and lazy. Basically, I fall short of the mark on a daily basis.

And yet all of my mistakes, struggles, and failures have worked out for good in some way or another. So many of my struggles have connected me to others in deep, deep ways. Our messy, tangled up lives can be so beautiful when we look at them way God does. He sees me make mistake after mistake and continues to love me.

When I sit in the middle of a hurricane of fear, doubt, and inadequacy, God is right there with me. He assures me that everything I go through makes sense to Him, and that he’s going to untangle it.