This Month’s Theme:
God’s Picture Perfect Plan
He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.
Ecclesiastes 3:11
Artist’s Reflection
Do you trust God’s plan for you? That He will reveal His big picture in His time?
We live in the ‘right now’ time, where everything we do and want has to be ‘right now’.
We don’t know how to wait to see a flower bloom.
But if we learn to pay attention, we can see how God carefully designed this world with a plan. Notice the brushstrokes He paints across the skies. The new grass that slowly weaves itself through the soil. The buds that slowly change in colour and unfurl to new glories.
It is like a tapestry painstakingly put together, stitch by stitch, done with love. Every step in each cycle of life was thought out and done with purpose.
As we await the full view of our Father’s work, let us be patient in observing and learning His ways and our part, so we can participate and partake, line by line, in God’s perfect plan.
—Ana Rita Robalo
Join in the Conversation
Trying to see God’s work where we are now is like looking at the back of an embroidery or staring too closely at a tiny patch of a painting. All we see are unsightly zigzag stitches or dark splotches of paint that make no sense–
- a job loss or work going nowhere
- a breakup or a fading friendship
- nonstop quarrels at home
- cancer or chronic illnesses
- anxiety and depression
“Now we see only a reflection… Now [we] know in part…” (1 Cor 13:12). We may not fully know now, but one day, for sure, we will see clearly how it all comes together, when we come face to face with Him who is the beginning and the end.
This month, we want to talk about the different seasons in our lives, the ups and downs, the good and bad. Whether relationships or work or health or spiritual walk, we want to reflect on how God carries us through all of them. We want to think about what it means to change and grow, all while holding onto our unchanging and steadfast Father, the life-giving Creator and Master Artist who makes all things beautiful in its–His–time.
If we would think back to our experiences and share our stories, it gives us more opportunities to encourage each other to see how we all play a part in His picture perfect plan.
Tell us your story. Check out our writers’ guidelines and write to us. The door is always open.
Topics to Explore
In Its (His) Time
Understanding God’s timing and purpose, learning God’s ideas of beauty and goodness, seeing God’s control and intention in all things, recognising God’s patience and compassion, being open to the ups and downs of life, embracing changes and growth, letting go of the past, staying in the present, having a right hope for the future, acknowledging God’s sovereignty.
Eternity in the Human Heart
Our deep longings that cannot be satisfied, our struggle for meaning and purpose, our outlook on life, our hopes and dreams, our need for exclusive and eternal love, learning how God’s ways are higher than ours, understanding our place/position vis-a-vis God’s.
Join in the Fun
If you’re more of a visual person, you can be a part of the YMI community by contributing or tagging your artworks with our hashtag #ymitoday. Check out our creatives’ guidelines and send us your artworks.
We know you love your colours, so do we! Every two months, we set a colour theme that we’ll work around. Use the colour palette below to increase your chances of getting featured!