A few days ago, I was complaining to God that I am a mess; many open tabs in my mind, causing me to live in a pile of distractions. And then I heard the whisper of The Good Shepherd, the One who says:
You are a mess, but you are MY mess. 
I had to stop what I was doing and ponder that. We are all a mess in one way or another. Life is just that way… messy. But what a difference it makes when we recognize that we are God’s mess. He gets us and loves us! We are HIS messy sheep.
I am the Good Shepherd. I know my sheep and my sheep know me. (John 10:14)
Because we are under the care of The Good Shepherd, we will not only survive our distorted, sometimes chaotic lives we will thrive. Hearing this, my perspective went from feeling down on myself to realizing that I am ok under the care of my Shepherd. Psalm 23 describes this care.
The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. (ESV)
Jesus described himself as the Good Shepherd and us as His sheep who hear His voice. He makes us lie down in green pastures and quiets our thoughts. He leads us beside still waters and speaks His peace into our hearts. He restores our souls– our minds, our wills, and our emotions.
Recently, I heard a song on the radio, and the words sung were keep dancing, keep dreaming.
I suspect that for some of us, our messy, chaotic lives make us feel that we are disqualified from being joyful; not worthy of dreaming God-sized dreams. Truth is, we have an enemy who would love to see us focus on our messy lives so that our dreams cannot be realized and our joy cannot come forth.
BUT GOD…
He spoke that truth to me, and I now speak it to you. You may be a mess, but you are God’s mess. And because you are His, He will sort out the things in your life that need order; He will give you wisdom when you least expect it; and He will take you on a journey beside still water.
So take a deep breath and remember you are dearly loved by God and He is near.
Nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries for tomorrow… (Romans 8:28)
Nothing… not even our messy lives!
Joanne
