On a certain reality talent show, there was an artist painting a seemingly simple portrait. About half way through, it was obvious what the portrait was going to look like and both the audience and the judges became bored with it.

The artist was extremely talented and took great care in each brush stroke she made on the canvas. Being very precise with every detail. Eventually, the judges lost interest and voted for her to stop. Thankfully, she didn’t and finished the portrait.

At the end, the artist stepped back and everyone could see the finished portrait. It was exactly what they thought it was going to look like. No one was impressed or surprised.

And then…

The artist stepped over, picked up the canvas, turned it completely over, and set it back down. To everyone’s amazement, the portrait was now an entirely different person.

Ephesians 2:10 (NLT) says, “For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things He planned for us long ago.” Some translations read “handiwork” or “workmanship”. God is our artist, we are His portraits. He takes great care with every brush stroke as He paints and crafts our lives.

Many times we – and many others – may think we know what the final portrait will look like. We get bored or eager for God to complete the picture. We may even beg Him to hurry so we can stand back and admire what we believe the portrait – our lives – will look like. Or we might not like how we think the portrait is turning out and ask God to change it. To make our lives more like someone else’s. We take for granted that every brush stroke is intentional. Even those marks that we would rather not be painted into our lives.

But we only see a glimpse of what God truly is painting for us. We view our life portraits from our worldly views. 2 Corinthians 5:16-17 tells us we should no longer view anyone from a worldly point of view. That through Christ, we are a new creation. The old has gone, and the new is here. Because of Christ, our canvas has been turned over and a new portrait is revealed.

So often we think our lives are going in one direction or will end up a certain way. Before God is finished, so many of us think we know what the final picture will be. We get anxious and ask God to hurry and give us our portraits. Or we get discouraged because we think our portraits will not be as grand as someone else’s.

If we would only be patient and trust God to complete the work He has begun in our lives. And if we trust Him enough to literally turn our canvases – our lives – completely upside down. Then we would see the true portrait that He has been painting for us. One that is far better than we could ever imagine.