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The events in this life may have created holes in us. Taken pieces of us that have left empty spaces. Voids that remind us of what we’ve lost, what we’ve endured, and who we once were.

But God takes those holes and creates beautiful lace.

He doesn’t necessarily make those things disappear. Instead, He weaves them into our story as He continues to mold us into the person He wants us to be.

Someone He can use for His mission.

1 Timothy 1:12–14

“And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord who has enabled me, because He counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry, although I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an insolent man; but I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbelief. And the grace of our Lord was exceedingly abundant, with faith and love which are in Christ Jesus.”

Do you think you could be used for God’s mission?

Paul certainly knew what it meant to have a past.

He remembered who he once was. He had persecuted believers, fought against the very truth of God, and approved of the killing of Christians.

So why would God choose him for ministry?

Why would God entrust something so precious, a gift so treasured, to someone like Paul?

Grace

Paul didn’t deserve the calling God placed on his life. None of us do.

But God wasn’t looking at Paul through the lens of who he had been. He knew who Paul could become through the transforming power of Jesus Christ.

God often uses those who have been broken, wounded, and cast aside to demonstrate His power of redemption and restoration.

Paul was a living testimony of God’s abundant mercy and grace to every person he encountered.

His past wasn’t erased. But it no longer defined him.

Instead, it became part of the beautiful story God was writing through his life.

And the same can be true for you.

Those empty spaces, those painful memories, those parts of your story you wish you could change—God can use even those.

He can take what seems broken and weave it into something beautiful for His glory.

And if God could use Paul, imagine what He could do with you!

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