Why Your Messy Season Matters

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We all have messy seasons in life. Let's talk about why that matters.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 00 (00:00):
Hello, hello.
Welcome to The Dona WatsonShow.
I'm your host, Dona Watson.
We all have messy seasons inlife, don't we?
Today we're going to talk aboutwhy your messy beginning
matters.
I know I personally have hadlots of messy seasons in my

(00:22):
life, and today is going to be anod to my writer friends out
there.
We're gonna use a writinganalogy to talk about this,
which is something that I'mfamiliar with.
When I write a story, I neverwant anyone to see the first
draft.
And I know it's that way withall good writers.

(00:44):
The first draft, they neverwant anyone to see, even the
greats.
They're not just gonna writethe story once and then put it
out there.
Messy beginnings are the same inlife as they are in writing,
and they happen.
It's a part of the process, anecessary part of the process,

(01:09):
actually.
So today, I wanna mention threethings about why your messy
beginning matters.
But first, I wanna also mentionthat I do have a special book
bundle, Be the Warrior Queen isa book that I have written with
practical Christian strategiesfor women to achieve victory in

(01:33):
this chaotic world.
And I do have a special bundleavailable for you guys with a
deep discount, limited timeoffer.
Check for that in the shownotes.
Otherwise, let's dive right in.
Today, I want to mention threethings about why your messy
beginning matters.
The first point that I want tomention is that God sees the

(01:59):
masterpiece in your mess.
Just like a writer will see thepotential story within a
terrible first draft, they'lltake that terrible first draft
and they'll work on it andthey'll refine it and they'll
make it better and better.
Every revision, it should begetting better and better.

(02:21):
And in a very similar way, Godsees who you are becoming with
each revision, even when youcan't.
He might see your messybeginning and know that
the challenges that he throwsyour way are going to strengthen
you and make you stronger andbetter with each new version of

(02:45):
you.
We see examples of this in theBible.
Abraham, Moses, David are threereally good examples of men who
had messy seasons.
Abraham, he lied about hiswife.
Not a very godly behavior, buthe was afraid.

(03:06):
And he was afraid that theywould hurt him because she was a
beautiful woman.
So when he went to a foreigncountry, he asked her to tell
everybody that they were brotherand sister.
And then he had to pay for thatlie later on when they found
out that she was really hiswife.

(03:28):
And they said, Abraham, why didyou lie to us?
Why did you do this?
And he says, I was afraid.
He didn't trust God.
He lied.
It caught up to him.
But he had a messy season,didn't he?
Another hero of the Bible with amessy season was Moses.
He had murdered an Egyptian,fled into the desert.

(03:53):
And when God called him, heeven had a speech impediment.
And he said, please, God, callanybody else.
Don't call me to go rescue thechildren from Egypt, the
children of Israel from Egypt.
Someone else could do muchbetter than I.
But God saw the potential inMoses.
And he saw the prophet that hewould become and the leader that

(04:17):
he would become— perfect tolead the children of Israel out
of Egypt.
David had a very messy season.
He did some things in the Biblethat we hear about, such as his
affair with Bathsheba.
In order to cover up thataffair with a married woman, he

(04:38):
had her husband killed.
And the prophet Nathan came tohim, called him on the carpet
and said, because you've donethis thing, God will punish you.
And he had to admit his sin,admit his messy season, and
repent.
And the wonderful thing aboutall three of these is they went

(05:00):
on to become heroes in theBible.
And in Hebrews, God called themall faithful.
They recovered from their messyseasons, they went through it,
they became stronger, theybecame more devoted to God, and
God called them faithful.
Your rough draft life, yourmessy season is not a mistake.

(05:24):
Your messy season is rawmaterial in the Author's hands.
The Author who will take ourmess and make a beautiful
message and masterpiece out ofit.
Every writer knows that thefirst draft is never meant to be

(05:47):
perfect.
but it's meant to exist so thatthey can create a beautiful
work in the end.
So the first point is God seesthe masterpiece in your mess.
The second point is thisprocess requires patience and

(06:09):
trust.
No experienced writer expectstheir first draft to be final.
And yet we expect our spirituallives to be immediately
polished.
That's not part of the process.
We don't come out of the wombperfect and ready to go to

(06:30):
heaven.
We all have messy seasons, messybeginnings that we get to learn
to work through that challengeus to grow and become better.
Every draft of your life, ifyou will, teaches you something

(06:50):
new.
It reveals character flaws thatyou get to address, and it
deepens the story that God istelling through you.
It deepens your character.
Every challenge that comes ourway is meant to improve us and
to deepen our character.
Our character is seen in how werespond to that challenge,

(07:12):
right?
So I'm encouraging you to trustthe process.
Even best-selling authors haveterrible first drafts.
You might look at this messyseason in your life and think of
it as a terrible first draft,but know that there is something

(07:35):
beautiful, there's beautifulpotential in that right now.
Point three is that your storyisn't finished yet.
The most dangerous thing forany writer is to think that
their first draft is perfect andready to go.
That's never the case.

(07:56):
Similarly in life, know thatGod is still writing your story.
He's still editing your storyand refining your character, and
he's still developing the plotof your purpose.
What feels like a failure todayjust might be the setup for

(08:22):
tomorrow's breakthrough.
That bears repeating.
What feels like a failure todaymight be the setup for your
breakthrough tomorrow.
So just like writers know thatwriting is rewriting your
spiritual journey is aboutbecoming, not arriving.

(08:46):
That's why we call it ajourney.
We will eventually arrive, andhopefully when we get to the end
of our life, whenever Godordains that to be, we can step
into eternity and hear him say,well done, good and faithful
servant.
But in order to do that, weneed to honor our journey.
We need to honor our messyseasons, work through them with

(09:10):
character, and come out theother side stronger so that we
can attack the next challengeand become even stronger in the
next version of ourselves.
So know that God's pen is stillmoving across the pages of your
life as he is directing yoursteps, as you're listening to

(09:32):
his voice, and he's writing yourstory.
And he is creating a beautifulmasterpiece in your life to
create moments that you, onlyyou, can share uniquely with
other people that you come incontact with.

(09:52):
So this week, instead ofcriticizing your messy season
and your rough draft moments,don't be hard on yourself.
Know that that happens toeverybody and thank God for his
patient editing process in yourlife.
He's working with you.
He's giving you opportunitiesto improve.

(10:14):
Look for those silver liningsand keep your eye on the goal
for where you're going in thisprocess, not where you are in
the, things that can trip youup, but to keep your eye on the
positive, on the joyful, to keepyour mind at peace and to keep

(10:36):
moving forward.
Don't forget to like andsubscribe and share this today
with someone who you think wouldbe blessed by it.
God bless you and take care.
If you love this, please give ita like or thumbs up or leave a
comment with your thoughts.
I love to hear from you andyour comments help me to know

(10:59):
what topics you'd like to see mecover.
For more information on mybooks and other projects, visit
my website at DonaWatson.com ormy sub stack at
DonaWatson.substack.com.