“Martha (…) saith unto him, Lord, by this time he stinketh: for he hath been dead four days.” John 11:39

Anytime I read the story about Lazarus's resurrection, I have to pause, let my mind wander a little bit to figure out the decomposition state in which his body must have been after four days in the heat of a tomb. Imagine the mess there! All hope seemed lost as shown in Martha’s words to Jesus in John 11:39.

Jesus however turned that seemingly irreversible situation into an event that marveled at God's power and thus passed this message to mankind: with God, time is not a limit and human beings’ conclusion can become the starting point of a startling adventure.

Likewise, let's get a closer look at Hannah's life. It is one thing for a woman to be married, loved by her husband and, while childless for years, to discover that her barrenness originates from God. But it is another thing to wake up each day suffering her co-spouse's mockeries. When you try to figure out what this might have meant for Hannah, you easily understand how desperately she was praying, a desperate prayer that made Eli to suspect that she was drunk. Assuredly, Hannah must have been drunk of that messy situation. Fortunately, her desperate prayer caught the Almighty God's attention and ended her barrenness, thereby turning her test into a testimony. Once again, from the messy situation she was passing through came strong messages we could pick from her thanksgiving praises in 1 Samuel 2: 1-10.

From the Bible, we can go on and on with examples of messy situations the Almighty turned into messages. But let's pause momentarily and shift our glance from biblical stories to our time. Maybe as at the moment you are reading this message, your situation is nothing but a real mess and you have to keep it secret to avoid shame. Maybe you have convinced yourself that there’s no more hope and that the verdict is final. Allow me to tell you this: your case is not final until God says it is. Just as he can make a nice pot from a dirty clay, I believe that God is not in Heaven scratching his head with his finger and getting bored. He is still working today and all you have to do is turn your situation to him and you will see how his artistic qualities will turn your situation from a mess to a message. God bless you!