The Dona Watson Show

Why Your Messy Season Matters

• Dona Watson • Season 3 • Episode 4

Share episode

Send us a text

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

========================

👉🏻 Get your Warrior Queen Book Bundle here: https://shop.warriorqueenonline.com/wq-bookbundle

========================

🔥 My mission is to bring God’s light into the world through my books and videos. Follow along for devotionals and new fiction on Substack: https://donawatson.substack.com 

========================

đź“š My books (fiction and nonfiction) are available on Amazon, other popular online retailers, or you can get signed copies directly from me:

➡️ Signed copies directly from the author: https://shop.donawatson.com

➡️ Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/author/donawatson 

➡️ Audiobooks—On Audible: https://www.audible.com/author/Dona-Watson/B00G6QVCC2

========================

📱 My podcast, “The Dona Watson Show,” has new Christian devotional thoughts weekly—Subscribe and Listen HERE: https://thedonawatsonshow.buzzsprout.com 

========================

👉🏻 Connect with Dona Watson on social media. Click for links: https://donawatson.warriorqueenonline.com 

Website: https://www.donawatson.com 

Speaker 00:

Hello, hello. Welcome to The Dona Watson Show. I'm your host, Dona Watson.

Speaker 00:

We all have messy seasons in life, don't we? Today we're going to talk about why your messy beginning matters.

Speaker 00:

I know I personally have had lots of messy seasons in my life, and today is going to be a nod to my writer friends out there. We're gonna use a writing analogy to talk about this, which is something that I'm familiar with.

Speaker 00:

When I write a story, I never want anyone to see the first draft. And I know it's that way with all good writers. The first draft, they never want anyone to see, even the greats. They're not just gonna write the story once and then put it out there.

Speaker 00:

Messy beginnings are the same in life as they are in writing, and they happen. It's a part of the process, a necessary part of the process, actually. So today, I wanna mention three things about why your messy beginning matters.

Speaker 00:

But first, I wanna also mention that I do have a special book bundle, Be the Warrior Queen is a book that I have written with practical Christian strategies for women to achieve victory in this chaotic world. And I do have a special bundle available for you guys with a deep discount, limited time offer. Check for that in the show notes.

Speaker 00:

Otherwise, let's dive right in.

Speaker 00:

Today, I want to mention three things about why your messy beginning matters. The first point that I want to mention is that God sees the masterpiece in your mess. Just like a writer will see the potential story within a terrible first draft, they'll take that terrible first draft and they'll work on it and they'll refine it and they'll make it better and better. Every revision, it should be getting better and better.

Speaker 00:

And in a very similar way, God sees who you are becoming with each revision, even when you can't. He might see your messy beginning and know that the challenges that he throws your way are going to strengthen you and make you stronger and better with each new version of you.

Speaker 00:

We see examples of this in the Bible. Abraham, Moses, David are three really good examples of men who had messy seasons. Abraham, he lied about his wife. Not a very godly behavior, but he was afraid. And he was afraid that they would hurt him because she was a beautiful woman. So when he went to a foreign country, he asked her to tell everybody that they were brother and sister. And then he had to pay for that lie later on when they found out that she was really his wife. And they said, Abraham, why did you 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?

Speaker 00:

Another hero of the Bible with a messy season was Moses. He had murdered an Egyptian, fled into the desert. And when God called him, he even had a speech impediment. And he said, please, God, call anybody else. Don't call me to go rescue the children from Egypt, the children of Israel from Egypt. Someone else could do much better than I. But God saw the potential in Moses. And he saw the prophet that he would become and the leader that he would become— perfect to lead the children of Israel out of Egypt.

Speaker 00:

David had a very messy season. He did some things in the Bible that we hear about, such as his affair with Bathsheba. In order to cover up that affair with a married woman, he had her husband killed. And the prophet Nathan came to him, called him on the carpet and said, because you've done this thing, God will punish you. And he had to admit his sin, admit his messy season, and repent.

Speaker 00:

And the wonderful thing about all three of these is they went on to become heroes in the Bible. And in Hebrews, God called them all faithful. They recovered from their messy seasons, they went through it, they became stronger, they became more devoted to God, and God called them faithful.

Speaker 00:

Your rough draft life, your messy season is not a mistake. Your messy season is raw material in the Author's hands. The Author who will take our mess and make a beautiful message and masterpiece out of it. Every writer knows that the first draft is never meant to be perfect. but it's meant to exist so that they can create a beautiful work in the end.

Speaker 00:

So the first point is God sees the masterpiece in your mess. The second point is this process requires patience and trust. No experienced writer expects their first draft to be final. And yet we expect our spiritual lives to be immediately polished. That's not part of the process. We don't come out of the womb perfect and ready to go to heaven.

Speaker 00:

We all have messy seasons, messy beginnings that we get to learn to work through that challenge us to grow and become better. Every draft of your life, if you will, teaches you something new. It reveals character flaws that you get to address, and it deepens the story that God is telling through you. It deepens your character. Every challenge that comes our way is meant to improve us and to deepen our character. Our character is seen in how we respond to that challenge, right?

Speaker 00:

So I'm encouraging you to trust the process. Even best-selling authors have terrible first drafts. You might look at this messy season in your life and think of it as a terrible first draft, but know that there is something beautiful, there's beautiful potential in that right now.

Speaker 00:

Point three is that your story isn't finished yet. The most dangerous thing for any writer is to think that their first draft is perfect and ready to go. That's never the case. Similarly in life, know that God is still writing your story. He's still editing your story and refining your character, and he's still developing the plot of your purpose. What feels like a failure today just might be the setup for tomorrow's breakthrough. That bears repeating. What feels like a failure today might be the setup for your breakthrough tomorrow.

Speaker 00:

So just like writers know that writing is rewriting your spiritual journey is about becoming, not arriving. That's why we call it a journey. We will eventually arrive, and hopefully when we get to the end of our life, whenever God ordains that to be, we can step into eternity and hear him say, well done, good and faithful servant. But in order to do that, we need to honor our journey. We need to honor our messy seasons, work through them with character, and come out the other side stronger so that we can attack the next challenge and become even stronger in the next version of ourselves.

Speaker 00:

So know that God's pen is still moving across the pages of your life as he is directing your steps, as you're listening to his voice, and he's writing your story. And he is creating a beautiful masterpiece in your life to create moments that you, only you, can share uniquely with other people that you come in contact with.

Speaker 00:

So this week, instead of criticizing your messy season and your rough draft moments, don't be hard on yourself. Know that that happens to everybody and thank God for his patient editing process in your life. He's working with you. He's giving you opportunities to improve. Look for those silver linings and keep your eye on the goal for where you're going in this process, not where you are in the, things that can trip you up, but to keep your eye on the positive, on the joyful, to keep your mind at peace and to keep moving forward.

Speaker 00:

Don't forget to like and subscribe and share this today with someone who you think would be blessed by it. God bless you and take care.

Speaker 00:

If you love this, please give it a like or thumbs up or leave a comment with your thoughts. I love to hear from you and your comments help me to know what topics you'd like to see me cover. For more information on my books and other projects, visit my website at DonaWatson.com or my sub stack at DonaWatson.substack.com.