—thoughts from Chapter 8 in Things We’ve Handed Down:Twelve Letters I Leave for You (based on the book The Art of Being You by Bob Kilpatrick and Joel Kilpatrick). 

We often picture God like a mechanic—someone we call when things break down.

The engine fails, the check light comes on, and we limp into the garage of grace, hoping He can fix us enough to keep us running.

But God is no mechanic.

He is the Artist.

He doesn’t just fix us.

He forms us.

He is not just under the hood, turning wrenches. He’s in the studio, with brush in hand, creating beauty from what looks broken.

He takes time. He takes care. He sees something in you—something glorious—that you might not see in yourself.

And He keeps shaping you.

The true you.

Not the version you pretend to be when you’re trying to earn approval. Not the self that you’ve filtered through expectations and performance. But the handcrafted, God-designed, grace-filled you.

This isn’t about self-help or self-obsession. It’s about surrender—letting the Artist create without interruption.

He doesn’t want to tune you up so you can go back to driving yourself crazy. He wants to change your life into a masterpiece of His love.

And He’s not done.

Even now, in your pain or confusion or doubt, He’s still painting. Even when you feel like nothing is changing, the Artist is at work.

You are His canvas. His clay. His poem. His “masterpiece”(Ephesians 2:10).

Not His product. Not His project. His masterpiece.

So don’t rush the process. Don’t curse the brush strokes. Don’t assume the Artist has stepped away.

He’s here. Still creating. Still crafting. Still loving the art of forming you.