We have spent our lives trying to perfect a shape. Ever since grade school, we have been striving to replicate the perfection of a circle; drawing, erasing, and drawing again, so close, yet so far, from the flawless sphere.

I can’t say this is something that I think about on a daily basis, but when I began thinking about the story I wanted to tell this week, the above is the image that came to my mind. We have all seen clips, GIFs, and sometimes even our friends that have drawn near perfect circles, and it is amazing every single time. How can something so simple be so difficult to replicate? I have no idea.

I can tell you, however, that a circle is so much more than a shape, and I know someone that can draw a perfect circle every time.

And, no, it’s not that guy…

Or that one…

It’s this one…

Now God is in no way shape or form simple; but He is perfect, and He draws a perfect circle every time.

I’m not going to pretend that it’s easy to see God everyday. Some days He is everywhere and others we get inside our heads and can’t see Him, however this does not mean that God cannot be seen.

Those days that I get caught up in life often end up being the days that I see God the most. I see him in his daily artwork: the artwork of circles.

Now what’s incredible is that God never goes part way, he always finishes the circles he starts.

I’m sure a lot of people reading this have no idea what I mean by ‘full circles’; allow me to explain.

To explain I am going to tell you a story. I am from a small town, and in traditional small town fashion we have a bundle of small shops. In one of the shops, they sell small bottle cap magnets. I have always been drawn to these magnets, but I was always drawn to one in particular. This magnet plays host to an anchor.

Now this was before the ‘white girl’ craze with anchors so I don’t know why this anchor was so intriguing to me, but every time I went into this shop my eyes were automatically drawn to the magnet. I never had any reason to buy it, so it stayed in the shop for months waiting to be purchased.

Meanwhile, across the street at my home church my pastor was going through a sermon series about the Book of Hebrews. I can’t pretend that I am always the most attentive person. I definitely lose focus more than I should, but this series was, for some reason, particularly difficult for me to pay attention to. Week six of the series finally broke through for me. In particular the verse Hebrew 6:19, “We have this hope as an ANCHOR for the soul, firm and secure,” really struck me.

I am one of those people who needs something strong to hold on to; I get distracted and lost so easily in everything. Whether it be in relationships, friendships, life, or whatever, I need something strong to hold on to. That verse changed everything for me; it got me out of my ‘faith slump’. I now had an anchor to hold on to, the strongest anchor of all.

Needless to say, I bought the magnet.

But the story doesn’t end there.

Nearly three years later, I graduated high school and (with the new anchor necklace my mother had given to me for graduation) I attended a yearly mission trip with my youth group, and this particular year we traveled from my hometown to Providence, Rhode Island.

This city was so in need; full of corruption and had been recently named the “Least Bible Following” city in the United States. It was clear that this was where we needed to be, especially after I learned what this city was founded on.

For those of you who do not know, this is the state flag of Rhode Island.

As you should be able to tell, this flag screamed its purpose at me the second we crossed the state border. Hosting an anchor and the word ‘hope’, the message, to me, seemed obvious, and it was to the founders of the state as well. Those founders were early colonists who fled from Massachusetts in order to be free from religious prosecution due to their Christian faith.

After learning this, I knew this was where I was meant to be.

First of all, if you read all of that testimony, thank you for sticking with me. That was a lot of words.

Second of all, this is what I mean by full circles.

God doesn’t draw lines. He doesn’t make things happen for no good reason. He makes perfect, beautiful circles. Everything He does, everything He leads us to do, everything is part of a circle; we just can’t always see those circles. We try to pick up the pen and finish the circle for ourselves, but that’s when we get those squiggly lines and imperfection.

Everything comes back to where God needs us to be, everything makes sense. Just because we can’t see it doesn’t mean it isn’t so.

And so I encourage you to look at your life, where are the full circles? What bad events have led to good? What little parts of your day have led to something huge? God is always working so incredibly hard and it seems that we never take enough time to really look at all He is doing, beyond making beautiful sunsets and seasons.

Where is God drawing a circle in your life?