Puzzle Pieces of Life

In your down time, what do you like to do?

I love to take nature hikes, read fiction Christian novels, write, play with technology, or just play.  Of all the things I like to do, I do not like to put together puzzles.  

Growing up, I remember my grandmother sitting at the table for hours putting together thousand piece puzzles.  I would come over and watch over.  Every once in a while I would pick up a piece, put it where it belonged, then get up and walk away.  But I never enjoyed just sitting there putting a puzzle together.  

Even now, Little Bit loves putting puzzles together and I just watch her excitement as she finds the right piece to put in the right spot.  It is fun to watch her succeed.  But I am not interested in putting the puzzle together myself.  I think it has to do with the sitting part.  I have trouble doing that for long periods of time.

But I have put them together before.  I usually start with the edge pieces just cause those are a wee bit easier to put together.  After those are complete and I have my boundaries for the picture yet to be complete, I start filling in the middle.  And it gets frustrating.  I will try to a piece where I know it should go.  And it doesn't fit.  So I turn it and try again.  And it doesn't fit.  So I try to squash it into place.  But it still doesn't fit.  And I get frustrated.  I know that piece should go there.  I has to belong there.  All the colors match.  It must go there.  

But it doesn't.

When I finally get to the point where the puzzle is one piece shy of being complete, I hold that same piece in my hand that didn't fit where I knew it should belong.  And it fits in perfectly.  On the opposite site of the puzzle.  Went in smoothly.  I didn't have to force it.  I didn't have to twist or turn it.  I just laid it down and it went right in.  A perfect match.

How many times in life are we like that?  We try to put a piece of our life in a specific spot.  But it doesn't fit. We twist it.  We turn it.  We try to squash it in.  But it doesn't fit because it doesn't go there.  But then we let it go.  We give it to God.  All the other pieces go in nicely.  It is just that one.  We try to force our will on the situation.  But once we let it go, His will takes over and all the pieces of our life fit together like they are supposed to.  

Did I say our life would be perfect?  No.  Not even close.  But our life will be aligned with the will of God.  And then things will begin to fall into place. 

I've been doing this lately.  I have been trying to force my will, my plans, my ideas, my goals into the spot I believed it had to go.  I have this idea as to what my life should look like and where I should be.  I have a picture in my head that the finished product should look like and the picture is not coming together.  The pieces are not fitting together.  At all.  The picture has been incomplete because I keep trying to put the pieces where I think they should go instead of allowing God to put them where they belong.  In His time.

Last week, I finally let go.  I put the puzzle pieces down.  I allowed God to put them where they belong.  Starting Monday, He began to put the pieces in the right spots.  The puzzle is coming together nicely.  It is not complete, but God is putting them where they go in His time.

Was it easy letting go of the pieces and allowing God to take control?  No, because as you know, I am a control freak.  I think things should be done in a certain time in a certain way.  But do I feel better now that I have allowed God to take over?  You have no idea.  God knew all along how the pieces would fit together.  I hadn't a clue. I need to learn to allow Him to put the pieces where they belong instead of forcing them into places I think they should go.  It relieves so much stress.  Let's just say, I had an amazing night's sleep last night due to the fact that it was His doing that the pieces fell into place.  Not mine.

But this puzzle is still being worked on as we speak.  The last piece will go in when I take my final breath.  And at that time, I believe the puzzle will create a beautiful picture.  But this is possible only By God's Amazing Grace.

Great Sinner With Great Faith

Have you ever realized that the people in the Bible has such a strong faith?

I mean, look at Abraham.  God asked him to leave his family and follow.  Where?  God would tell Abraham when he was there.  Just up and leave his home, his family, everything.  God asked Abraham to sacrifice his promised son.  The son that would be the beginning of the generations to come that were promised to Abraham.  Abraham did this with such faith because he believed that God would still be able to resurrect Isaac after the sacrifice.  Of course God stopped the sacrifice and provided an alternate sacrifice.

Look at Job.  Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him.  Job had it all.  A great house, family, friends, land, livestock.  Yep, he had it all.  And then, BAM!  He lost it all.  He still had his friends, but I am not sure I'd want them as friends at this point.  He still had his wife.  I love my husband because of how supportive he is.  Job's wife...supportive?  Not so much.  But he continued to trust God when his whole world seemed to be crashing down on him.

Look at Joseph.  The favorite son of Jacob.  He received a coat of many colors and had a few dreams showing his brothers bowing down to him.  This of course made his brothers jealous.  Just a tad.  They only wanted to kill him.  But thanks to Reuben, they did not do so.  Instead, he was sold into slavery.  But because of his faith in God, he was able to rise up and take charge.  Until Potiphar's wife decided she wanted more out of Joseph than just a servant.  But Joseph trusted God and chose prison over pleasure.  Yet during this time, he again was given duties like that of someone in charge.  Then he became second in command to Pharaoh due to dream interpretations.  All because of his faith.

These three men have something other than their faith in common.  They have a lack of mistakes mentioned in the Bible.  Abraham's mistakes included lying that Sarah was his sister instead of his wife and taking matters into his own hands to fulfill God's promise.  And Joseph's mistake would have been gloating about his dreams and his beautiful coat.  Job's mistakes were not mentioned.  So all in all, these were really good guys.  So of course they had great faith and God was able to use them.  What about the sinners?  What about those that actually made mistakes?  Was their faith as strong and was God actually able to use them?

Of course.

Let's look at my favorite example.  David.

Where should we start with him? Let's see.  He committed adultery.  Sent the woman's husband to the front lines of the battle knowing he would be killed.  So that would make him a murderer, correct?  I could go on, but there is no need.  That is already more than any of the above men.

But God wasn't able to use David.  Nobody even knows who David is, right?

Wrong!!!

God definitely used David DESPITE his sins and mistakes.  God just had to work around them.

After the death of Uriah, David and Bathsheba married and they had a son.  Due to David's mistakes, the punishment was the loss of their first child.  But guess what?  David still sat on the throne.  He was still king.

Why is that important?

Sometimes God has to take our dream away.  He doesn't always remove us from the situation..  He just takes away our baby (aka our dream).

God does that sometimes.  He takes away something that we love.  But when he does this, he does not leave an empty spot.  He always replaces it.  He restores us.

He did this with David.  David was not taken off the throne.  He was still king and could still serve God from this seat of power.  But when God saw fit, he gave David a baby.  Well, a few babies.  But most specifically, Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived, the one who became king after David, the one who built the temple.

And despite his sins, his mistakes, his failures, he is still known as the man after God's own heart.  Why not someone who was more perfect, someone who did not make so many mistakes?  Someone who lived their life on the straight and narrow?

Because no matter what David did.  No matter what sins he committed.  No matter what.  He always returned to God.  He always walked with God.  He continually came back to the Creator.

And God is able to use the story of David to reach me.  I knows this may shock you, but I am a sinner.  I have made mistakes.  Ones that have altered my life.  But I chose to be like David and keep coming back to God.  I chose to walk as closely with God as I possibly can.  I want to be known as the girl after God's own heart.  God has taken away one of my dreams only to replace it with a better dream.  He does restore.

But the restoration process, the walk with God, the being a girl after God's own heart?  It is a possibility, but only By God's Amazing Grace.

The Windy Day and a Lesson in Faith

I was driving home the other day and the wind was extremely strong.  So much so that I could feel the push and pull of the car.  I was sure I was going to blown off the road and become part of the beautiful landscape.  But thankfully that did not happen.

As I was driving, I did take note of said beautiful landscape.  The trees lining the road were standing surprisingly still.  I would never have know how windy it was by looking at these particular trees.  Yet the grass beneath looked as if it were ready to come out of the ground due to the high winds.  I was perplexed.  How could the wind be so strong but the branches of the trees were standing still as if there wasn't even a breeze?

I began to think about that and how it relates to our faith.  How is it that some people could be going through trials but their faith is so strong you would think everything was hunky dory?  But it is not about appearances.  It is about true faith.

Think back to the trees.  Think about how they grow.  They start from a seed.  Something so tiny yet produces something so big.  When the seed is planted in the ground, it begins to sprout up into a sapling.  A small plant that could easily be uprooted by strong winds, hands, animals.  Not a strong object by any means at this point.

As the sapling is growing, so are the roots.  The roots of the tree begin to hold fast to the ground in which it is planted.  The roots give the tree its strong foundation.  Without these, the tree would not survive very long, especially as tree began to grow taller.  Not only do the roots form the strong foundation of the tree, but they are the source of nourishment.  Through the roots, the tree can absorb the moisture and food it needs to survive.

So why weren't the trees budging as the high winds were pushing me off the road?  Because they had a strong foundation.  Their roots were strong.  Without the roots, the trees might have been on the road with me being pushed along by the wind.  Hopefully they would stay in their own lanes and not try to cut me off, though.

It is the same with us.  We need to have that strong foundation.  Our roots are studying of God's word, praying daily with God, and growing our faith.  If we don't do this, we cannot be strong.  Any trial will come along and we will topple over.  But with the roots planted properly, we can stand strong through the trials.  We might sway, but we can still say, "God can get me through this.  It is in His hands.  I have no reason to fear."

It is true when Jesus said we only need to have the faith the size of a mustard seed.  That seed is so small (1-2 mm in diameter), yet it grows into a big plant (9 feet tall).  The small amount of faith grows into an enormous amount of faith.  I strive for that kind of faith so that I can stand strong in the midst of storms that come into my life.  I want to be like the trees that strand tall as the wind is so strong.  But this is only possible By God's Amazing Grace.