Piecing Together the Puzzle

Have you ever taken a “selfie”? If you have teenagers in your life at all I’m sure you’ve at least seen them. Most of the time they show only what the person taking them wants you to see. A glimpse into their life. Or so it would seem.

What’s missing from that selfie though? The BIG picture!  

Our lives are like a giant puzzle. You do your best to put the pieces in place and in the right order. But it’s so hard to know the corner pieces from the middle pieces when you can’t even see the whole board!

The only one who can see all the pieces at once and the order they need to go in is GOD! 

He sees the big picture and wants to help us put the pieces in place, gently. Unfortunately, for years I tried to pound the pieces into place even if I knew they didn’t fit right. It was my way or the highway.

It wasn’t until I took a long look in the mirror of my heart that I realized my life was completely out of whack. I knew a lot about God and was in a relationship with Him but I wanted to be in control. He was welcome to ride along as a passenger. The sad part is He could always see the best route I should take to get me to the best place. But, I was too busy ramming and jamming my pieces into place to notice the wrong turns I’d taken.

Several years ago I finally started to notice how hard I was working to make things fit together that I knew God intended to put in place for me. I was at a women’s conference and felt the Holy Spirit gently nudge me towards the truth.

The truth is that life can be hard! In John 16:33 Jesus promises us there will be trouble in this life. Good news though, Jesus has overcome the world!

When we let the Lord take the lead in our lives it brings peace amidst the struggles. It’s hard to really explain it even. The bible refers to it as a peace that surpasses understanding. So true!  

I wish this meant that I never rammed and jammed a few puzzle pieces again but unfortunately old habits die hard. I’ve learned that it’s a daily dying to myself. Handing over one piece at a time.

It’s amazing how patient God is! Some puzzle pieces were harder for me to let go of. Some had left some pretty big wounds and somehow had become part of how I identified myself.

Looking back it’s kind of strange but I wasn’t sure who I would be any more if I let God in to take the hurt. Isn’t that who I was now? 

He could have pushed His way in but that’s not His style! He just loved me while I loosened my grip.

I could see the mess I had made of things doing it my way. Now that I was ready to hand it back to God I really wanted him to fix all the scuff marks on my life’s puzzle. As quickly as possible too!

You know what? The scuff marks make my story unique. God can turn my scars into something that brings Him glory. So now I look at those scuff marks and thank God that he is more than capable of still making a masterpiece out of this puzzle of my life.