Pieces Of The Puzzle

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Jeremiah 29:11

Recently my granddaughter came over to stay with me for a day. I wanted something for us to do together and remembered how much I enjoyed putting together puzzles as a boy. So I picked up what appeared to be an easy 100 piece dinosaur puzzle.

We had no problem putting together the outside edges of the puzzle, and the left top section of the puzzle. Yet, the rest of that puzzle must have been cut using some sort of insane algorithm because it was a nightmare. What began as a fun exercise turned out to be a quest of sheer frustrated determination to finish the craziest kids puzzle ever. We barely got it done before my daughter arrived to pick up my granddaughter.

When we are young we look at our future and make plans with an expected outcome.  It looks easy enough to reach reasonable goals for our life. We get a good start and the outside edges of our plans begin to come together and a few other pieces start fitting and we can begin to see the outcome we hoped for.

When my wife and I got married we had reasonable plans. I had a good job and we purchased our first home. The plan was that we would have a few children, and my wife would stay home and take care of them while I worked. The outside pieces of our puzzle were coming together and the future looked bright. We had it figured out.

The algorithm of our life suddenly became much harder than we could ever imagine when my health broke down in the middle of the “puzzle” we were putting together. It did not fit as we expected it to.

You may have experienced something similar when you looked at your plans for your life. Then suddenly what should have been easy to accomplish instead wrecked your expectations. Perhaps like me, you had a turn in your health, or the health of your spouse. Maybe it was a divorce, or financial turmoil, or a struggle with drugs or alcohol. Many things can come along that suddenly change our expected outcome in ways we could never have foreseen.

For the believer in Christ, trust must enter the picture, no matter how crazy things may seem at the time. For God has a plan, even if it takes us through some twists and turns and gives us pieces that seem impossible to put together.

I’m far enough along in my life at this point that I can better see and understand the puzzle God is putting together. I can’t see it all just yet, but it is taking shape.

We may not see the puzzle of our life coming together as we expected, but we can trust that the ill-fitting pieces we hold in our hand will have a place in the picture when God has finished His work in our life.

Do not give in to discouragement when your plans fall apart. God is not through with your life. Trust Him, and in time the beautiful picture of His plans will be evident and you will understand it really did fit together after all.

Prayer: Dear Lord, life gives us many twists and turns that leave us confused and frustrated. Help us to always trust You, especially when the pieces don’t seem to fit together. Amen.