Puzzle Pieces

 Ever try to put a puzzle together without looking at the picture on the box?

Its possible - but it is so much easier to do when we have an image of the end result. Our lives are a whole bunch of puzzle pieces, and we have no idea what the big picture will look like one day. Only God knows what the end result will look like.


So why do we try so hard to fit all the pieces together when we cannot see the big picture?

Many times when we try to put the pieces together, we begin to feel overwhelmed or get incredibly frustrated when that one piece just won't fit. You're almost positive that its the right piece, but it just isn't working. Last year at this time, I thought I had my life and future all figured out - I could have told you where I was going to be in 3 years, 5 years, and 10 years. I had a plan - and I knew the big picture - or so I thought. I was trying to make that one puzzle piece fit into my life, and it was making me miserable. I was trying so hard to make something work, and it hit me like a ton of bricks that it wasn't in God's plan for my life right then. God had sent me a wake-up call and I finally realized that puzzle piece wasn't in the right place. So I took a step back, re-evaluated and had to take it and put it somewhere else in the puzzle. In my case, it was part of the puzzle, I just didn't have it in the right place, but sometimes that piece we're trying so hard to fit, isn't even part of our puzzle. It was incredibly difficult to let go of that piece of my life and walk away, but I knew that it wasn't right.

Oftentimes a good indicator of being in the will of God is if we're happy. Not the surface happiness, I'm talking about true happiness deep inside of you. That joy and peace that makes you smile and feel carefree. Do you have that, or does something seem to be sucking the life and joy out of you? Are you trying to fit something into your life that doesn't seem to be working? Is there a relationship in your life that you've been questioning? It may be with a boyfriend/girlfriend or simply a friendship, are you truly happy, or are you making excuses for yourself and the other person? Are you enjoying the major you are studying right now, or did you choose it to make someone else happy?

I want to throw a challenge out to you for sometime in the next few days - take an hour and go someplace you can be by yourself. No roommates, friends, parents, etc. to distract you. Evaluate some of the relationships in your life, the work that you're doing, the field that you're studying. Are you truly happy, or are you trying to fit that puzzle piece into your life?  

Below is a song that really encouraged me when that one piece make it feel like the puzzle was falling apart.

Fall Apart by Josh Wilson

Why in the world did I think I could
Only get to know you when my life was good
When everything just falls in place
The easiest thing is to give You praise

Now it all seems upside down

‘Cause my whole world is caving in
But I feel You now more than I did then
How can I come to the end of me
And somehow still have all I need
God, I want to know You more
Maybe this is how it starts
I find You when I fall apart

Blessed are the ones who understand
We’ve got nothing to bring but empty hands
Nothing to hide and nothing to prove
Our heartbreak brings us back to You

And it all seems upside down

‘Cause my whole world is caving in
But I feel You now more than I did then
How can I come to the end of me
And somehow still have all I need
God, I want to know You more
Maybe this is how it starts
I find You when I fall apart

I don’t know how long this will last
I’m praying for the pain to pass
But maybe this is the best thing that
Has ever happened to me

My whole world is caving in
But I feel You now more than I did then
How can I come to the end of me
And somehow still have all I need
God, I want to know You more
Maybe this is how it starts
I find You when
You will find me when I fall apart

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34aM1gOAr74