Just a piece of the puzzle...

"Don't you just LOVE puzzles?!"

Well...let's just say we kinda love them.
Sometimes.
For a while...at least til we get frustrated. 

Oh...but how we LOVE the completion of it!

We just finished a series at church on Romans 8:28 and I couldn't help but think about puzzles.

"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose."

God is always at work.  I am seeing and believing this more and more, the older I get.  This verse has so many layers when you really start looking at it. 

I don't believe God is necessarily orchestrating all of life's events. For I believe that He loved us enough to give us free will and unfortunately this world is full of things that were never a part of His will--but are a result of thousands of years of sinful natures at work.

BUT...before we feel overwhelmed and defeated by this...let us be reassured that He is constantly working through the good, the bad, and the ugly. 

He is the master at puzzles!

Let me give you a little peek into how The Graves do puzzles...

OK...so... we open the box and dump out the pieces.

**collective sighs**

We always start with feeling a bit overwhelmed. Then... we roll up our sleeves and get excited about the challenge before us and we get to work! Each of us have our own thoughts about the best way to go about it...so while some of us start on the "edge" pieces, the others start in one area and build on that.  

Before you know it...it never fails...someone says "this is too hard! I'm going to watch TV."

It's so easy to get frustrated, isn't it?  We try so hard... yet we feel like we're getting nowhere. We can't make any sense of all of these pieces. Surely, they don't fit all together.

Sometimes...we just have to take a deep breath, step away, and start again the next day. 

But God says...let me have all the broken pieces. I can and will make them into a masterpiece!

"There has never been the slightest doubt in my mind that the God who started this great work in you would keep at it and bring it to a flourishing finish on the very day Christ Jesus appears."  -Phil. 1:6 msg

I am so very thankful that He doesn't get frustrated, tired and overwhelmed by my pile of broken pieces.  He created the big picture. He knows just what to do with all the pieces...even the ones that make no sense to me.  I just need to give them to Him...all of them!!  For without every single piece...my picture will not be complete.

"Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides.  You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors.  So don't try to get out of anything prematurely.  Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not lacking anything."   -James 1:2-4 msg

WOW! I've got a loooong way before I consider it a gift...I'm still just trying not to 'quit' when challenges come my way!  I am thankful for my friends, though.  I look at what some of you have been through and the perseverance you have had is amazing!  I still don't understand why some have to endure so much...but I do know that your life speaks volumes to me and others! Thank you.

I hope all of you have a GREAT day!  

...and go buy yourself a puzzle!