Puzzle Pieces

Puzzle Pieces

All too often I allow the circumstances to determine my view on the character of God rather than allowing the character of God to shine through onto my circumstances.  If my surroundings are good then God is good.  But if my circumstances are bad then God be bad or worse, just not care.  God is good ALL the time.  While the world is constantly changing God is UNCHANGING, ever faithful, ALWAYS GOOD.  So even in the times when it looks like all hope is lost and change is completely impossible God is working on a plan to right all my wrongs.  The grand puzzle maker.  Follow me here…it’s the person putting the puzzle together that is the problem solver.  Its not the puzzle pieces job to make each piece fit together.  A puzzle is designed to test the ingenuity and problem solving abilities of the person fitting the pieces.  Each one of us is a part of a huge puzzle.  When we as puzzle pieces try to create the picture we make a mess of things and try to smash pieces together that don’t belong just because we don’t understand where they truly go.  The relationship that failed, the job we didn’t get, or the family member that died.  Close your eyes and see it with me.  There are a bunch of puzzle pieces laid out in front of you.  All different shades and colors but as you look closer you can see black streaks running through some of the pieces.  Defining lines.  These pieces represent the times in your life when you don’t understand what God is doing.  The difficult times when its easier to see the bad then to see the picture that is being made.  But these are the very pieces that he uses to to define the puzzle of our lives.  Without these lines there is no depth, no character.  Trust his hand that He knows exactly where each piece goes.  He alone knows where the black lines need to go.  Sometimes I don’t know what He’s doing but I trust who He is.  The black lines do not determine the puzzle makers character but the character of God determines where the black lines go and only He can see the whole puzzle and where each piece fits. 

Obedience

Obedience

I am convinced that obedience looks different in every season.  When God asks for you obedience in some things it seems trivial and in other things its glaringly obvious why you need to obey.  For me the big things are easier to obey than the little things.  For instance, in the past few months I have known I was supposed to get rid of several hoodies that I had from when I was married.  But they were my favorites because they were so worn and comfortable.  I am embarrassed to say that I have just now put them in the Goodwill pile.  The ever so patient Father kept nudging me.  Every time I would say…really God, it’s a sweatshirt?  And EVERY time I put it on I would hear, you really should get rid of that, you need to get rid of that, I SAID GET RID OF THAT.  Now,  I have no idea of the full spectrum of ramifications that my obedience with the sweatshirt will bring.  And honestly that doesn’t matter.  I don’t obey for an end result.  I obey because I know that I know He has a plan.  And he is intentional in EVERY single minute detail.  Sometimes,  obedience  means doing NOTHING.  Over the past 4 months God has been showing me that obedience is just as important in the STOP AND DO NOTHING phase as there is in the charge full force ahead phase.  I can’t help but think of my own children when it comes to obedience.  Take for instance something as simple as crossing the street.  Sometimes you have to wait till the coast is clear.  Sometimes it has nothing to do with you but rather with your surroundings.  There are dangers that have to clear before you can move ahead.  Sometimes if you wait too long you miss the journey awaiting you.  Sometimes it feels like you are waiting FOREVER.  But I assure you, your “walk” sign will come.  As I wait for my sign to change from “DO NOT WALK” to “walk”  I am trying to listen for the little things he wants me to obey.  Which isn’t nearly as exciting as run ahead but its in the little things that you learn the biggest lessons. 

Forgiven, Redeemed, Set Free

Forgiven, Redeemed, Set Free

As the day nears its end and the streets began to go silent there is a woman who dreads this time of day.  For some nighttime is a time of rest, but not for this woman.   With the darkness comes the “promise” of a man.  She wants so badly to be held and promised tomorrow.  Her heart aches to be known for the woman that she is, and not the acts she does.  She lies to herself that maybe tonight is the night.  Maybe this time he will stay.  Maybe this time if I am just good enough he won’t go away.  Maybe this time will be enough to fill my heart.  She beckons him in and for a few moments it seems right.  The pleasure is there, but as he walks out the door the blood drains from her heart once more.  What a cruel cruel game she is allowing to be played.  As dawn breaks she hears a knock on the door.  She knows the faces on the other side of the door.  She has seen them all once or twice before.  But  why are they here now in the light of day?  The men grab her by the arms and drag her to town.  Is this some kind of nightmare?  She tries to shade her eyes from the blinding sunlight and the stares of judgement that come in the light of day.  She wears shame like a heavy cloak.  Not only does it “hide” her away but it reminds her that she isn’t good enough every moment of every day.  As they near the center of town she sees the people gathered around.  “Oh great” she thinks “My fate is now sealed.  They’ve all come to watch.”  There at the center of the crowd is this man they call Jesus.  The two worlds she tried so desperately to keep apart have now collided together.  The darkness of night and the light of day never mix well.  Jesus looks into her eyes and sees all the way to the deepest part of her soul.  She quickly breaks the stare by looking down to the ground.  She is used to looking there to avoid the judgemental glances and the hate filled stares.  The men ask Jesus what he is going to do with this woman?  The law says to kill her does he agree?  Jesus bends down and begins to trace his finger in the sand. Jesus wrote a message only the woman would understand the full meaning of.  He wrote it out because He knew all the promises other men had made to her had been spoken out.  He was different than the rest.  His promise of love and redemption were real.  What did he write? Guilty as charged? Whore? I’ve seen it all?  Filthy? Worn? The men want an answer, what is her fate?  Jesus stands up and says to them “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her”.  At this moment he bends down and starts writing again. Forgiven my Queen. You’re  redeemed. You’re brand new.  One by one the men walk away.  They wanted justice but instead were shown love.  This time as Jesus stands once more, he places his hand gently beneath the woman’s chin and raises her head.  He catches her eyes once more and for the first time in her life she feels a warmth pouring into her soul.  The stare isn’t filled with cold condemnation but forgiveness and love but its even greater than that.  It is filled with a challenge to live her life better.  Her heart feels alive inside her chest.  For the first time it is filled with love and light.  He has given her the greatest gift ever given.  Redemption coupled with purpose.  She now has a mission.

Perfuming or Embalming?

In the case of Esther where she was bathed first and then the perfuming happened.  She was bathed to get rid of any trace of dirt from her past.  Any wrong thinking, wrong processing, any ways of the old man.  Our old habits and ways of thinking come from our old self which is now dead.  So we are literally walking around with the stench of a dead person.  At this point there are two choices.  Either a bath or embalming.  One restores the old man and one restores the new.  But make no mistake perfuming before a bath is nothing more than embalming.  It may look pretty on the outside but inside is filled with death and decay.  Even embalming only holds off the inevitable for so long.  I look back over the last 9 months when I went through my party phase.  Where I was grasping desperately to cover up the hurt and the pain but it literally was killing me slowly.  The smell of death began to seep out because you can only keep it hidden for so long. Sometimes there are “friends” that come to visit you in the tomb and they bring more spices so as to cover up the stench.  WOWZERS.  Yep I know that feeling. 

Unfailing

Unfailing.

In a world filled with constant let downs and disappointments around every bend, how in the world are we to ever understand something that is unfailing?  Literally everywhere you look there is failure in one form or another.  Jobs fail, relationships fail.  We create things that are “fail safe” only to discover THAT couldn’t be farther from the truth.  Track with me here….maybe just maybe God allows us to be surrounded by failure so that we focus our trust on the absolute unfailing love of Christ.  In order for something to be “Unfailing” by dictionary standards, it means unable to fail.  Unable to fail?  UNABLE??  Never capable of wearing thin or being used up.  But rather completely constant.  That blows my mind.  Take a deep breath me and allow that to seep into your soul.  In a world filled with maybe’s, impossibilities, and every shade of grey imaginable, I take GREAT comfort in the ABSOLUTE love of God.  Psalms 32:10 says “Many are the woes of the wicked but the Lord’s {Yahweh (I am that I am)} unfailing {never ending, unceasing, constant, inexhaustible} love surrounds the man who trusts in him.  I choose to place my trust in the One whose name literally means I AM UNFAILING.  Now I challenge you, what would you do with your life if you knew you were backed by love unfailing?