Puzzles

Last night, I became lost in my thoughts and this thought came to me... just because you find a missing piece to a puzzle doesn't mean the puzzle is complete.  Was it an epiphany or was it something God wanted me to know.

Sometimes life can be compared to a puzzle.  Our lives begin in a box, the womb. When we are born our pieces are dumped out... so begins our journey of putting the pieces together to form our lives. Each new adventure... each new event... each new day is another piece of the puzzle.

As we get older and experience the events of growing up, getting married, having children and living our lives, we may think or feel our puzzle is complete. Life is good, we are happy, what more could possibly be added to our puzzle? Grandchildren possibly?

Then there are the times when something happens and our puzzles become torn apart and some pieces are removed, scattered and/or lost. We begin to rebuild our puzzles, adding the new pieces as they come. Sometimes the pieces fit, sometimes they don't. We try again. Eventually all the pieces come together once again.  We even find surprise pieces we didn't know were missing. Life is once again good and complete.

Someone asked me if we really do find all the pieces to the puzzle and my response was... I do believe some people are lucky enough to find all the pieces. It just depends on how many pieces you choose for your puzzle to have.

May your puzzle have all the pieces it needs to make to become a masterpiece... worthy of hanging on the wall for all to see.  



Epiphany - a sudden, intuitive perception of or insight into the reality or essential meaning of something, usually initiated by some simple, homely, or commonplace occurrence or experience.

God's gentle reminders

There are just some emails that keep popping up in our email accounts over and over and over ... for years. They are sent by the sender either because they are just now seeing it or because there is a paragraph at the end of it that says it will bring you back luck or the ole shameful... dare to deny Christ... hook.

Lately, I have had one that has been popping in a lot. I admit, I have been deleting it, because I have already read it at least 20 times. For some reason this morning, I opened it. I read it. I even prayed and thanked the good Lord for my lesson learned. I even said a little pray for the person who sent it. If I had brushed this one off again, I would have missed the gentle reminder that I needed to know... I'm not alone in this thing called everyday life.

Sometimes I tend to bite off more than I can chew and before I know it, I feel so burdened. I sometimes wonder, what have I gotten myself into? I lose focus at times and I try to remind myself this was something I felt I had to do at the time and I need to carry it to the end.

But God, in his infinite grace and love, will send me reminders that I'm not alone. That he is there, walking along side of me. He offers strength and courage when needed. He reminds me, He still loves me... even when I mess up and get in over my head.

I am thankful for having been blessed with a patient Mother and a forgiving God. For without them, I may have never made it this far in life.

I have posted the email here. May you find what you need from it and may it bless you like it has blessed me.

May the good Lord shower you in blessings this day.

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The Ant and the Contact Lens

Brenda was a young woman who was invited to go

Rock climbing. Although she was very scared, she

Went with her group to a tremendous granite

Cliff... In spite of her fear, she put on the

Gear, took hold of the rope, and started up

The face of that rock.

Well, she got to a ledge where she could take a

Breather. As she was hanging on there, the

Safety rope snapped against Brenda's eye and

Knocked out her contact lens.

Well, here she is, on a rock ledge, with

Hundreds of feet below her and hundreds of feet

Above her. Of course, she looked and looked

And looked, hoping it had landed on the ledge,

But it just wasn't there.

Here she was, far from home, her sight now

Blurry. She was desperate and began to get

Upset, so she prayed to the Lord to help her to

Find it.

When she got to the top, a friend examined her

Eye and her clothing for the lens, but there was

No contact lens to be found. She sat down,

Despondent, with the rest of the party, waiting

For the rest of them to make it up the face of

The cliff..

She looked out across range after range of

Mountains, thinking of that verse that says, "The

Eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the

Whole earth..." She thought, "Lord, You can see

All these mountains. You know every stone and

Leaf, and You know exactly where my contact lens is.

Please help me."

Finally, they walked down the trail to the

Bottom. At the bottom there was a new party of

Climbers just starting up the face of the cliff.

One of them shouted out, "Hey, you guys!

Anybody lose a contact lens?"

Well, that would be startling enough, but you

Know why the climber saw it? An ant was moving

Slowly across the face of the rock, carrying it

On it's back.

Brenda told me that her father is a cartoonist.

When she told him the incredible story of the

Ant, the prayer, and the contact lens, he drew

a picture of an ant lugging that contact lens

With the words, "Lord, I don't know why You want

Me to carry this thing. I can't eat it, and

it's awfully heavy. But if this is what You

Want me to do, I'll carry it for You."

I think it would probably do some of us good to

Occasionally say, "God, I don't know why you

Want me to carry this load. I can see no good

In it and it's awfully heavy. But, if you want

Me to carry it, I will."

God doesn't call the qualified, He qualifies the

Called. Yes, I do love GOD. He is my source of

Existence and my Savior. He keeps me functioning

Each and every day. Without Him, I am nothing,

But with Him...I can do all things through

Christ which strengthens me. (Phil. 4:13)

A true story by Josh and Karen Zarandona