Puzzle Pieces

My son, Preston, is really into jigsaw puzzles right now. There is always one spread out on our dining room table waiting for someone to sit down for a few minutes or an hour and find some more pieces that fit snugly together. Sometimes Preston works alone. He enjoys this time and the challenge of working by himself, but he is not as productive. Other times his sister, Taylor, sits down with him, and they accomplish a lot more together. He especially loves it when Brian pulls up a chair and the two can enjoy wonderful father-son time.

"Have you ever taken one piece of a jigsaw puzzle and wondered what it is going to be? That is how we look at life, in comparison to what God knows and sees. God knows your jigsaw puzzle, and you will continue to be given the pieces until you, too, get to see the masterpiece. God is still at work. He has not brought you to a dead end. He has brought you to a new road filled with questions and uncertainties. But He is not dropping you off saying, 'See you later!' No - He is saying, 'Come, my child, let me walk with you and show you the way.' One day, I am confident I will see a beautiful masterpiece as all the heartaches and pain join together with the love, mercy and perfect will of God. God is [still] faithful!"

That was from another blogger going through infertility. I thought that was so sweet and God-inspired. It reminded me of my puzzle-working son. Often, we try to figure out on our own how all the pieces of our life fit together. We often try to force pieces together that aren't meant to go together. We want to do it our way. But then someone comes alongside us and offers to help, and we find that we have much more success when we work together.

I believe that God wants us to join Him while He is working out the puzzle masterpiece in our lives. The Bible teaches us that Jesus had not come to do His own will, but to do His father's will (John 4:34; 5:30; 6:38). He also said that to know what His father's will was, He watched to see what He was doing. Then he joined His father in that work.

"When you see the Father at work around you, that is your invitation to adjust your life to Him and join Him in that work...Recognizing God's activity is dependent on your love relationship with Him and His taking the initiative to open your spiritual eyes to see it." (Experiencing God, by Henry Blackaby and Claude King)

I am so thankful that God has allowed me already to see part of that jigsaw puzzle taking shape. He has let me in on some of the secret. You know when you get a section of a puzzle put together and you see part of the picture forming? It inspires you and pushes you to keep working on it. When I see how God has used some of the "puzzles" of this infertility journey together for good for me or for others--and most importantly to glorify Him--I am humbly grateful and anxious in anticipation of what pieces He'll fit together next. He has invited me to join Him in this journey through a love relationship with Him and through obedience to His Word. I know He has allowed me to see part of the finished puzzle because He knows I need the encouragement that that knowledge brings. Seeing God's miracles and answers to my prayers is what gives me the courage to persevere in this journey to have another child.

Yet I am also thankful that God doesn't show me everything. If He did, He knows that I would need Him less. I would rely too much on myself and not enough on Him. I wouldn't have ever fallen on my knees in despair, begging Him for help. I wouldn't have come to realize that I have control over nothing, and only God is in complete control. So often God works around us while we do not see it. Whether He reveals His plan to us or not, it doesn't change the plan. Take for instance the story of Elisha in 2 Kings 6. An army had surrounded the city of Dothan in which Elisha and his servant were in. Because Elisha's servant was terrified, Elisha prayed: "'O Lord, open his eyes so he may see.' Then the Lord opened the servant's eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha." God was at work, even when the servant didn't see it.

Ever lost a couple pieces of the puzzle? That often happens to Preston. He puts together all the pieces he has and then realizes there are still some pieces missing. He can't see the whole picture. This side of heaven, we'll never know the full reason for why God allows the painful times in our lives. He is gracious enough to give us glimpses, and sometimes outright revelations, of His work. But one day, when we are with Him in eternity, we will see our finished life puzzle and praise Him for the perfect plan that He had all along.