Spiritual Encouragement:

Piecing Together Your Life-Puzzle

by Jinni Bradfield

While visiting my sister during Thanksgiving, I spotted a jigsaw puzzle laid out on a table.  This was one of our fun family traditions.   Anyone who passed by could try to fit in some pieces.

This year all the pieces were laid out neatly on the table, but the box lid with the picture was missing.  Without a picture to use as a guide, this was going to be a real challenge.  The pieces were just splotches of color that blended into each other.  I had absolutely no idea of what the puzzle was a picture of.

Each of our lives is a lot like this jigsaw puzzle.  Hundreds of events and decisions occur in our lives with no clue as to how they are supposed to fit together or what they might mean.  With no picture in our minds as to how our lives are supposed to turn out, we can’t make sense of the pieces.  Life seems random and meaningless.  When unexpected events hit us, they knock us off the path we think we should be traveling and we end up more confused than ever.

God has given us a framework to live our lives in.  These are the puzzle pieces that form the four sides of the puzzle.  Once we have the edges of the puzzle in place, we discover that other pieces start fitting in alongside them.  Life starts to make more sense.  Once we commit to shaping our jigsaw puzzle—our life—according to God’s design, we realize that we are actually making progress.

Although the sides of our life-puzzle are linked together, the inside is still blank, nearly empty with a clutter of pieces thrown in that may or may not fit in just yet.  Now what do we do?  We still have no idea of what this puzzle is supposed to look like.

But God knows.  He created each of us and knows how we will turn out.  His “life picture” for us expresses our greatest potential blended with the decisions and mistakes we actually make.  This is the completed picture of our life-puzzle that is supposed to be on the lid of the box.  Not trapped by time the way we are, God already knows how our life will turn out after He has allowed us the freedom to make each and every choice.  He has given us all the pieces of that life-puzzle.  We just have to put it together.

God’s picture of who we will become is not a rubber stamp of someone else or a strait-jacket forcing us to choose what we don’t want for ourselves.  He is also not dictating which puzzle pieces to choose as we make each decision.  Instead, He has given us total freedom to make choices—wise or stupid ones, thought-out decisions or knee-jerk reactions.  These become the puzzle pieces we have to work with.  So we need to be aware that each new decision we make affects that final picture of our life-puzzle.

Actually, our life-puzzle is a record of everything that happens in our life—both the good and the bad.   Romans 8:28 tells us:  “…all things work together for good to those who love God [and] are called according to His purpose.”  If you let Him, God will combine the good and bad into something wonderful—a new you! 

Why should we commit to God’s framework for our life-puzzle?  Without it, our life cannot fulfill our dreams.  Remember that we are trapped in time, only able to experience the here and now, but God’s existence is in eternity.  His awareness stretches from before the beginning to after the end of humanity’s lifespan.  So He knows who we will become.  He also knows all the possible variations of that person—from the “you” who makes smart decisions in life to the “you” who constantly rebels and shoots him- or herself in the foot.  Each decision in life changes who you can become, and God is aware of each version of you.  He allows circumstances and people to touch your life so that you can learn from the experiences of others and from your own mistakes.  His goal is to enable you to become the very best version of yourself today, and in the future.  He wants you to become the person you dream you can be.

When we start working on a new jigsaw puzzle, we are willing to accept the boundaries of that puzzle.  In life, without God, our life-puzzle has no clear edges.

To accept God’s boundaries for our life, we need to understand that sin is what made our life get out of control in the first place.  God defeated sin by allowing Jesus to take our sin to the cross with Him and forcing sin to die with Him.  Jesus became alive again when He was resurrected, but sin remained dead and powerless.  We spiritually die and become alive again when we accept the sacrifice Jesus made on the cross as being for us personally.  Just like Jesus, we die spiritually and are resurrected without sin having its power over us. (Unfortunately, some Christians continue living as though Satan and sin still have power over them.  Don’t let that happen to you!)

Once we accept Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord of our life, we need to demonstrate that we believe God’s approach to life is the right one.  How?  By accepting His framework for our lives.  Now the puzzle pieces of our life start to make sense.

But can we get a glimpse of God’s picture for our life-puzzle?  Without seeing the picture of who and what we could be, we are literally groping in the dark.  It’s like doing a jigsaw puzzle without the picture on the box lid.  God promises not to leave us as orphans (We find this in John 14:18).  He promises that He will come to us, live within us, guide us and teach us spiritual things that we could not possibly discover on our own.  He wants to equip us to succeed and to fulfill our purpose in the world.  The way He does this is by giving us the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit is how God connects with us today.  Jesus told his disciples that the Holy Spirit was with them and would be in them.  God’s presence would shift from surrounding those who believe in Him to living inside them.   This totally changes the picture.  If we have the Holy Spirit, we no longer have to beg God to help us—He is already inside us empowering us, teaching us, changing us to be more like Him.  We just have to let Him transform us.  God, in the form of the Holy Spirit, now can show us our potential.  He lets us see who we can become if we let Him help us.  This is the picture for our life-puzzle!

How does the Holy Spirit get inside us to empower us?  Once we have been saved by Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross, the Holy Spirit takes up residence deep inside us.  To start being empowered by the Holy Spirit, all we have to do is ask God to fill our whole self—physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually.  God wants you to be strong and capable.  And if the Holy Spirit is living deep within you and flooding you with His presence every day, you will be able to handle every challenge life throws at you.  Even more, you will begin to see your true potential.  God will start revealing to you the picture of who you can become.

What does your life-puzzle look like right now?  Is it a mess?  Are you almost ready to give up trying to figure it out?  Life doesn’t have to be exasperating or disappointing. Start seeing yourself as God sees you!  Accept God’s framework for your life-puzzle by accepting Jesus as your Savior and letting the Holy Spirit empower you to become your best.