Seeing How the Pieces Fit

Between the beginning of a new year and my birthday just around the corner, winter is usually a great time for reflection on where God has brought me and where He is leading. For my friends not living in MN, days like today where the air temp is -9 degrees and the wind chill is -22 (and dropping), the sunshine is streaming in through the window, and hot coffee keeps me nice and cozy it is easy to sit and be still before God. Last night, instead of going out to brave the cold, I put on my pajamas, curled up with a good book, and then sat staring out my window at the wonderment of God. I discovered that when the air is cold the sky is so clear that it reveals a brilliant display of stars right in the middle of the city. I’m a huge fan of stars and how the expanse of the night sky makes me feel small in comparison to the glory of God. As I gazed out the window enjoying the beautiful view, I felt a warm embrace of protection and love as I sat and poured out my heart to the creator of it all. We chatted about the past and the future while basking in the present moment. It was such a sweet time.

            

Not a picture of the cold night sky, but from an unseasonably warm winter day I spent exploring the woods with my snowshoes. Winter is so beautiful!

This past year has been an exceptional year for learning, which is ironic cause its one of the few years of my life that I haven’t been in school. The year started out with an unexpected blow to the head that gave me the time I needed to allow God to transform my heart. Being stripped of things that gave me a false sense of identity: work, soccer, reading, writing, and social activities, allowed the opportunity for God to reveal my true identity which is only found in Him. All of my striving to achieve titles, praise, and accolades that provided a short term boost in my sense of worth left me yearning for something more. This year God showed me just how much more I was missing when I valued the things of this world above what he has to offer me.

            

Don’t get me wrong. I know that I have been a faithful follower of Christ for most of my life and He has proven faithful to me many, many times before this year so I don’t want to give the impression that He just now showed up or I just now began to truly seek Him. That would be a gross oversimplification. But I do feel that this has been a year of revelation. The extended time of reflection has given Him the opportunity to put the pieces of my life together. Have you ever worked on a puzzle? On New Year’s Day we decided to complete a puzzle my sister had received for Christmas. We each took a section, gathering pieces with like colors, comparing them to the big picture on the cover, and then doing our best to fit the pieces together. Often, I would pick up the same piece over and over again, try to make it fit in the same hole I’d tried 5 times before, and get frustrated because it still wouldn’t give me that satisfying click. As more of the picture developed, fitting pieces in the places that did click, my view of that one piece began to transform. What if I turned it around and looked at it from a different angle? Maybe it matched the space right below where I kept trying to force it. Then came the click and that piece of the puzzle suddenly made sense with the bigger picture. That is how I’ve felt about this past year. So many of pieces of my life I kept trying to shove into places they weren’t intended.  But when God transformed my perspective, they clicked easily into place.

            

The puzzle we finished, isn't it pretty!

So what does the new year bring? I have no idea. There are still questions and pieces that lay on the table next to the puzzle waiting for their turn to become a part of the bigger picture. I have dreams and desires that have yet to be fulfilled but one of the greatest things this year has taught me is that God is faithful. When I delight in Him, trust Him, and am obedient to His calling, He’ll reveal where my pieces fit, even if its not for years down the road. It gives life a sense of adventure and excitement knowing that the creator of the universe, the great star breather, and King of Kings, helps me see how the pieces of my life fit like a loving father would. He delights in revealing my true identity as his daughter and the time of sweet fellowship renewing my perspective on each piece of my life I surrender to Him.  What a great God we serve!

"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will-to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding. And he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment-to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ."

~Ephesians 1:3-9

Cheers to a blessed 2014, whatever the year may bring!