daily devotional

God has a plan for your life. He didn’t just start a story in you, he has the end in mind. He sees the big picture while we see the puzzle pieces and the empty places.

Have you ever worked to put together a puzzle and been absolutely convinced you’re missing a piece? You think you know what that piece should look like and you search through the pile one by one and you find nothing. You look on the floor. You dig through the couch cushions and nothing. There’s nothing more frustrating than spending days putting together a puzzle to realize you’re missing a piece. It’s like a cruel joke they sell you a 500 piece puzzle and they intentionally leave out a piece? But here’s what usually happens for me. I get frustrated, I’m tempted to quit, and then I see it … the piece I’ve turned every way possible, the piece I’ve set aside because it clearly didn’t fit, yes, the piece that had been there all along … it fits. It wasn’t missing after all. I just couldn’t see how it fit perfectly.

Our lives are like this. We become convinced that something is missing. We’ve lost a piece of us and now there will forever be this empty space. Nothing fits. Something is wrong here. We’re tempted to give up in frustration. We blame God as if he made us with this utter flaw that can’t be overcome. But all along, it’s all there. God’s plan for your life isn’t missing a single piece. It may take some time, in fact my guess is it will take all the days of your life, but eventually it will all come together. Every piece will be connected. And the story of your life WILL be completed.

This story with all it’s strange pieces and empty spaces along the way is God’s greatest work. What he’s doing in your life is unmatched. The story the two of you are writing together is kind of amazing honestly, and it’s what he had in mind when he imagined your life. A partnership of him designing and you working to put it together.

God says in Isaiah 55:9 “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” You simply can’t imagine what God is working on for you. His thoughts are so high above yours because he’s seen the picture on the top of the puzzle box. He knows exactly who you can become and the life you can live, and all along he’s been designing the pieces to all fit together.

What would happen if you traded your worry and fret over each piece in your life for sheer excitement. Isn’t this faith? Faith to say God, I trust you with this piece too! What if you looked at the piece you currently have and know without a doubt that it fits somewhere perfectly and it’s part of the big picture for your life. You know what that brings … that brings PEACE. What is this piece you currently hold? Maybe it’s one of those corner pieces that marks the end of one direction and the beginning of another direction. It’s a well defined cornerstone in your life. We’re moving here now. I’m doing this now. Life is changing drastically here. Those pieces are foundational. Sometimes exciting, and sometimes remarkably hard. Life changes, you can’t go in the same direction forever.

Or maybe the piece you have now is one of those “middle” pieces of the puzzle with funky turns and cut outs where the patterns are blurred and you’re just not sure what you’re looking at. Is this where you’re at in life? You don’t know what you’re looking at. You don’t know where this fits. But this is for sure, the piece you currently hold is of tremendous importance. You can’t complete the puzzle of your life without it. You can’t just throw it out today because you don’t understand it. You will need this piece, I promise.

How many times are we tempted to throw pieces of our life away that don’t make sense? Is that where you are today? You’re so tired of dealing with these weird pieces in the middle and you’re ready for some straight edges again. You’re ready for certainty and easy connections. You’re ready for fast progress instead of this slow, frustrating process of sorting and examining, twisting and turning, setting aside and trying again and again and again.

Life can’t all be straight edges and corner pieces. In fact, just like a puzzle, the majority of your life will be those strange middle pieces. And also just like a puzzle, every single piece of your life is important. God has given you every piece to put it together to make something whole and beautiful. Romans 8: 28 says ” And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” Oh girl, maybe you can’t see it right now, but God is working up some goodness in your life and through your life! Nothing is being wasted here.

What could God do with your pieces and empty spaces if you started pursing the story he has in mind for you? What would happen if you got a glimpse of the cover of the box where you see the big picture? God has known all along what your life could be. He sees how every pieces can perfectly fit together for something bigger and beautiful. And he knows the process of completion will take time and so that’s what he has given you … time.

Now it’s time to relentlessly pursue what God is doing in your life. What does he have in mind for you? What is he working on in you? What is he creating in you? What story is he writing?

What he’s doing here is his greatest work, and he he’s invited you to work with him. This is your life. He created it … now you live it.

Imagine Noah. An ordinary man just living his life and raising his family. Scripture says he was just trying to do the right thing. But you see, Noah was trying to do the right thing in a world that was totally doing the wrong thing. Sounds familiar today, huh? Seems to me we’re right back there again. God was so disappointed by how everyone was living and thought it would be better to start over than continue with what had become. But there was that one man who was trying to do the right thing. Just one. It was Noah. And God had this story available for Noah, a story God not only started, but he had the end in mind. That story included big cornerstone pieces like building an arc and gathering the animals. It included those straight edge pieces like seeing his huge boat float for the first time as the earth flooded. Straight edge pieces like the rainbow representing God’s promise. But what about those odd middle pieces like everyone making fun of him for building a boat in the middle of a drought? What about those pieces that didn’t seem to be especially important like day #350 on a boat with thousands of animals and only his family. Imagine how bad this man must have wanted to just get away for a day.

Today, you and I can easily see how it all fit together. And the same will be said of our lives. Every piece was part of a master plan, THE MASTER’S PLAN. God knows what he is doing. He can be trusted.