Life's Puzzle Pieces

 

I have never been good at putting puzzles together.  It is not my talent, and I have never enjoyed trying to fit the pieces together.  I have seen completed puzzles, however, and often they portray beautiful scenes.

Sometimes it is difficult to see the completed product of my life's puzzles pieces as well.  It has been challenging sometimes to understand the Lord's plan in the overwhelming moments of my life.  God is so much wiser than I am, however.

Also I can know by faith that the Lord loves me and is meeting all my needs.  He has forgiven my sins,  and He is fitting what I perceive to be the missing pieces of my life into a beautiful picture.  When I look back on my life I can already see how He has used difficult times for His glory and my good.  I can begin to see how the pieces are fitting together.

 I will, however, never fully see the completed and big picture of God's love and wisdom until I reach eternity.  Yet as the picture above illustrates, my life is molded by the heart of God and by His love.  I may still see my life as having missing pieces, but He sees the beautiful finished product.  Philippians 1:6 (NIV) says, "being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus."  He is fitting the puzzle pieces of my life together into something beautiful.  Dear child of God, trust that the Lord is also fitting the puzzle pieces of your life together into a beautiful mosaic of His love!

Contemplating God's Faithfulness

 

As I contemplate another year on this earth today on August 24, the song, "Great is Thy Faithfulness" is running through my mind.  There have been trials throughout my 77 years like the death of parents, the death of a dear sister, and the death of two husbands.  Yet the Lord has been faithful to me through it all. 

There has also been rich blessings throughout my life as well such as loving family; the graduations, professions of faith, and weddings of my grandchildren; my defeat of cancer by God's grace some years ago; and also my many years of walking with my faithful Savior.  

And when the time comes for my life to end, the Lord will hold my hand and will walk me into a future of joys and glory with Him in His presence.  Great is His faithfulness!

Below is a link to the song, Great is Thy Faithfulness."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ErwiBz1QA4o&list=RDErwiBz1QA4o&start_radio=1

Joyful Dependence

 Our title to this post in an age of cultural high regard for rugged individualism and self-identity seems strange.  Yet the Lord calls us to find joy in dependence on Him.  He calls us to rejoice in our salvation more than our success.  I don't know about you, but I don't like being dependent on others.  I don't like asking people for help.  Yet the Lord instructs us to not only be dependent on Him but to be joyful about it as well.  A mature Christian will actually sing about their dependence in Christ.

Not only should joyful dependence on Lord be more important to us than worldly success, but it should also be more important than our gifts, talents and experiences.  Joyful dependence on the Lord should be even more important than successful ministry for the Lord. This is because it is so easy to become prideful of our gifts and talents and to forget that it was the Lord who gave us our gifts and talents in the first place. 

We should be joyful in our dependence on the Lord, because He is the only  One who can supply our earthly needs.  He is the only One who can save us eternally.  Our rejoicing should come from the fact that are names are written in heaven.  We should rejoice in His grace.  We should rejoice in whom we are in Christ and not in our accomplishments. Since we are by nature sinful and prideful, this can only come through the power and working of Christ and His Holy Spirit in our lives.  Thank You, Lord!

Part of joyful dependence is submitting to the Lord in obedience and in dependence.  The link to the song below talks about that:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dHJPwI1Qioo&list=RDdHJPwI1Qioo&start_radio=1

 

PS

If you did not see last week's blog post about singing praises to the Lord you can find it at the below link:

https://christiancaregiving.blogspot.com/2025/07/sing-and-praise-him-for-his-grace.html

Sing and Praise Him for His Grace

 

After punishing Pharaoh and the Egyptians with ten awful plagues Pharoah had released God's people, the Israelites, after 400 years of slavery.  Yet Pharoah hardened his heart, and he decided to pursue God's people  in the wilderness.  God performed a miracle that day.  God's people were able to cross the Red Sea on dry ground and Pharaoh and his soldiers were all drowned. Read this exciting story in Exodus 15 in the Old Testament of the Bible!

After this victory and miracle of the Lord God's people collectively and corporately burst into songs of praise for what the Lord had done for them that day.  They did so in response to God's actions for them that day and also in praise for God's character and attributes.  "Sing to the Lord, for He is highly exalted!" they sang.  Should we not also thank the Lord for all He has done and does for us? Should we also not continually sing praises to Him? Should we not also praise Him for His character?

You would think that after God's people witnessed such a huge miracle and display of God's power, God's people would not have soon forgotten this day.  You would think that they would have perfectly and continually trusted the Lord in future difficult situations. 

That did not prove to be the case, however.  Soon God's people landed in the Desert of Shur.  For three days they traveled in this desert without finding water, and when they did find water it was bitter and undrinkable.   Instead of trusting the Lord God to meet their needs, they immediately complained to Moses. God's appointed leader for them.  God did provide fresh water for them that day, but one has to wonder why they first had to pass through a crisis of unbelief that day.  

As A child I remember my Mom reading many of the Old and New Testament stories from the children's Bible story book. I remember wondering how God's people could so often fail to trust the Lord when He had proven His faithfulness to them over and over again.  Yet are we as believers today any different? The Lord has proven His faithfulness to us over and over also.  Yet we too often succumb to fear and panic at the next test and trial which life presents us.  Forgive me, Lord.  Help me to trust you more.  Thank You, Lord, for your grace and forgiveness.  I am so thankful for the wonderful grace of Jesus to cover all my sins. Below is a link to the song, "Wonderful Grace of Jesus!"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vsPc-Ix3_ow&list=RDvsPc-Ix3_ow&start_radio=1

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Think About Things That Are Lovely

 

Recently the above flower  appeared unexpectedly among my flowers.  I think it may have come up other years as well at this time of year, yet it was still a pleasant surprise.  Sometimes I find myself getting discouraged about the weeds and unwanted things which need to be either weeded out or pruned.  Sometimes that is all I see, and I fail to see the beauty in the flowers.

It is like that in life in general as well.  It is easy to focus on the "weeds" of our lives, to focus on the problems or difficult issues of life.  If we do that, however, we may miss out on seeing the blessings of life,  the blessings the Lord gives us every day.  Philippians 4:9 reminds us to think about things that are  true, lovely, pure, excellent, and praiseworthy.  It is easy to get our minds in a negative mindset.  Yet in the Lord we can focus on the beauty of the Lord. on His character, and and on His creation. As we discussed in our last post, let's get rid of the negative giants in our minds and replace them with lovely and beautiful thoughts.  https://christiancaregiving.blogspot.com/2025/07/the-battle-in-our-minds.html

The Battle in Our Minds

In the Old Testament of our Bibles is recorded the well known story of David and the giant, Goliath.  David was just a young boy, but Goliath was a huge giant of a man.  All of the Israelite soldiers stood in fear of Goliath when he came out to taunt the troops.  No one dared to try to fight Goliath.  That was until David decided to come out and face Goliath.  In the Lord' s strength and with just his slingshot and five smooth stones David was able to victoriously defeat and kill Goliath that day! 

We, however, often face giants in our minds.  We often face the giant of delay.  When God does not answer our prayers on our timetable we may become fearful or impatient.  Other possible giants which may come in our minds include discouragement, disappointment, and doubt.  The only way to conquer those fears is to rest in the Lord.

To also conquer the giants in our minds we need to step forward  in faith even when we are afraid.  We need to stay focused on Jesus when feeling fearful or distracted.  Finally, we need to choose to worship the Lord and not worry, to pray and not panic.  Rest in the Lord!   Think about His character and faithfulness!  Think about things that are beautiful and lovely about Him and His creation!

Rest and Satisfaction in Him

In the last post we discovered that we can find ultimate and lasting satisfaction in the Lord alone.  You can find a link to the last post here, if you want to reread that post:   https://christiancaregiving.blogspot.com/2025/06/satisfaction-found-in-lord-alone.html  

Everything and everyone else except the Lord God is temporary and fleeting.  This is true in spite of our sins and because of the Lord's death on the cross for us.  The Lord Jesus put our sins upon Himself, and in exchange we were clothed in His perfect righteousness.

In the Lord we have forgiveness, joy, cleansing, and peace.  The psalmist says in Psalm 16:2, "You are my Lord; apart from You  I have no good thing."  The psalmist goes on to say in verse 5. "Lord, You alone are my portion and cup; You make my lot secure."  

Therefore we need to desire and to seek His presence.  By doing this we need never be shaken by life's storms, trials, and tests.  The Lord will also always counsel us  through His Word and the Holy Spirit in us. In Him we find joy, rest, satisfaction, and eternal pleasures that can be found in Him alone.

Oh how wonderful, O how marvelous is my Savior's love for me!" says that precious hymn of old.  If everything else would be stripped away, He is sufficient.  He is providentially directing your and my lives step by step on the path He wants us to take.  He is doing this through His constant presence in our lives and through His awesome and trustworthy promises.  As yet another hymn says, "Wonderful grace of Jesus, all sufficient for me!"

Below is a link to that wonderful hymn, Wonderful Grace of Jesus. 

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vsPc-Ix3_ow&list=RDvsPc-Ix3_ow&start_radio=1