Did you know that the Bible in the New Testament uses the word “amaze” 43 times?! Have you ever been amazed?
Jesus was, twice.
To be amazed is to have difficulty expressing in words your astonishment, having wondered or marvelled at a thing. For everything God created, the Heavens and the Earth, everything was to point us to Him – the Creator [Psalm 19]. Which is exactly why I began this blog, to point everything to Him.
What I realised recently while building a puzzle, is that you’ll struggle to put the puzzle together if you don’t know what it’s meant to look like. Yet this is exactly what we do in our own life’s. God sees the picture and what it is meant to be. But we, in our own minds, try to put it together. And fail. That’s not to say failing is bad. In fact, we’ve heard it said many times that we learn most from our failures than our successes. Nor to say we won’t fail either. But with a clear understanding of the end from the beginning, just like how the Bible helps us walk on the right path, we can have a clear direction.
“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” – Jeremiah 29:11 NIV.
Now I am curious, have you ever tried to finish a puzzle or even start one? What did you find most challenging? Maybe the beginning, middle or even. I’ll say from first-hand experience that it is the middle that’s the hardest. This is because here you’re at the point where you could give up, since all the easy pieces are done and now all the colours look the same (because they really do) or continue pressing through the difficulty.
Even though we see what the puzzle looks like, we still struggle to put in the pieces. But it’s a pivotal point, you make the decision to continue or to give up. If you choose to keep pressing on you’ll become stronger, more resilient to withstand the next challenging piece. After all, every puzzle piece is there for a reason and serving its purpose. Likewise, so is the season you’re going through right now, the seasons you’ve been through and the seasons yet to come.
Your season might be easy, like that first piece you nail. While some might take time, strategy and patience, to find the perfect fit. Things that got you down before won’t anymore, because its small comparison to what you face now. Each season you grow and shaping yourself, all accumulating so you can become the best version of yourself. No one just becomes their best version, in all movies and stories I’ve seen the main character (aka you – you’re your main character) goes through so much.
When pieces in your life feel like taking time or difficult, trust in God. Change is a process and so is building a puzzle. When God is at the centre of our lives, He will make something beautiful in its time. No one likes an incomplete puzzle, you know some people who take out one piece of the puzzle to annoy the one who’s working on it, when they realise all their hard work for an incomplete puzzle. Just like how God wants to recreate us in His image. Loving, kind and imitating all the fruits of the Spirit. To be Jesus’ hands and feet. We cannot leave one season unfinished.
It’s like that 1% better each day. While God in His power could start anywhere to complete a puzzle, we are taught a strategy to create the border first grabbing all the flat pieces and corners. Then work your way in, filling the middle. Like this, if you centre your life around Him, He will fill you and direct your paths [Proverbs 3:5-6]. But it comes by trusting and having a relationship with Him. To know His end goal for your life. Since He knows the end from the beginning – He’s the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end – He can definitely complete the puzzle which is you. Guiding you each step at a time.
How can we apply this food for thought? Why not ask God what He has planned for your life, and how can your goals and desires be aligned with His? You’ll find Him speak in various ways, and if you don’t hear back straight away, keep seeking the answer for He is listening.
While in life some pieces fit more comfortably or easy to piece together, we require all pieces to be connected so we can say, “it is finished!” So, wait patiently until it’s all done because it might not look pretty, and you might not even have a clue what the end will 100% look like or how close you are. For when we read His Word, we know His character and how He does not give everything on a silver platter. But rather He looks for faith and asks us to take one step before He tells you the next step.
Trust in God, knowing full well that He will connect everything together in its timing.
God, You Amaze Me!
E
Psalm 19:1 NIV
“The heavens declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim the work of his hands.”
Proverbs 3:5-6 NIV
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
in all your ways submit to him,
and he will make your paths straight.”
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