Making Sense of It All

I read this devotion this morning and was reminded again that it is only in God that our lives take shape and find their purpose - He is "the author and perfector of our faith," in whom we "live and move and have our being."  It is only when we stop running on our own path and fix our eyes on Jesus that we will see the true shape our lives are meant to take. 

"Lord, you have assigned me my portion and my cup; you have made my lot secure.  The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance" (Psalm 16:5-6).

On March 4, 2003, a terrorist's bomb took the life of my husband. Although I was not physically injured when the bomb exploded, my life blew up as if I were a thousand-piece jigsaw puzzle.  In the weeks following my husband's death, the puzzle pieces seemed to lie upside down and untouched on the worktable.  In time, however, God began to slowly turn over some of the pieces.  When I tried to put the pieces together, the picture didn't make sense.  After 37 years of marriage, I didn't know what the picture would look like without my husband.

One day I was complaining to the Lord that He hadn't given me the border pieces of my new life puzzle!  How could I possibly make sense out of it if I didn't have a starting place?  If I just had the border pieces, I thought, maybe then I could begin to see where to start putting my life back together.  Then the Lord spoke to me through Psalm 16:5-6.

From these verses I saw that the boundary line of my life is God Himself.  With God as the linked and locked border around me, I know I am secure.  I am assured that the border lines of my life are in pleasant places, and I can look forward to a delightful inheritance.  I can trust God to put the puzzle pieces of my life together - even as a widow and even though terrorists choose to do evil to others.
(from Voices of the Faithful)