Sunday Thoughts

Confession: I am a nerd.

I am a huge fan of puzzles. I could sit for hours and work on them. There are dozens of them in the top of my closet at my mom's house that I still will put together over and over again. If you're like me then you know the feeling you get when you can see your puzzle coming together. A feeling of relief. A feeling of accomplishment. It's no longer tiny pieces of cardboard that you think will never fit together; but rather, it's one picture or image that tells a story all in itself.

I thought about this at church this morning.

The praise band played Desert Song today. This song is so very special to me and what I call the "theme" of my life for the last 3 years. I don't think that's it's any big secret that the season of my life that I label 'Post NGU Employee/North Augusta Resident' was one of the most challenging and hardest times of my life. These 3 years were a period of intense stretching, convicting, repenting, molding, breaking, and mending. There were stretches of time when I would come home and cry everyday because I had no idea what God was doing to me. I saw North Augusta as the entire puzzle rather than a center piece that would bring the whole picture into focus.

About a year after I moved to NA I heard Desert Song. This song just described my life and my feelings to a tee! No lie, I would listen to it every single time I was in my car. My favorite part is the bridge where it says that no matter what happens in my life, good or bad, I have a reason to worship God...simply because He IS God! I was comforted by that and knew that to be true. Well, in this short little month that I have been in Moldova I can vividly see and recognize how God has used this challenging season of my life to bring me right where I am! There are things that I HAD to learn in North Augusta and on my own to prepare and equip me for this year. All those "why" questions I had are clearly being answered now. It was essential for me to experience this dry period. It strengthened my faith and trust in Christ and brought me to a new point of surrender.

So, today, when the band started playing this incredibly special song I just smiled and thought about all those times I listened to it in my car singing the words as if they were my own. I just love how God takes all the tiny puzzle pieces of our life and fits them perfectly together to reflect and portray His story. You would think by now I would have learned that He is in control!

PS- If you are from North Augusta and you are reading this, please understand that I do not hate you or your city ;) I am forever changed and transformed by the work that God has done in my heart while being there.