When we got back from visiting my daughter, Hannah, in Arizona there was a huge box waiting to be opened. Mom and I had ordered a new flashy walker which converts to a transport chair. When I opened the box and peered inside to see the shiny new item, I was disappointed but not terribly surprised that it was all in pieces. Not exactly what I expected, technically what I was promised but something that I would have to work through.
This is a theme in my life and I am guessing I am not alone. When I was young I expected to live in a cute house with my husband and child, working at my great job and living happily ever after. When I opened the box, that dream was all in pieces…. Although it looked like my dream on the outside, inside the box was a broken marriage, depression and life without Jesus. God wanted me to allow Him to put the pieces together.
Wouldn’t it be nice if there were easy to read instructions for a perfectly lovely life in our box instead of no instructions or some that look like they came from IKEA? In the end, if we are faithful, we get where we are supposed to but it is never without lessons in faithfulness, trust and love. Once I had found Jesus and had asked Him to be the center of my life the pieces started falling into place. I’ve learned that when I follow Him my life makes sense but if I follow me the pieces just don’t seem to fit together right.
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. Proverbs 3:5-6
Moses was pretty much a man doing his own thing until he understood who he really was. When he took things into his own hands he ended up killing someone and running away to hide out in a foreign land. It was when he heard God and decided to follow God’s direction for his life that the pieces began to make sense. Like all of us Moses had questions, “Weren’t there others better equipped to lead the people?” “How could God use someone who couldn’t even talk properly?” But Moses made a choice to trust the God that he heard and found the life that was meant for him. Because he chose to follow the instructions that God had put in his box, Moses ended up being one of the greatest leaders of the people of Israel.
We took the pieces of that walker to a bike shop and the guy there said he would put it together for us. We pick it up today and it will be exactly what we needed. Like our lives, the process was a little more complicated than anticipated, required an expert to piece it together but in the end it will be what He planned. I may not wind up with an epic legacy like Moses but I know that if I follow God’s instructions for my life, then I will have the legacy that I am meant to have.
With Jesus, I have found peace and purpose and my life just makes sense. If you are on a path of your own making and can not follow the instructions, maybe it is time to give your box to the guy who can put all the pieces together. Ask Jesus to be the center of your life and He will make sense of the pieces for you. Trust Him and you will find love, peace and purpose.
“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