I'm a person who likes to understand where I am, where I am going and how to get there, if possible, and for a long time I've wondered, prayed and studied about the tangled mess I had been in -- the need, the lack, the unusual circumstances. Everything had been turned upside down and become such a colossal mess, I didn't know how anything would be any different. Nothing was as I planned for it to be, and I wondered what had I done wrong. After all, I took the narrow road -- I took God's road -- and everything was supposed to work out.....right? I desired to understand what God wanted of me so I could get out of this stagnant place where nothing good ever seemed to happen.

To a degree that is OK. God has given me wisdom and insight I never would have gained without going through these things and seeking him. But recently, I've realized that there is much more going on than meets the eye, and when God takes us through a mess, no matter how much we wish we did, we aren't going to understand all that he is doing. We're just not. The depths in which God works are just astounding. The things God does during these times are just so far reaching and so far beyond our capacity to understand at the time, it would be a wonder if we ever understood them at all. Things that seem useless or insignificant can have profound effects on us and our lives. Things we don't even see happening are molding us more into the image of Christ.

I have had others, including God, tell me this very thing -- and I thought I understood it -- but you don't really understand until you have been THROUGH it and come out the other side. We can often wrap our minds around God's principals in a general way, but there's something to be said about going through -- about walking in God's truth and it moving from head knowledge to heart knowledge.

And after going through we can look and see all the knots God untangled, and all the puzzle pieces he fit into place. All the things we wondered how on earth would ever be worked out, and all the things we could not possibly see changing.....are suddenly different, but even then we will not understand it all. We will remember the circumstances and think about past events struggling to understand what has transpired, but much of it will elude us. We will just know that somehow God accomplished it right before our eyes, and made something in us that we never even conceived, nor probably fully understand the extent of.

I think that is what trips so many people up, because they can't get by not understanding. And sometimes, far too often unfortunately, they are unwilling to endure til the end. They never make it through to see what God can do and what he had in store for them. In a moment of weakness they make the decision to throw away all they have suffered for. But it need not be.

If your life looks like a brand new jigsaw puzzle that has just been dumped out of the box; if up is down and left is right, and you don't understand what God is doing or where you are -- know that you don't have to understand, just stand. Stand in faith knowing that the Lord is at work -- because he is! Though you may not see it, though you may not understand, God is at work in your life! He is doing wonderful, miraculous things you've never thought or dreamed of. And in this little bit of suffering, be it one week or several years, the Lord will forge something amazing in you, through you and for you. Just hold on! Just stand!


Isaiah 64:8 But now, O LORD, thou art our father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand.

Jeremiah 18:4 And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it.

Romans 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

2 Corinthians 5:7 (For we walk by faith, not by sight:)



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