Puzzle Me This

I'm on retreat, a special time of withdrawing from the world to focus on my deeper self. 

I'm doing battle with the feelings that cause me to identify with Naomi's words at the end of the first chapter of the book of Ruth. 

Don't call me Sandra (strong, intelligent, compassionate). Call me Beylke (weak, troubled, old), because the Almighty has filled my life with overwhelming trials. I went to Prague excited and energized and the LORD has brought me back weary and worn. Why call me Sandra? The LORD has laid me low; the Almighty has stretched me beyond endurance.

I've been running to the Father, pleading for understanding. I want desperately to make sense of what's happening. And if (read that since) I can't take in every detail and all the purposes behind each one, I at least want some idea of where I'm going. 

In the midst of a particularly difficult patch of struggle the other day I decided to work on a jigsaw puzzle to distract my thoughts. 

HAH, some of you are saying. "You've got to be kidding. I hate puzzles." 

Please bear with me because God used what you might call an added strain to deliver some heart-level insights.

Read more at . . .

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