The giant jigsaw puzzle of life...

It has been an up and down week mostly due to tiredness, however in all of this there are, as always, many things to be thankful for. I enjoyed another joyful time with the Albanian fellowship last night. A group of about 20 or so meet every Saturday evening to worship God through prayer, song and the word. Last night, I felt quite at home behind the piano joining in with the Albanian style songs. It was great fun and there was a real sense of joy as we sang praise to God. The evening ended with a meal and I hope to be able to join them most Saturday's God-willing. I have found a picture which is not recent (early Feb) but will give you an idea of the fellowship and the place we meet.

Give thanks for how the Lord has brought this group of people together and pray for their pastor Artur as he teaches them and seeks to lead them in following Christ.

One of the most humbling things I am experiencing at the moment is the realisation that God's plans are vast and mighty. So often I become overly preoccupied with questioning God saying - what are you doing in my life? In this, I am forgetting that God is never working in just one person's life. Earlier today I listened to a sermon by Sinclair Ferguson on the subject of the providence of God. He mentions that more often than not, what God is doing in our life is far more significant for the lives of others.

He likens life to that of a giant jigsaw puzzle. We just cannot make sense of all the little pieces. How true it is that in the majority of our circumstances we simply do not know what God is doing. I don't do many jigsaw puzzles, but as Ferguson points out, a helpful starting point in an attempt to complete the puzzle is to put in place the corner pieces. So it is with the jigsaw of life. Although we cannot see the final picture, the corner pieces help to frame the picture God is piecing together in our lives.

The four corner pieces he mentions are:

1. God is constantly working together a variety of circumstances.

2. God is simultaneously working in a variety of people.

3. God is persistently working towards a variety of goals.

4. God is working unfailingly to bring glory to His Son.

Without hearing the sermon these four points may seem hard to apply so if you're interested in listening to it you can find it at - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1CcPc1Q0mYY