I love puzzles! I love the mystery and challenge of solving puzzles of all kinds; Sudoku, mystery novels, computer games and of course my lifelong love of jigsaw puzzles.

Now if you are a puzzler and near the end of your puzzle, only to find a piece missing, it is most annoying! You search everywhere but it can’t be found. It’s incomplete and gnaws at your brain!

My oldest brother is a lover of puzzles as well, especially big ones. Now, I come from a family of very competitive people who also are pranksters. So, there came a time when one of my sisters was visiting the oldest brother, who lived several hours drive away, and decided to help him work his present puzzle challenge. Seeing how serious said brother took his puzzling, my sister decided to pull a joke on him and took a random piece of puzzle home with her. Needless to say, it drove my brother crazy looking for that one piece!

Finally, one day my sister received a note from our brother with a picture of the completed puzzle!! All pieces appeared to be accounted for…so it seemed. However, my sister knew it wasn’t possible; it was a deception because she had the real piece with her.

Just like that puzzle, we all have missing pieces that have been stolen from our lives:

• fathers or mothers who abandoned or abused,
• loved ones who have died,
• broken relationships,
• loved ones who are far away,
• broken dreams, etc.

and it leaves a hole, an empty space in our hearts and lives. In order to fill that missing piece, that hole, that emptiness, we turn to other things to fill it, to ease the pain.

Things like:

• food
• money
• power
• attention
• sex, etc.

Yet try as we might, none of those truly fill that hole; we are still left feeling empty.

That is because we were created, designed, to place our hope, to find our fulfillment and meaning, in only one place, the Lord God Almighty. Anything else is a deception.

No false promise, no forgery, will ever truly quench our thirst, our need. The one missing piece in every human being’s soul is shaped like a cross, the cross of Jesus Christ. And it is only when we submit our hearts, souls, minds, and strength to the Lord, that we can begin to find true peace. It is in Him that we find true rest from our endless searching and striving for more; more love, more power, more recognition, more comfort, etc..

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.”

Mark 12: 30 NIV

It sounds so simple, it sounds too good to be true, it sounds like another deception, but it’s not, this is THE Truth. The only real Truth!

Even as believers in Christ, we have to keep reminding ourselves of this amazing Truth. He IS sufficient! All we have to do is stay focused on Him, keep turning back to Him and His ways.

When we begin to feel the lies whispering to our minds, feelings twisting our hearts, the weariness depleting our strength and darkness creeping into our souls, we need to RUN straight to God’s Word, TURN our focus on Jesus and CRY OUT for the Holy Spirit’s power in prayer!

We can also be encouraged by others who know Christ and ask for their prayers.

Let’s complete our puzzles with the True missing piece in our life. Seek it, grasp it with both hands and place it in the center of your puzzle and then you can find your true rest and find pleasure as the picture becomes complete through the Lord.

Be well!

Patricia