I'm Falling Apart!

Last night I was reading a bed time story to my daughter about a village of puzzle people called the Fuddles.  “Whenever a stranger comes near them they have a habit of falling apart and scattering themselves around.”  

Have you ever felt like this, that whenever life gets difficult you fall to pieces?

     When I was in college I was definitely a Fuddle.  On the outside, I seemed like I had it all together.  I got straight A’s.  I studied all the time.  I didn’t skip class.  I even kept my dorm room clean! 

     But on the inside, I was plagued by the fear of failure.  About every other day, I would get completely overwhelmed with the pressure of school work and would privately fall apart.  I was dating my wife-to-be at the time and she counseled me through many of these “falling apart” times.    

     Now back to our fairy tale, once they fell apart the Fuddles were helpless and completely dependent on other people to put them back together again.  God uses other people to help put us back together again, but their help can only take us so far.  For the ultimate restoration we have to allow our Creator to put us back together again. 

     Listen to how the Apostle Paul describes the process in a letter to one of his students in Titus 3: “It wasn’t so long ago that we ourselves were stupid and stubborn, dupes of sin, ordered every which way by our glands, going around with a chip on our shoulder, hated and hating back.  But when God, our kind and loving Savior God, stepped in, he saved us from all that.  It was all his doing; we had nothing to do with it.  He gave us a good bath, and we came out of it new people, washed inside an out by the Holy Spirit.  Our Savior Jesus poured out new life so generously.  God’s gift has restored our relationship with him and given us back our lives.  And there’s more life to come—an eternity of life! You can count on this.” (The Message)

     If you have never experienced what was just described in this passage, I implore you to have a conversation with God immediately about allowing him to put your life back together again. 

     Maybe you once experienced this new life, but have since walked away from relationship with God.  Maybe you are like I was in college.  The stress of life constantly makes you fall apart. 

     I have come a long way in my relationship with God since then.  I am able to trust Him more than I ever have before.  With that trust comes a peace and confidence that holds me together in stressful times. 

     You don’t have to live life like a Fuddle, consumed with a habit of falling apart.  God can and will restore your broken pieces if you surrender to him.  

Foot Note: The story I am referring to is called “The Emerald City of Oz.”  It is written by Frank Baum (the writer of The Wizard of Oz.)