Have a puzzling day!

“When you come looking for me, you’ll find me. Yes, when you get serious about finding me and want it more than anything else, I’ll make sure you won’t be disappointed.” Jeremiah 29:13 The Message

Today is National Puzzle Day - Though I'm puzzled about who came up with the idea and when it
became official, it sounds like a fun day to celebrate.

.It seems that puzzles have been around forever. They entertain us for hours. We use them to improve our vocabulary, math and memory skills. They help young children develop motor skills and hand-eye coordination as well as problem-solving skills.

We print daily cryptograms , Sudoku and crossword puzzles in our newspapers. We have entire magazines filled with puzzles of all sorts. There are aisles of jigsaw puzzles and other brain-teasing game puzzles in our department stores. We even watch puzzling game shows on TV.

As a matter of fact,well-written fiction stories are puzzles too. Have you ever watched a mystery on TV, trying to figure out who-done-it between commercials? Or read a page-turning book from cover to cover because you've just got to see how it ends?

And don't forget that the world's greatest inventions came into existence because someone was looking for a solution to something that puzzled him or her.

Today you can make a cookie puzzle with the kiddos Or create your own word puzzles at sites like Discovery Education.

However you choose to celebrate National Puzzle Day, it's sure to be a fun, albeit puzzling experience.

We all experience puzzles on a daily basis in some form or other. God created us with an insatiable curiosity to know, to learn and to become. And he uses puzzles in our lives to help us do those things - all those challenges, tests and stories help us to grow as human beings and as Christians.

But ultimately the puzzles in our lives are there to help us seek him and to help us to know our Father/Creator. When we seek to solve the puzzle of God and who he is to us as individuals, we will find the answer we will find him - when we look for him with all our hearts.

Happy Puzzle Day!

Hide and Seek

“Look for the Lord while He may be found. Call upon Him while He is near.” Isaiah 55:6 NLV

Sometimes it's hard to see the Lord or to feel his presence with us. But according to the Bible, he will never leave us or forsake us so that means he's always there, even though we can't see or feel him.
It kind of reminds me of the childhood game we all played at one time or another - hide and seek.

One person is "it" and counts to 100 before trying to discover everyone's hiding place. We know they are around somewhere, but we have to discover where they're hiding In the same way, there are times we have to open our eyes to discover that God's not hiding at all - he's all around us, we just weren't able to see him.

So how do we look for God when it feels like he's not there?

1. Look at the little things around us. The wonder of birds in a nest, the beauty of a sunrise after a dark and stormy night, the brilliant red colors of a maple tree in the fall. He's there in a thousand different details each day. We just have to open our eyes and hearts in order to see him.

2. Remember the things he did for you in the past. If God came through for you once, he will again! The Israelites built altars or rocks in places where God met them. Then whenever they returned to the places where he helped them before, they saw the reminders of God's works, and found the courage to trust him again.

3. Read about things God has done for others. I love missionary stories because their stories always encourage me and let me know I'm not the only one struggling. When we see what he's doing for others, we are encouraged to believe he will do those same things for us.

4. Praise him in spite of the difficulties - it will lift your heart even if the situations don't change. And you never know... it might be just the catalyst that is needed to change the circumstances where you find yourself.

5. Find someone who will pray for and support you. Sometimes we need a "God with skin" who we can touch and who touches us back with hugs and encouraging words. That's what the body of Christ is all about relationships where when one is weak, the other is strong and supportive.

My heart was heavy this morning with the overwhelming cares of this week. But as I wrote this, the sun came up, shining beautifully after several days of rain, reminding me that God's there and he will lift my spirits as I work at looking for him today.

Thank you Lord, Amen.