Picking Up the Peaces

I know it's been a while since I've posted. I've been thinking about all the buried feelings I have and trying to figure out how to dig them out. One night, I actually wrote this in my journal (I haven't been much of a journal-er): The mighty towers loom around me. The Redwood-thick walls protect me. I feel trapped. Every time I open the gate of the mighty fortress, a siege awaits me. I keep opening the gate and my wounds are multiplying. They start to heal and I open the gate again. The wounds are getting deeper. They start to heal so I open the gate again. The wounds become infected. I close the gate. I need time to recover and heal. I keep the gate closed. There's a gentle knock at the gate. I'm terrified to open it. The knock comes again. Dare I open it once again? I climb to the top of the wall and look down. It is The Physician. It is the Master Healer. It is the Savior. I know He wants to help me. I know He wants to heal ...

Have you ever been working on a jigsaw puzzle and, all of a sudden, someone comes along and puts it away, or destroys it? Then, sometimes, the pieces end up all over the floor and they need to be picked up, but you won't know if you got all of the pieces until you try to put the puzzle together again, because there are 1000 pieces to this puzzle? I hate it when that happens. It's so frustrating because those pieces are so difficult to place anyway! It's especially frustrating when you've been working on this puzzle for hours, or even days, and this happens. You are almost done, and you can see how close you are to finishing, and then BAM! all that hard work feels like it was a waste of time. Life is like a puzzle. You spend hours, days, years, and even decades trying to make sure all the pieces fit in correctly, and then BAM! something happens that causes all the pieces to fall on the floor. You think your life is going pretty well, and you're doing pretty good,...