What happens when you lose the picture on the box?

Most of us have dreams of our future, the way we imagine it will be, the good life ahead, the picture on the jigsaw box of our lives if you like. When loss hits, the picture on the box gets destroyed. We are left asking, can there be another picture, another good life?

 Paul, who suffered so greatly, writes,

We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him.  Romans 8:28

I think if just anyone had sent me that verse, I might have punched them. But in the kindness of God, it came via Trevor – it was the subject of his last ever talk.  

In my darker moments, I ‘ve asked, “How can God turn my loss to good?”  Since Trev died, there have been bright shafts of light, grace-filled glimmers of redemption but at times, the cost seems too big. I have to trust in what I dimly see.

I’ve been helped by Jerry Sittser’s book, “A Grace Disguised – How the soul grows through loss.” Jerry’s wife, his daughter and his mother all died in a horrendous accident caused by a drunk driver. He vividly describes the devastation of grief and the bleak depression that followed, never minimising his loss but yet his book shines with love and hope. When asked if life can possibly be good again after bereavement, he describes the process of letting go of his old definition of “a good life” only to find that over time, he has gained a rich life,

 “What once seemed chaotic and random, like a deck of cards thrown in the air, has started to look like the plot of a wonderful story…   The accident remains now, as it always has been a horrible experience that did great damage to us and to so many others. It was and will remain a very bad chapter. But the whole of my life is becoming what appears to be a very good book.”

 Who else but our loving Saviour can take the fragments of our dreams, the pieces of our lives and make a new picture? Who else can turn all things to good?