With these four steps, it’s easy to put the pieces of your life back together...

“Assembly required.”

Those dreaded two words were compounded hilariously for Melanie and me recently.  

We read the reviews of people trying to put together an outdoor portable basketball goal.  What should have taken a couple of hours (says the manufacturer) took some people several days.

One lady said, “This is the only thing that has made me want to jump off a cliff.”

Life can be that way.  It gets complicated and messy, like a thousand-word puzzle.

Here are four easy steps to start putting your life back together again:

1. Consult the manual.

You guessed it:  The Scripture is the manual on life.

Whatever has fallen apart, find a list of Scriptures on that subject:  health, finances, marriage, parenting, emotions, answered prayer, relationships, etc.

List the verses on a sheet and review one or two of them every night before bed.  Study them.  Speak them out loud.  Pray them back to God.  Ask the Holy Spirit to show you how to apply them to your “broken pieces.”

Do it EVERY DAY.  Be patient, and do not quit.  Like a manual, move through them slowly and methodically. Over weeks and months, the pieces of that particular area will start to move together and make sense in your life.

2. Don’t despair.

When your job, your children, your marriage, and your finances fall apart, Satan tells you that it is permanent and final.  It’s not.

If you allow yourself to get bitter and blaming, the pieces CANNOT come together.  Instead, recognize that Satan is your true enemy and not other people.

Satan divides, destroys, and discourages.  Out loud, tell him to leave your marriage, your children, your business, and your finances.  

He will leave.  He is defeated, and Scripture says that God is causing you to triumph in every shattered area of your life.

3. Get a new picture.

Vision is a snapshot of your future.

I want you to see that broken area as a beautiful area.  

See yourself happily married again with peaceful, compliant children.  See your job and business as profitable, successful, and influential.  You will never move beyond the realm of your thoughts and imaginations.

Put up a picture of you when you were healthy, your marriage was happy, and your children were innocent.  

Every day, thank the Lord for making that vision a reality. One day, you will look up and see all of those pieces coming together.

4. Sing a new song

Change your music from sad, defeated music to praise and thanksgiving.

Paul and Silas praised God at midnight after being beaten and put in stocks.  God sent an earthquake and got them released that night.

Sing praise to the Lord.  Thank Him in advance.  Praise His goodness, His power, and His love for you.

Slowly but surely, your attitude will change, and the pieces will come together.

Your life can change starting today:  consult the manual, renounce despair, get a new picture, and sing a new song.

That’s how you start a new life….with a bunch of broken pieces.