Keys to the Kingdom

By Carolyn Tucker

I Fall to Pieces

I’m pretty sure you have to be within a certain age group to associate the words “I fall to pieces” with a song. In 1961, Patsy Cline recorded “I Fall to Pieces” which was her first recording to top the Billboard country chart. This song was one of her biggest hits and, as far as I‘m concerned, she still owns it. Patsy, as the first female, was posthumously elected into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1973, ten years after her fatal plane crash. I was five years old when she died, but I have heard this iconic artist’s beautiful and distinctive voice nearly all my life through her records.

Our life is sometimes comparative to the trade of a blacksmith. If you’ve ever seen a Western movie, then you’ve probably seen a blacksmith at work as he makes and repairs iron objects and horseshoes by hand. He heats and hammers the iron and when it’s just right, he plunges it into cold water. Sometimes the object doesn’t take temper and it will fall to pieces in the process. If the iron isn’t going to allow itself to be tempered, it winds up in the scrap pile. Thank goodness, God doesn’t throw us in the scrap pile if, or when,  we fall to pieces.

If I had my way, I’d choose to never be in the heat, hammered, pressured, or tested. But real life is not a perpetual rose garden. Tough stuff happens and it happens to all believers if we live long enough. I suspect Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego weren’t looking forward to being thrown into the blazing furnace. Nevertheless, they declared, “If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God whom we serve is able to save us. He will rescue us from your power, Your Majesty“ (Daniel 3:17 NLT). When they were bound and thrown into the fiery furnace, they discovered that they weren’t in it alone. God was there in the furnace of affliction with His servants. Christ followers can have the same confidence these three boys had because we serve the same God they did.

God loves us with an unconditional and everlasting love. When the testing and sorrows of life come, with lovingkindness He draws us to Himself. And He will do one of two things: Either keep us from falling to pieces, or take the pieces and put them back together in a stronger fashion; He never throws them away. Personally, I don’t like putting puzzle pieces together. I suppose I lack the interest and patience required to tackle the project. I’m thankful that God never gives up on me when I fall to pieces.

“When I am pressed on every side by troubles, I am not crushed and broken. When I am perplexed because I don’t know why things happen as they do, I don’t give up and quit” (2 Corinthians 4:8 TLB). Remember, if we should fall to pieces, understand that remaining in that state is not an option for the believer. If life’s circumstances knock us down, we’re not “out” because Jesus’ hand will be reaching out and pulling us back up. When the going gets tough we just keep forging ahead. Apostle Paul reminds believers of our important and steadfast hope in Christ: “We have great endurance in hardships and in persecutions. We don’t lose courage in a time of stress and calamity” (2 Corinthians 6:4 TPT).

The Key: The best option is to not fall to pieces. But if you do, it’s not the end of the record. Just get up and play the A-side.