Have you ever heard the term “life is a puzzle?” Have you thought about how all the events of your life brought you to the place where you are now? Some events were bad, and some were good. The family you were born into is part of the puzzle for which you had no control. Listen to anyone’s autobiography, and you will see the puzzle pieces of their life. Each person you meet or work with is part of your puzzle. The problem with the puzzle of life is that you had no control over the pieces in your childhood, and that every decision you make changes the picture of your life. This is a 3-D puzzle because you are a puzzle piece for many other people’s puzzles, and they are pieces of your puzzle. So how do you put a 3-D puzzle of life together, and why?
Mental Health Puzzle pieces?
I don’t know of anyone who has not had some type of mental health issue because we live in a sinful world with hurtful people. Resentment toward those who hurt you causes mental dis-ease. Even our perceptions can cause mental health issues. For some people, you mention the T****p word, and they have a visceral reaction. Even political events that affect us are part of our puzzle. Read this post to learn what a mentally healthy person looks like. How Mentally Healthy Are You?
I have spent 2025 writing about many types of mental health problems and what solutions to work through to resolve them. Every day presents new challenges that threaten to pop our control bubbles. To review the list, read “List of Mental Illnesses” by Very Well Health. I have good news: these don’t have to define you, and you can overcome them. There is hope for complete healing.
As I prayed about what God would have me write about, I couldn’t help but realize the impact of a decision I made at eight years old. At eight, I chose to believe and receive Jesus Christ as the Savior of my life (John 1:12), which dramatically changed my mental health issues. In college, I made Jesus the Lord of my life (Jude 1:25) and chose to follow and obey Him, which forever changed my puzzle and destiny. I am fully convinced that the mental health crisis is made worse when you don’t submit your life and will to God and trust Him. Let me know in the comments if you disagree and what you think is the reason for the current mental health crisis.
Why is it Necessary to Put My Life’s Puzzle together?
From experience, when I put my life’s puzzle together, I was able to come to grips with my past and heal my memories. Seeing the puzzle picture of your past put together allows you to rewire the wrong programming created by the various broken pieces. I explained how to rewire your brain in my last post. Also, seeing the puzzle pieces put together helps you create new pieces to change the future picture of your life. Seeing the life patterns of you and your parents enables you to identify and change the patterns you don’t want to continue.
I saw a pattern of victimhood and poverty throughout my childhood. I did not want that for my future, so I decided to apply for college. When I told my mother, she said I was too dumb. WOW! What a blow. I refused to let her words define the next puzzle piece in my life. I had a vision of what I wanted my future to look like, so I focused on that. Words have the power to create pieces of the puzzle. Remember, you can take every thought captive (2Cor. 10:5). With God’s help, I graduated from college. Though I was poor while in college and for some time before I started my teaching career, I have been doing very well ever since.
How to Put Your Puzzle Together.
To begin putting your puzzle together, do the following.
- Journal your mother’s and fathers’s history. Talk with Aunts and Uncles to get their perspective because each person retains memories differently and has a different view of traumatic events.
- For each parent, write down the trauma pieces that affected their lives and how they altered their destiny. For example, my mother was getting her nursing degree when she became pregnant out of wedlock with my sister and me. She lost her dream of becoming a nurse and had to marry a very irresponsible man. All three events changed my mother’s destiny and greatly affected her mental health, which affected my puzzle.
- Record patterns of sin or dysfunction that were passed down (i.e., poverty, alcoholism, mental health issues, pride, gambling, etc.)
- Journal all the things you see as significant in your parents’ puzzle and how it affected your puzzle. I hope this makes sense. Once you start your journal, you will get into a flow. Always begin by asking God to show you the significance of the event and any wrong beliefs that were developed and passed down to you. I talked to older relatives who gave me my great-grandparents’ history, which explained why my mother and her family were so angry. I learned why my father was irresponsible. All this helps you forgive, overcome resentment, and adopt new thinking and belief patterns that lead to better decisions.
- Continue putting the pieces together from your birth to the present. Record all events that significantly affected your life, such as the birth of a sibling, divorce, moves, etc.
- Now go through my webbook called “Hope for Complete Healing” to create beautiful pieces to fit the misfitting pieces created by trauma or bad memories.
- Write your perceptions and the unhealthy beliefs you internalize with each memory.
Conclusion
I am a testament to successfully creating a beautiful puzzle of life with God’s help from the broken pieces of my past. My life is not over, and I have more opportunities to create beautiful puzzle pieces for my life, my family, and my friends. To learn how I transformed my life, read WHAT IS INNER LIFE TRANSFORMATION? My Story
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All verses are from the English Standard Version. If you find my posts and website helpful, please share this link with your friends and family: hopeforcompletehealing.com. The information is copyright-protected. Please do not reproduce any part of the posts or my book without proper citation to Joyce Hanscom and this website.
My latest book, Unlocking God’sPromises, explains 18 categories of promises relevant to each of our lives. It also includes the promises in Psalm 91.
If you find this website helpful, you would like to read Breaking Mental Strongholds, which expands on my website book and includes many of my posts.
Additionally, consider my book Fighting Unseen Battles, which describes the many unhealthy beliefs that control our lives and the truths behind them. To learn more about this book, read the post How to Fight Unseen Battles.
Contact me at hopeforcompletehealing@gmail.com and ask for a PDF of Eight Life-Changing Prayers from the Bible. The prayers are for the Spirit of wisdom, renewal, spiritual strength, knowledge of His will, virtues of God, non-believers, the 23rd Psalm, and victory. I will also send you the Lord’s Prayer Model to pray effectively. Please leave your name, so I know you are a real person making the request.
Hope for Complete Healing 