Growing up I never felt like I had a story. I was too busy trying to live everyone else's. If I can make mine like theirs then it will be right. The show I put on the outside wasn’t real for the most part, it was just who I thought I should be. I couldn’t face the real story, the real me, it was just too hopeless and painful, or so I thought.
I
know we can’t start in the middle of a book to understand a whole story but twenty-one years after I first became a Christian is when the life I had always hope
for, dreamed of, and sought after began. It was when I started to seek God for
myself through reading His Word and prayer.
God
began placing on my heart that He wanted me to write. The Holy Spirit used
conversations, circumstances, reading God’s Word, and prayer to confirm this. I
began looking for writing programs and almost signed up for a secular program
when I heard about the Christian Writers Guild. They offered a program which
was exactly what I was looking for.
The
first apprentice level was titled, “What’s Your Story?” I laughed. I needed
some help because I wasn’t sure I had a story. In the first assignment one
question asked, “In fewer than 300 words,
describe your spiritual journey to faith in Christ - or, if you came to faith
as a child, the key events of your walk with Christ.” Sharing this testimony
(spiritual journey) with my mentor was to help her get to know me. I laughed
again. How was I supposed to share what I didn’t know myself? I needed to get
to know me to!
I
shared about darkness and light and thankfully my mentor didn’t hold back. She
said, “This is good, but it’s a little
sketchy…you’ll
need to be a little more specific rather than just talking about light and
darkness. Imagine yourself sitting down with a friend who is not familiar with
church or Christian jargon. How would you explain to that person what
transpired in your heart, what you came to understand, and how things changed
in your life as a result?” So I began.
Seeking
to write what I thought was the truth of my life taught me a lot. One friend
described this process that God takes us through like peeling off the layers of
an onion. As I sought to be honest and describe my life for what it was God
exposed lies and then replaced those lies with truth. In these instances my
perspective would change and He would peel off another layer.
A
couple of years after I had completed the writing course a friend challenged me
to write out my whole story and share
it with a few close friends. God had used the writing course to reveal much to
me about myself. I accepted the challenge and began to write again what I
thought my journey was.
I
took this written testimony and spoke it to three close friends. Each time I
spoke it was like God was teaching me about my story even as I spoke. I was
learning something new each time. I understood things in different ways and He
continued to peel off more layers.
The
pain of my past experiences lessened after each telling of my story. The weight
of what had paralyzed me at first began sliding off. Telling my story was
scary, humiliating, and healing all at the same time.
Next,
the scariest of all to me, I spoke my story in front of different groups of
people! Aaaaaaaaaah! And still each time
God had so much to teach me. He had so many ways He wanted to help and heal me.
More layers and burdens came falling off.
There
is power in the stories God has given us. Each is unique in what God has
allowed in our lives and how we have responded. He can use all of this for His
honor and glory. We can help and encourage someone else through sharing what He
has taught us.
We
have hope for our story because of the God who holds us in His hands. He chose
us in Him before the foundation of the world. In His book were
written every day ever planned for us even before we’d experienced even one.
(Ephesians 1:4, Psalm 139:16)
He will help us guard the truth of our
lives. He knows who we really are. What He has given us in our story, He will enable us to
use for His glory.
You have a story! God has given it to
you for good in your life and the lives of others. Write it. Speak it. Share
it. Declare your story before God and pray that He will help you see the
opportunities to share with others.
Start. He will show you the way. He will
walk you through and carry you in the journey to find your true story. He will
help and heal you in the process. As you share He will help and heal others.
As my friend challenged me I am
officially challenging you. Seek God through His Word and prayer. Prayerfully seek
your whole true story, write it, and
share it. Pray about who that listener will be. Trust that God will bring you
through and use it all for your good and His glory.
None of us has arrived! God will
continue to peel off the layers, teach us truth, help us and heal us until He
returns! Onward!
Heavenly Father,
Thank you for
Your Truth that sets us free! Thank you for the true experiences You have given
us. Help us to stay in Your Word and seek You through prayer. Thank you for these
weapons to fight against our enemy and through our struggles. You know us
completely, love us, and want to be in relationship with us. You have made a
relationship with You possible through Your, Son Jesus Christ. Help us to put
our stories past, present, and future in Your hands. You can do exceedingly
abundantly beyond all that we ask or imagine, in and through us, according to Your
power at work within us, the Holy Spirit. Help us guard the life You have given
us and let You use it however You want. Help us trust You will work in our
lives for good. Help us all to prayerfully seek the true story of our lives,
write it, and share it for Your honor and glory. Give us courage, help, and
healing through this process. Thank You that the plans You have for us are for
good and not for evil, for a hope and a future. Lead and guide us. Help us to
be sensitive to Your Holy Spirit, obedient, and that we would bring honor and
glory to You!
In Jesus Name,
Amen
Praying God’s Word
So Jesus said to the Jews who had
believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly
my disciples,
and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.
So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.”
John 8:31-32, 36
“For the word of God is living and
active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and
of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions
of the heart.”
Hebrews 4:12
But when anything is exposed by the
light, it becomes visible, for anything that
becomes visible is light. Therefore it says, “Awake, O sleeper, and arise from
the dead, and Christ will shine on you.” Ephesians 5:13-14
“Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I
am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but
will have the light of life.” John 8:12
“Be kind to one another, tenderhearted,
forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.” Ephesians 4:32
“You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Matthew 22:39
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he
is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” 2 Corinthians
5:17
“We were buried therefore with him by
baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by
the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.” Romans 6:4
“Now to him who is able to do far more
abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within
us,” Ephesians 3:20
“For I know the plans I have for you,
declares the Lord,
plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.” Jeremiah 29:11
“Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the
days ordained for me were written in your book before
one of them came to be.” Psalm 139:16
“He chose us in Him before the
foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him.” Ephesians 1:4
“But I am not ashamed, for I know whom I
have believed, and I am convinced that he is able to guard until that Day what
has been entrusted to me. Follow the pattern of
the sound words that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in
Christ Jesus. By the Holy Spirit who dwells within us,
guard the good deposit entrusted to you.” 2 Timothy 1:12-14
“And we know that God causes all things
to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according
to His purpose.” Romans 8:28
“For the Lord disciplines the one he
loves, and chastises every son whom he receives. It is for discipline that you
have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his
father does not discipline? If you are left
without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate
children and not sons. Besides this, we have had
earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much
more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? For
they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he
disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant,
but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been
trained by it.” Hebrews 12:6-11
“Trust in the Lord with all your
heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge
him, and he will make straight your paths.” Proverbs 3:5-6
“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in
the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor
of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.”
Ephesians 6:10-11
