Everyone loves a good story. A tale with a hero, a villain, a plot twist, and a surprise ending. If a story doesn’t possess a good ending, then it’s disqualified from being a “good story.” Some of us may describe the story of our life as predictable and boring, while others lead exciting lives travelling, meeting new people, and experiencing different cultures. Some have experience severe disappointment, and their story becomes a tale of heartbreak too emotional to narrate. Others may be paralyzed by fear and are afraid to begin a new chapter in their life story.
Whether you consider your story a sleepy tale or a hold-your-breath adventure, God is in every detail of your story. Before you were born, He knew you and saw the future you would co-author, with Him.
Long before we first heard of Christ and got our hopes up, he had his eye on us, had designs on us for glorious living, part of the overall purpose he is working out in everything and everyone. It’s in Christ that we find out who we are and what we are living for (Eph 1:11-12) The Message.
Every story has the potential to be a Kingdom story, with God as the hero. It is our God who repurposes our mistakes, bandages our wounds, and fortifies our soul with His Spirit. Yet the fleshly tendency often casts oneself as the hero, leaving God with a “human role,” like the relative or friend you turn to during a crisis. Ignoring God’s divine role and casting ourselves as the “hero” of our story, puts us in the business of saving ourselves. This is a s-m-a-l-l story. One devoid of divine power.
When we become the hero of our story we look through a microcosmic lens that debilitates peripheral vision blurs the grand vision of God’s transformative plan. The reverse is true when we let God be God and allow Him to rescue us from the darkness of unforgiveness and sin. Seeing the need of our saving opens our eyes to the possibilities of hope that exist for every person turning to Jesus. Through Christ we discover our identity, our purpose, and our hope for the future.
Accepting our need for a Savior and following Him, opens the door to a rich covering of grace. It is God’s grace that rewrites the pages of our story. While we may be tempted to omit the chapters of depression, grief, the broken home, and our addiction, God uses the entire story, the good and the bad, to become a “real time” testimony of His glorious grace. The good news of Christ repairs the tears in the fabric of our soul and God breathes His shalom upon us -- wholeness, harmony, and good will.
God heals our brokenness, for us, and for the sake of others. Don’t hide your story. Your story is testimony to God’s sovereign power! Your story shines the spotlight on God for all to see!
With God’s grace, every story becomes a “good story,” a story of Christ’s redemptive action in our lives.