We are all born into this world, small and fragile. We grow, we learn, we make mistakes... then we learn some more. We each are gifted with a unique combination of strengths and weaknesses... often they are one in the same. We live mostly small, quiet lives filled with seemingly mundane daily activities. What if I told you there was an epic story being told, right now, and you are a key character in this story? What if you believed your story was powerful?
So why on earth is your story so important? Why does my story matter? With over 7 billion people on this planet, how could one small story really matter? How could it make a difference? Read on, my friend, and I will tell you.
I am a child of the 80's and 90's. The two weirdest and COOLEST decades! There was a movie called The Never Ending Story. If you haven't seen it, you need to! My kids think it is creepy and hate it! haha... Compared to today, I guess it is a bit creepy! At the time that it came out, it was the --kneez! (This a little 80's lingo for you; you're welcome.) It had all the most cutting-edge, special effects to bring the story to life. I loved this movie!
Anyway, for those of you who have not seen it; it tells the story of a bullied boy named Sebastian, who has a tough life and he escapes into a magical book. He reads about the land of Fantasia and of a young warrior whose task is to stop a dark storm called "the Nothing" from engulfing this mystical world. Spoiler alert! The boy warrior is special and chosen for the noble quest. In the end, although brave and diligent, he is unable to save Fantasia. Sebastian, reading the story, realizes the only way to stop "The Nothing" and save Fantasia is for him to believe he could actually be a part of the story. Sebastian is hesitant to believe, but ultimately saves Fantasia by naming the childlike empress.
The best part is when he finally accepts the commission, jumps to his feet, and shouts his mother's name to give the empress a name: "MI-CHHHEEELLE!" The entire world responds, "Say what?! " Bahaha! I love 80s movies! He actually said Moom-Child, but no one—and I mean no one—understood him or would ever assume his mother's name was Moon Child. Haha! I am so off track. Sorry, not sorry.
Then, he gets to help spread childlike faith and rebuild Fantasia simply by wishing and believing. It is a great story!
The value and the weight of the ending or outcome, is wrapped up in the story; the journey, what the characters went through to get there.
Stories give us understanding. They draw you in and illustrate the deeper wisdom that can only be shared through someone who has physically walked it out. The knowing, that only follows after you've lived it.
Jesus spoke in stories or parables to illustrate what he was teaching. Stories stay with us. They bypass our resistance to learning. A story will often strike at your heart, in a sucker punch sort of way. Why didn't you see it coming? Because, you were invested in the outcome of the heroine or hero, the story... The testimony. Our testimonies are our stories. Stories often never leave us. We can remember stories we haven't heard since we were a child. I used to listen to Dave Roever's testimony over and over as a kid. I could tell you every detail.
What makes the end of a book or movie so impacting? If I told you the end of a great story but didn't share the characters with you and never told you the actual story, you would be unaffected for the most part. Why? Because you had to be there. You were not there for the unfolding of the story. The value and the weight of the ending or outcome are wrapped up in the story, the journey the characters went through to get there.
All of you have things you have lived through nobody would believe unless they were there.
No one knows what you have walked through to reach your triumphs. Sometimes, we reach a goal, and people are like, "Oh, good for you..." and you want to shout, "Don't you know I have been fighting, and working and contenting for this triumph for years!" They cannot adequately appreciate your outcome because they weren't there.
Stories impact us. I've written about stories before in my blog, "Freedoms and Narratives." In it, I spoke of the power of the narrative or story we tell and how it can be used for good or evil. Today, I want to talk about the amazing beauty that can and will come from your story... if you simply believe.
Isn't it such a relief knowing you are not the only one?! Knowing you're not a freak?!?!
How does all this apply to your story? Our stories are so special. They are unique and singular to us. Yet, have you ever been talking to someone with a completely different background, race, or even gender... and suddenly, you feel as though you know them?
You have walked through eerily similar things, and you see yourself in them. You are the same. We often hear a person's story and, in it, find our own story. There is something about their story that you identify with so deeply that you feel connected to them. You are inspired, encouraged, and maybe angry for them. One thing you will feel when you connect with another person's story is comfort.
Isn't it such a relief knowing you are not the only one?! Knowing you're not a freak?!?! Yes! Of course! We have all experienced pain, joy, failure, desperation, fear, triumph, and humiliation! We are all so different but yet the same. We need to be known, heard, and encouraged! Challenged! Comforted.
Your story is so very important! What kind of story are you telling? One of hope? Faith? Perseverance? A perfectly imperfect love story?
Or... one of bitterness, fear, and unforgiveness? Don't get me wrong, I am not talking about "Stepford Wives" here; robots pretending everything is perfect. I am talking about, as my friend Christina Thompson says, "Looking back with grace." Grace for the broken places in your life, grace for the broken people who hurt you and are out there still hurting people. Seeing the redemption over your struggles and hurts.
Telling the truth, covered in the blood of Jesus. The devil wants you to be quiet. He wants to shut us up! He wants you to feel insignificant. He wants you to stay comfortable. If he can keep you believing you have nothing to give, no story to tell, he wins.
2 Corinthians 12:9 AMP
But he said to me, My grace (My favor and loving-kindness and mercy is enough for you [sufficient against any danger and enables you to bear the trouble manfully]; for MY strength and power are made perfect (fulfilled and completed) and show themselves most effective in [you're] weakness. Therefore, I will all the more gladly glory in my weaknesses and infirmities, that the strength and power of Christ may rest (yes, may pitch a tent over and dwell) upon me!
He will use you and your story! In our weakness, He shows His strength!
God uses the unexpected person. The underdog! So those watching will say, "look what the LORD has done!!" We all love a good underdog story!
1 Corinthians 1:26-31 MSG
26-31 Take a good look, friends, at who you were when you got called into this life. I don’t see many of “the brightest and the best” among you, not many influential, not many from high-society families. Isn’t it obvious that God deliberately chose men and women that the culture overlooks and exploits and abuses, chose these “nobodies” to expose the hollow pretensions of the “somebodies”? That makes it quite clear that none of you can get by with blowing your own horn before God. Everything that we have—right thinking and right living, a clean slate and a fresh start—comes from God by way of Jesus Christ. That’s why we have the saying, “If you’re going to blow a horn, blow a trumpet for God.”
There is somebody in your life or someone that will cross your path that needs to hear your story. Someone who has been praying for a breakthrough... and your story is exactly what they need to hear to be able to see what God is doing on their behalf. To understand, something happening in their life. To be set free as they hear how God set you free! To find hope... even in the darkest places because you made it through in Jesus' name! If you have known Jesus for any amount of time, you are a walking, talking testimony of Jesus Christ's faithfulness! You are possibly the only bible that person has ever read.
If you feel like you've got nothing going for you, you are in a perfect place for God to demonstrate what he can do!
Women of God!!! Do not stay quiet when the Holy Spirit says speak. Pray for the Holy Spirit to embolden you (that means, pray for supernatural courage). Take time to look back and reflect on your story. I encourage you, write it out. You will be amazed at how far you have really come! What God has done! Reflection will heal you even more!
Tell your story!
1 Corinthians 2:3-5 MSG
I was unsure of how to go about this, and felt totally inadequate—I was scared to death, if you want the truth of it—and so nothing I said could have impressed you or anyone else. But the Message came through anyway. God’s Spirit and God’s power did it, which made it clear that your life of faith is a response to God’s power, not to some fancy mental or emotional footwork by me or anyone else.
Even Paul felt inadequate. It is by faith that we are used to change our world. If you feel like you've got nothing going for you, you are in a perfect place for God to demonstrate what he can do!
You do not need to be a gifted speaker to communicate what the Lord has done for you. Just speak from your heart. Share out of your experience. You cannot give what you do not have.
Beth Moore said, "Do not inflate yourself; be honest. Do not fabricate. God is amazing enough without overexaggerations. Look at your life as an epic story. Give titles to the seasons and chapters." Think about the things you have learned and how you learned them. How gentle God is with your heart. What He has done and is doing is the power.
Rev 12:11 says, and they have overcome him (the devil) by means of the blood of the Lamb (Jesus Christ) and by the utterance(telling) of their testimony, for they did not love and cling to life even when faced with death.
I've been writing since 2017 and never saw myself as a writer. I simply felt God wanted me to tell my story or stories. As I have begun doing this, I have taken long, thoughtful looks at my journey. It's crazy, really! All the things I have been through and how the things I thought were mistakes, or even were traumatic... from this vantage point, I now see the amazing greater purpose in it. How God has redeemed what I perceived as horrible mistakes. He is faithful; your story will prove it. If you are still in the hard part of your story, take heart. I promise you, He is coming for you. Look up. His love is relentless!
Genesis 50:20 says, " You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives."
Our story is never over; we haven't arrived. If you see something you don't want in your story, get rid of it! Give it to Jesus. You will pass on what you have, good or bad. Reflect and process with grace and the Holy Spirit. Be grateful. Let the healing come. Then share it. Watch God do miraculous things in others, simply because you told them your story. His story.
Wait! One more thing... this is huge! Listen. Really listen and let God do His work. We all need to be known and heard. Do these things, and we can literally change the world.
For He is our God and we are his people... Today, if only you would hear his voice, and not harden your hearts... Psalms 95:7-8 (paraphrased)
If you have any stories to tell, I'd love to hear them. Comment below. Need prayer? It would be my honor! Inbox me.
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**if you were curious, I wrote some form of the word Story 50 times. 51, including this fun fact! :-)
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