Story Telling

This Labor Day weekend I spent it catching up with old friends at Camp Blue Ridge. I was expecting to fill them in on my life and get caught up with theirs. Many I hadn’t seen in a really long time and others make it a point to keep tabs on me (they know me well to do so). Yet, the experiences that we had could not be scripted.

Saturday was such a blessing. Conversations and prayers lead to what was one of the most memorable moments of camp. 

Sharing with people my story and hearing theirs is one of the most impacting things that we can do. I wish I could share with you the things that were spoken but I do not have permission to share such intimate details of God working on people’s lives.

I learned that we are all broken in one way or another. I saw how difficult it is to look at our scars and relive the moments that hurt us the most. I saw tears pour out as the pain, even if it was long ago, was still very much present in our hearts. I witnessed the power of the comfort of God. I experienced the fulfillment of Jesus’ words “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.” (John 14:27)

I learned that God is not done!

Each one of us is a supporting actor in the story of grace. Jesus is the lead actor. He is our knight in shinning armor. He is the hero that is always there to come to our rescue.

Jesus is the eloquent writer of the story of our lives. He is the novelist that infuses passion and dedication to his “Magnum Opus” that is our lives and the fulfillment of His infinite love.

God is not done! The story doesn’t end with pain, fear, suffering or death. Hebrews 12:2 states that Jesus is the “founder and perfecter of our faith,” meaning that he writes our story through His sacrifice, a story that always has the perfect ending; Jesus writes our “happily ever after.”

Your story does not have to end today. Jesus wants to take over the pen of your life and write a beautiful ending to it. You see, story writing is not our job, it’s God’s job. It may be hard to see where he is going in the course of the various chapters of our lives but he knows where he is going with it.

Spoiler Alert!

“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more… He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” (Revelation 21:1, 4) 

"There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you."

-Maya Angelou