Your Story Matters

Your story matters.

It’s true.

But sometimes we don’t believe it, do we?

We think that it is too dull or too traumatic or too disturbing or too ________.  You fill in the blank.

We fear embarrassment or, worse yet, rejection. We fear that others will think we are ugly and turn away. Or we think that our story is not important or as powerful as someone else’s story.  Or someone has told us – not with their words, perhaps – but with their actions, that our story doesn’t matter.

Lies. Lies. Lies.

May I say it again?

Your story matters.

Our stories are complicated, often confusing.  Bits and pieces of our lives are woven together, impacting one another, at times not really making sense, and yet, all forming the whole of who we are, and who God is using.

The evil one wants you to think your story is not important.  He doesn’t want you to share your story – for even though it may be difficult and painful, when you ask God into it and allow Him to use it – it brings the Lord glory – and the evil ones hates that. Really hates that.

Dear friend, I just want you to know that your story matters – because YOU MATTER.

Your story is important. I do not know how or when the Lord may use it, but I believe when we you bring it to Him, He will begin to show you the truth in it and He will use it. He may be asking you to tell it -- or maybe not now. He may be using it to work deep inside of you, as He prepares you for something in the future. He may choose to have it in a book, spoken from a platform, or flashed across the movie screen. Or it may never be shared outwardly, but rather fuel your passion to help others – perhaps others who need someone one who understands.

That’s all for today.  Just a note from someone who cares about you, relayed from a God who cares even more.  You are loved and made for a purpose and your story is part of His plan to bring change and hope and healing to a broken world.

He uses brokenness – brokenness that we have caused within ourselves and brokenness that has occurred to us – to make a difference. 

How He does it? I’ll never know. But I believe it is true, and I know He loves you.

Your story matters. It's true.

God Can Use Our Brokenness

Perhaps it is the autumn soups, stews and breads, but I seem to have “bread” on my mind. Quite a few years ago I read words that Elisabeth Elliot heard from a speaker while she was a Wheaton College student (Nov/Dec 2000 Elisabeth Elliot Newsletter).

“If your life is broken when given to Jesus, it may be because pieces will feed a
multitude, when a loaf would satisfy only a little lad.”

I’ve been thinking about that little lad, and I’ve been thinking about Jesus. (You can read the account of the interaction in John 6:1-15).The little lad could have kept his bread for himself, and been satisfied, but instead he offered it to Jesus to do with it as Jesus pleased. Was it a suffering? I don’t know -- maybe, maybe not. Maybe he was very hungry, and really wanted it. Maybe his mom needed it. Regardless, Jesus took it, and made it “food” for a multitude. Truth is, He could have fed the multitude out of nothing at all (He had been known to rain down manna and quail, as well as creating the world out of nothing) but He chose to use the offering of a little boy. What a privilege. What a hope.

God can use our lives in the same way. He will take what we give Him, even our sadness, our heartache, and our fears and losses, and transform them to help many. How He does it, I will never know, but I have seen it, and I believe it is true.

Sometimes in our trials we are able to tell of God’s love and faithfulness in ways and with a depth that we would not otherwise have. We can be the hands and feet and words that are a testimony of His power and His grace. I know that in my life, I have needed to see God lived out in the lives of others to help me with my doubt, and the testimony of one who has walked through suffering and trusted God is a powerful one, indeed. These are the people who can speak to our hearts because they have been there, done that, and gotten the T-shirt. They are authentic and open.

The suffering of our precious Savior revealed to us the reality of His love for His Father and His love for us. The multitude of souls in this time, still need to be shown that there are those who will, out of their love for the Lord, trust and obey Him in whatever circumstance. It is not an easy job, but God equips and He is the one who does the transformation, making much out of little.

What may God be asking you to present to Him today, dear reader? What is broken in your life that He will use to feed the multitude? You just never know. Trust Him to work His miraculous power in your life, just as He did with what the little lad was willing to place in His hands.

What To Do With These Broken Pieces?

Do I sometimes feel like God swoops in for the big rescue and then leaves me to clean up the debris and make new of the situation? Admittedly, I do. I rummage around looking for items to salvage and then wonder how I'm going to use these bits and pieces to rebuild my life, forgetting who is in control and getting impatient with God and His perfect plan. Sitting amidst the rubble right now, I have grown quiet and discouraged.

I am tempted to begin to think that that God does the big job, and then I fix it up. I forget that He takes the broken pieces and is the One, the only One, who can put them together and make me whole again.

Psalm 147:2 - 5 says, "The Lord builds up Jerusalem; he gathers the exiles of Israel. He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. He determines the number of the stars and calls them each by name. Great is our Lord and mighty in power; he understanding has no limit."

I need to let go of trying to put the pieces together, and hold on to God, Who not only knows the name of every star, which He created, but knows mine. Dear reader, embrace this truth in your suffering, as well. He does all of the gathering and building of His loved ones. He takes the brokenness and makes it whole. He binds up the wounds, because of His great and unfailing love. His understanding has no limit, and therefore, He knows the very best for us and the very best timing.