There’s such an emphasis these days on the importance of “story” – finding it, living it, and telling it.
I’ve bought into this.
Culture has bought into this.
Even the church has bought into this.
To prove my point, search “story” in Pinterest. It’s everywhere.
“Don’t judge my story by the chapter you walked in on.” –Unknown
“Don’t be ashamed of your story, it will inspire others.” –Anonymous
“Owning your story in the bravest thing you will ever do.” –Brene Brown
“The way you tell your story matters.” –Amy Cuddy
“Love your story.” –Unknown
“Home is where your story begins.” –Anonymous
On and on is goes.
It’s the style of many prominent bloggers….
The approach of many church congregations…
The strategy of many marketing agencies…
And the design of unending amounts of social media artistry…
Why? Because people are drawn to stories and they resonate.
So there I was, in the wee hours of the morning, sipping coffee and listening to “Blessed Assurance” for the umpteenth time in my life, when suddenly, out of nowhere, the lyrics from the chorus pierced my heart in a whole new way.
This is my story.
This is my song.
Praising my Savior all the day long.
It was as if a light bulb flickered on in my brain and I finally got it. I felt this overwhelming sense of freedom to no longer need to find, live and tell MY story, but to represent His.
To praise Him.
Live for Him.
Love Him.
Need Him.
Share Him.
Reflect Him.
Obey Him.
And draw attention to Him.
And you know what happens when we live this way?
We don’t have to try so hard to have everything figured out.
We don’t need to make sense of everything here in this life.
We don’t need to strive and achieve and accomplish and have and be and do and obtain for the sake of keeping up.
And we certainly don’t need to think of our struggles or setbacks as the final chapter because we know our story in overcome through His story.
This is the story that sets our lives apart from everyone else’s story.
Therefore the setting looks like this: Perfect submission, all is at rest.
The characters look like this: I in my Savior am happy and blessed.
The plot looks like this: Watching and waiting…
The conflict looks like this: (To always be) looking above.
The resolution looks like this: Filled with his goodness, lost in His love.
And the beautiful and wonderful blessed assurance looks like this: That this is my story. And it’s yours too!
”This is how we know that we belong to the truth and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence.” 1 John 3:19