I'm reading a good book now about knowing your personal story, and how important that is to shaping your faith life and, frankly, surviving this messy existence we call life. The author, Dan Allender, writes that "it is our responsibility to know our story so we can live it out more intentionally and boldly for the Great Story, the gospel."
Many people have stories that are quite painful, and it might seem most appropriate to refuse to know your story. But I think that, until we know all parts of our life stories, like history, we are doomed to repeat them.
The biggest challenge might be attempting to admit your entire life story, including the parts that bring you shame, the parts that you peg you as a victim, and the parts that make you seethe in anger. Or maybe the bigger challenge is to own it, and realize how current behavior is not a cosmic coincidence but rather has been slowly built over time with the mortar of life events. For me, the biggest challenge, I think, is to share my story with a trusted friend or group of people who support me. I'm still working on that one.
Allender writes that God has created our lives but has invited us to co-author them. We are not to be just victims of bad circumstances or passive participants in lives spinning out of control. It is very hard not to give in to the temptation to rest as a victim (although that "rest" is never really restful for those of us who have tried it). But to do so is cowardly and not a part of God's plan.
Know your story. Own it. Write it. Tell it. But most of all, ponder it so that you can lovingly understand where you came from, warts and all, and how that experience made you who you are. Embrace your future life with the knowledge that owning those parts of your undesirable past will help you to avoid repeating it, or at least repeating it forever. Even though we often hate ourselves for where we've been, God loves us through it. But he takes his challenge of co-authorship seriously, and he won't rescue us out of self hatred, self pity or anger toward others without some effort on our part.
Good stuff. I am awakening to this as well - the importance of knowing our stories. I like that line that God has created us, but invites us to be co-authors of our stories.
ReplyDeleteI too think the biggest challenge for almost all Christians is the telling or sharing of our stories, or testimonies. I also find it ironic that the most important thing in our lives, Christ, is the one thing we find difficult to share, or even don't share, with those closest to us. Why? It is easier for me, and I suspect others, to go on a mission trip and tell strangers about Christ than my family members or good friends. Why? Thanks for putting your blog out there. I read and enjoy each entry. You're a very good writer, warts and all. :-)
ReplyDeleteWe are shaped by the difficult parts of our stories but don't have to be defined by them. I am also intruigued by the concept that God invites us to co-author our story with him. Good post, Kathleen.
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