We can all remember a moment in time where things changed and a new story started. Maybe it was not just one moment, but instead a collection of happenings you can clearly see in your mind. Life is filled with many different moments, like graduating from school, the day you said "yes" to marriage, or when someone hands a tiny screaming human to you (baby… in case you're wondering). The list can go on and on. There are also those times when you know that this particular moment is going to redefine your story and possibly take you in a whole new direction. For me, it was February 2, 1981. My brother and I had one of those moments, and I can still see and feel it as if I were still there. You see, it was that date, 29 years ago, when we were told that our dad had died of cancer. A new story was starting that day, and our main character was no longer a part of it. I spent many years wondering why this happened to us. It didn’t seem fair. The problem with the wondering years was that I had not realized a new story had started. A new story that I could not live true to because I kept looking in the rear-view mirror.
Today, 29 years later, I have come to see how God was able to use this moment as part of my story. So what's in your past that you have yet to realize is part of your story? Allow that moment in time to bring life to the pages, even if it's filled with pain. God is about telling His story through yours – if you let him. The questions are still there but they no longer have a grip on me. I have discovered that it's all "Part of the Story".
Embrace the moments as "Part of the Story".
RB
I think, now that you are talking about it, that the struggles in a marriage are definitely a 'Part of the Story'. I believe, even if it seems hopeless at times, that tension in marriage is a way of God showing us how he wants us to be. He sees change that is needed that we may not see. It is only by allowing us to struggle through it that we seek Him - thereby allowing us to shine His light through us. However, until this is realized, it isn't fun at all. Michael always says that "It takes conflict to create change'... this is true in all of life and, for me right now, it is the conflict that is sharpening our marriage and each other. For this I am thankful, even in the middle of it. Amen and Amen!
ReplyDeleteThanks Ron for the proding!
Kandy
God winds all of our stories together to create what we see as life - both ours and those around us. Not only is our past part of our story, but so are the days of our friends and family. It makes communication so very important, and shared times so wonderful.
ReplyDeleteThere have been a few of those moments in my life, only realizing it many years later. Many of those times in my life have made me the person I am. A person of compassion and willingness to work for God in Children's Ministry. Working with children is not something that just happens, God shaped me for it, by the past experiences He have me. I am who I am, because of how God has used me.
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