They are to be used to build up and encourage others through the difficult parts of their stories.
The more I tell mine, the more others share theirs.
So many people are simply broken.
Much like broken glass, pieces are lying all around.
Naturally, we are broken simply because we are human.
The fall of man makes us broken the moment we take our first breath.
But the horror stories of life leave some people more broken than others.
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| Poverty |
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| Oppression |
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| Domestic Abuse |
In fact, some are so shattered that it’s almost impossible to find all the pieces,
let alone pick them up.
And yet, the Creator of the universe has written His story in our story.
He uses the good, the bad, and the ugly to reveal something about Himself.
He takes what is broken and makes it something beautiful
I love what Dan Allender says in his book, To Be Told.
“Your story has power in your own life, and it has power and meaning to bring to others. I want your story to stir me, to draw me to tears, compel me to ask hard questions. I want to enter your heartache and join you in the hope of redemption. But your story can’t do these things if you can’t tell it. You can’t tell your story until you know it. And you can’t truly know it without owning your part in writing it. And you won’t write a really glorious story until you’ve wrestled with the Author who has already written long chapters of your life, many of them not to your liking.
We resist telling a story we don’t like, and we don’t like our own stories. But consider this: if you don’t like your story, then you must not like the Author. Or conversely: if you love the Author, then you must love the story He has written in and for your life.“
I have had to wrestle with my story and the parts that I don’t like.
Choosing to like the unlikeable parts requires the power of the Holy Spirit.
I strongly believe that we not only have a story to tell, but we are a story.
The broken parts of our stories are a way to redemption.
As we find redemption, our lives boldly declare the Greater story of the Gospel.
We are a part of God’s greater story
I want my story to declare His name.
I pray my story leads others to Christ.
I hope my story brings healing to the lives of others.
Painful as my story may be, God is taking all the broken parts of me
and placing them where He will.
Designing.
Creating.
Using them to
make something beautiful.
