Let God Step into Your Story
If our life is a book, then we are the main character. And no matter what the storyline has been, God is able to do some edits, some rewrites, and make changes to redeem our story.
I want to spend a little time today, following up on The Story of Your Life, my earlier article on the idea of our lives being like a book. We may not understand the concepts that we are living as they are happening, and that’s ok. Much in life happens unaware and we get so caught up in the cycle of surviving our circumstance that we often don’t see God’s grace that was available to us. There is the saying, it’s just water under the bridge, that means it is in the past and there’s nothing you can do about it. It’s true that it is in the past, and we are not physically able to go back. There is no reset or do-over button in real life. But, God has a different perspective of the concept of time and eternity. He functions outside of our timeframe. He was and always will be. He was there before the beginning of time.
God has the ability to step into our timeline and interact with us.
God has the ability to step into our timeline to interact with us, edit our past and redeem the storyline of our life. Everything about God’s nature points to His redemptive power. He can take something grievous and transform it into new life. He will turn brokenness into a beautiful masterpiece of health and wholeness. What we have lived through effects us today, there’s no doubt. And no matter how many years go by, the pain we’ve experienced can produce an ongoing echo that can be heard throughout our life. Trauma that goes undealt with, does not automatically get better over time. That’s why the phrase, time heals all, is misleading. Under normal, healthy conditions, a wound will heal. But if trauma is involved, it has the ability to get infected and prevent recovery from happening. And that sums up what happens as we live in this world, contaminated by the law of sin.
There are many Biblical examples that demonstrate how God can enter our story.
Here’s just a few:
Adam and Eve heard God walking in the garden and calling out to them. (Genesis 3:8-9)
The burning bush, when God appeared to Moses for the first time. (Exodus 3:1-17)
God appeared to Abraham and made a covenant with him. (Genesis 17:1-8)
He spoke to Joseph in dreams and it altered the course of his entire family. (Genesis 37-50)
Rahab, the former prostitute, offered refuge to God’s people and it changed her life. (Joshua 2:1-24, 6:22-25)
The woman at the well met Jesus as a stranger needing a drink. (John 4)
Saul, who became Paul, had an encounter with Him on the road to Damascus that was life-altering. (Acts 9)
There was even a thief, dying on a cross beside Jesus, who experienced the power of God’s love as his story was rewritten. (Luke 23:39-43)
Paul couldn’t undo the fact that he had persecuted and murdered Christians, and like Rahab, we also cannot erase shameful events in our past. When God rewrites our story, it isn’t like one of those time-traveling movies where you get to travel back and get to do it over again. It’s more like those movies that have so much going on that when you watch them again you see things you didn’t notice were there. Once you see it, you can’t believe you missed it before—it is so obvious now! You were just unaware of it because your focus was on what was happening. It is exactly like this in our life!
The reality of God’s presence isn’t recognized in our life until we encounter Him personally. If you are not sure if He has entered your story, there is a way to be sure. Ask Him. If you don’t hear anything, you can ask Him to give you ears to hear and eyes to see where He’s at and what He’s doing because you don’t want to go through life unaware that He is really there. Just like in those movies where we’re unaware of all the things we missed until we see it a second time. If you need help knowing how to ask Him, here are 4-prayers God will answer, that will get you started.
Pray these four prayers everyday and see what God will do… it’s time for an adventure!
Blessings, Tami Gaupp