Your Story

What a great day at C3! One of my friends spoke this morning! She was fantabulous! I don't care what you say, she was great and I am so proud of her!

Listening to her speak of her past reminded me of something.
We all have a story to tell. In this book I read called "To be Told" by Dan Allender, he said that God is the author of our story and we are the co-authors. We all have a beginning, a middle and an end.

Obviously, our beginning is when we were born, and for most of you, myself included, you don't remember before the age of three unless it was told to you.
Be honest.... :o)

The end is also very apparent, in that we all die. Some a lot more graciously than others, but it's true; death is our end.

The middle is all the stuff that happens from the beginning to the end. Some think that our stories can not be changed; well that is only partially true. We cannot rewrite what has already happened, but you can still pen what will happen. It's up to you what you will write from here on out. You can pen things well or worse. Your ending can be a tragedy or a musical; God only knows, but you are responsible for the choices that occur during that time.

We can't change our past, but my pastor said that the choices we make for our furture is important. We can choose to be angry or bitter about our past or we can choose to forgive and not allow our past define our future.

My friend said that Satan isn't as conserned about our present as he is our future; he'd rather destroy our future. This is true because Satan knows that God is our future and Satan will try and undermind that by sabataging your idea of a better future in spite of your past. He will trick you into thinking that you will never escape your past; your past defines you.

Don't believe the lies. Your past does not in any way define you. Jesus Christ defines you. When God sees you, he sees Christ, not your past. Even if you were unkind to the cashier yesterday, rude to your spouse, screamed at your kids. Even if you were raped, molested, cutting, drugging, hooking. When you accept Christ, God sees you as he sees his Son - blameless.

You can write your present and your future anyway you want it. It doesn't have to be full of regret and fear. It can be loaded with the precious promise of a better end than what you might have thought before you let your past define you.

I struggle with failure and perfectionistic-isms. :o)
For example, I will read and re-read this blog about 20 times before I am finally satisfied and publish it. Now if that isn't perfectionistic-ism, I don't know what is... but God's workin' me .. trust me. One day, I promise, I won't proof read a blog and there will be a boat load of mistakes.
You'll see. One day .... maybe not tomorrow ... or the next day ... soon :op

Back to what I was saying. My end does not have to be defined by my failures or my perfectionistic attributes. My end is defined by my position is Christ.

So, pen your precious thoughts of yesterday without the fear and the regret; Christ was there when all the mess happened to you. Pen your thoughts of today, He's with you right now, even if nothing in particular is happening. Pen your thoughts about the future without the fear and intrepedation of the other shoe falling to the floor. Your future is secure in Christ no matter how nice or rotten you are today or tomorrow.

You are just as important as any one and your story matters; beginning, middle and end. You and God can write your story with a better ending than you ever thought possible.
Don't give up.