What
If We Told Shared Our Stories?
Isolated. Ashamed. Guilty. Confused.
Angry. Alone. Those and many other words
are how many of us have felt, at one time or another, in our lives. For some, “at one time or another,” may be
right now. Why does this happen? A simplistic answer; a War is raging and our only enemy (Satan) wants us to
feel trapped in those ways. We must
never forget Satan is a liar (Jn8:44), a murderer (Jn8:44), an accuser (Rev12:10),
and deceiver (2Cor4:4). Satan does not
play; he works, distorts, and connives for keeps. What he wants to keep are the souls of
people.
This is where the beauty of God's Story
comes in. God's Story does not ignore
pain and heartache. God's Story looks
our fallen world (all of which is under the influence of Satan) right in the
eye and says YOU WILL NOT HAVE THE LAST WORD!!!
Because of this fact, our broken stories (the sum of our lives to a
given point) can be redeemed – all because of God's Story (see “the bottom” for a bookend approach to God’s Story). Make no mistake about it, when our stories
are redeemed, they need to be shared.
What if we told our stories? Well, at the least, it would seem a lot of
people should realize they are not “the only one” or any other lie like
that. Yet what if we moved beyond telling
our stories to sharing our stories? I am making a distinction because it seems to
share one’s story is to open yourself up in such a way that you are willing to
walk with and help others. Somehow your unique
past intersects with their unique past, and when this happens God is at work.
Make no mistake about it, being able to
tell your story takes guts. It is not
easy to admit to secret sins, or being a victim of some sort of abuse, or any
other aspect of your story. More people
ought to tell their stories because it is a step. It is a step because, while being able to
tell your story takes guts, being able to share your story takes grace. It takes grace because only God can bring
redemption into someone’s broken story…and by His grace your sharing can be a vehicle
through which He does just that.
The bottom line is this. Things like drug abuse, sexual abuse,
materialism, the burden of crushing debt, and any other sin issue you can think
of are well known (e.g., “told” stories).
While the deceiver will do his best to keep people thinking “they are
the only one who struggles with _____,” or “they are the only one who has been
impacted by ______,” I think somewhere, deep down inside of people, we know
that is not true. For example, a person
cannot rationally think they are the only person who struggles with an
addiction to pornography; my goodness, simply look at the sheer volume of
pornographic material available (or read the papers when a “sex scandal” breaks
out). Yet the enemy can twist things in
our mind to where we are duped into shamefully thinking this…
This is where sharing our stories come
in. I think if more stories were shared
then there would be a lot less isolation, shame, guilt, confusion, anger, and
aloneness. Instead there would be
communities (which make up The Church) of broken people who realize their God
is a God of grace and no “story” is beyond repair. Indeed, many more would acknowledge their need
for help and say, “take my broken story and give me a new one”. This new story would be the same in many
ways, but with a twist – the twist of redemption and therefore purpose. And this is a way “heaven” is brought to this
fallen earth…
“The
Bottom”
Here is a link to a recent sermon at New
Life Christian Church. In this audio you
will hear an individual share part of his story which includes being abused
sexually as a child. Sexual abuse is far
more prevalent than many realize. Yet
our God is a God of redemption. May God
give us the grace, strength, and compassion to be the hands and feet of Jesus
to those impacted by past abuse.
Here are some “bookends” of God’s Story. It begins in a garden (Gen2:8,9,10,15,16;
3:1,2,3,8,8,10,23,24) and ends in a garden (“paradise” cf. Rev2:7 – the same
Greek word underlies all of those uses).
It also has the tree of life in the first garden (Gen2:9; 3:22,24) as
well as the redeemed garden (Rev2:7; 22:2,14,19). We must not forget, the only way the
second/redeemed garden is possible is because of Jesus’ obedience in another
garden – Gethsemane (e.g., Mk14:32ff) – which led to a cross and an empty
tomb. Praise be to our marvelous God!!!
