What is your story? We all have stories. Some are funny, some are painful, some we retell over and over, and some we perhaps never share with others. But our stories all contribute to who we are.
In the midst of our stories, what we often don’t always see is God weaving a bigger story that started at the very beginning of time and extends through the ages of history. What is so exciting is that God invites all of us to be part of His story, to be part of the unfolding of His plan. He is the master Storyteller, and He wants us to be part of His narrative.
Throughout the bible from Genesis to Revelation, God’s speaks to us about the beginning and the ending of His story through the stories of those who have gone before us. The story of Abraham is a journey of amazing faith; Joseph’s story is one of patience, and of how God always has a plan, working out all things for good. Hannah’s story is how God answers the cry of our hearts; Esther’s is a story of great courage, and of how we all have a part to play in the unfolding of God’s plan. The disciple’s stories are ones of choosing to follow Jesus, and how a group of seemingly uneducated men changed the world.
Every person’s story has to have some context; a moment where we learn the person’s past, and understand what motivates and inspires him or her. Our families, past experiences, successes, and failures, they all contribute to the way we feel about ourselves, and usually influence the way we see God.
This can affect how we relate to Him, and if we have had pain in our past it can be complicated. But God wants to bring new life and good out of every place of pain, and for us to work with him through the process. He wants us to trust Him with our story, to trust him with our past, and let him reweave it for good.
In the words of Joseph, when finally after many years he faced his brothers, who had sold him as a slave, “You meant evil against me”, but God worked it out for good.
Joseph told his brothers, using a Hebrew verb that traces it’s meaning to “weave” or “plait”. “You wove evil,” he was saying, “but God rewove it together for good.”
God, the Master Weaver; The Master Storyteller, He stretches the yarn and intertwines the colours of our stories, the ragged twine with the velvet strings, the pain and the pleasure. Nothing escapes His reach. He passes the weaving shuttle back and forth across the generations, and as He does, a design; an amazing story emerges. Satan may weave and plot, but God weaves and reweaves our stories for good.
Just as the accounts of the men and women in the bible are worth telling, our stories are worth telling too. Sometimes in the telling we realise how much we have come through, where we have come from, and with God’s help we can see where we are going. Our stories have the potential to inspire and encourage others. They have the ability to impart faith and hope all those we meet in our journey, to our children and future generations. But more than that, God wants our stories to be part of His story, because in doing so He breaths purpose and design into them. And nothing is ever wasted when our story is interwoven with His story.
Think about your story thus far, and see what and who has shaped you to be the person you are. If your story has pain in it, I encourage you to take a look again at your story; to acknowledge the things you have done, and that have been left undone. To face any pain and regret you are carrying, and consider if you are willing to give God those strands of your story to reweave them with His story.
More importantly, today will you allow God to take your present story and weave and write it to be what He has always planned for you? Will you be the narrator, or will you trust and allow God to be?
“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. ” (Jeremiah 29:11)
“Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.” (Psalm 139:16)
Prayer: Lord I want to thank you for my story so far. Help me to let you into all of my past, my present and my future. Reweave it where necessary, and help me to trust you to unfold and narrate the rest. In Jesus Name Amen.