Your Story, His Glory

We all have a story. A story that is our life. A story that God has used and is using, even as new chapters continue to be added and discovered. Something I think we so often forget about our stories, is that they have an Author. You see, we all have a story. One written by the same Author, yet each of our stories are beautifully different. As we go through life, flip the pages, start new chapters, we can try to remove and/or rewrite certain parts. There are things we all go through in life that we'd just rather not. Rather not deal with, experience, go through, handle, we'd just rather not have it apart of our life. Of course, these things are the hard, ugly, difficult parts of life, we'd always want to keep the good experiences of life. I know there are times where we look at life and think... "I don't want this to be apart of my story" or at least have thought and felt something similar. I know I've been in those seasons and still am somedays. The ugly, the messy, the difficult.... I don't want this to be apart of my story. It feels heavy, yucky, hard, impossible, etc. I think part of the fear is that we often associate our situation with who we are, when in reality we may be in the situation, but we are not the situation. The difficult seasons of life hold beauty too. Don't miss all the Lord has for you in this chapter, whether it's good or bad. Yes, you may be in a season where you don't want to be. But what would it look like if instead of leaning away from these seasons, we leaned in? What if we stopped trying to take the pen from the Author's hand and just let Him write the story He has in mind for you? Not trying to correct Him or erase what He has written, but embracing every season and waiting to see how God uses it. I think there would be a lot more peace and contentment in where we've been, where we are, and where we're going. Life might look and feel ugly and difficult and messy right now, but it's a part of your story and He will use it for His glory. Nothing is a surprise to Him, He knew you would face this and is fully equipped to handle it. He doesn't need a co-author or backseat driver. He knows where He is taking you and what He wants to do in and through you. Instead of trying to skip or ignore the difficult chapters, what if we embraced them? What if we walked it all out, boldly, not because of confidence in ourselves, but confidence in the One who brought us here? There are things in our life that we may have chosen, if we had the option, to keep removed from our lives, to never go through. But, if we want to grow, pain, hardship, perseverance are all necessary. We must go through the pruning and after the pruning comes growth, both are painful, but both result in beautiful blossoms and better fruit. Trusting God and where He leads and what He allows will result in such a supernatural peace and dependence on Him. Instead of trying to skip over it all, let's sit in it. Let's allow what He allows and seek out what can be learned from the season.

I am not at all belittling the weight of the difficult. messy, and hard seasons. There are times where life is just hard and heavy and that's that. But I'm saying that in the midst of the heavy, let Him be enough. In the middle of whatever storm you're in, let the fact that He is in the boat with you be enough of a comfort. It doesn't matter if He calms the storm or not, Him being in it with us is enough. In the midst of storms, of chaos, we can often question His faithfulness. Praise God that our circumstances do not determine His faithfulness! There's a beauty in that too. That even in the difficult circumstances, even there God is faithful. He is no less God in the storm than He is in the sunshine. He is the Author of both the sunshine and the rain clouds. Trust that every part of your story will be used for His glory. Let us desire to just be a vessel for Him.

He's using every part of your life, yes, even the hard, ugly, and messy. He knows the ending, trust the chapters in between. Everything is for a purpose, none of it is in vain. There's purpose in the pain, struggle, and heartache. Trust the Author, He works it all out beautifully in the end. He knows exactly what He's doing in you, with you, and through you. You are not forgotten. Your life has been carefully considered and beautifully planned. Nothing you go through is meaningless. It's all for refining you, further constructing your story, and bringing the most glory to Him.