do they know your story?

What in the world does this mean for me?-Francis Chan

took the words right out of my mouth in the final chapter of his book, Crazy Love

FYI-don’t read this book if you are looking for a cozy, “feel good-er”

line-after-line I found myself holding my breath, heart pounding under conviction of the word

God’s word

not Francis Chan’s

and yet, sometimes both.

so now what???

this morning I read another inspiring post over at

A Royal Daughter, The Importance of Storytelling

Amanda reminded us that we all have a story to tell..

some blissful,

others heart-wrenching

You may have lived a fairy tale with the happily-ever-after

while your neighbor’s line-up resembles more of that of a horror movie

You have a strong desire to share your story??

get it out!!

but you “just can’t talk about it”

speechless because the memory has you paralyzed

you’re embarrassed, ashamed.

or it’s just. too. sad.

You’ve tried to write it down in a poem or a song

the final words

only to find a blank page glaring at you

So you second-guess yourself…

“no one wants to hear my story??!”

May I encourage you??

Tell it anyway.

why?

¹⁰For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. Ephesians 2:10

I believe this with all my heart

“I was made for this moment”

that every single detail of my life He foreknew..

¹¹For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. -Jeremiah 29:11

I believe

HE KNEW

As a young child I would say “yes Lord, I’m a sinner and I need you..“

and that I would rebel as a teen

I believe

He chose my parents, my birth order, my siblings, my spouse

I believe

He knew I would need naturally curly hair instead of straight because I don’t enjoy primping-at all.

He knew I would be bossy and strong willed and bold

and bite my nails even though it’s terribly gross.

He knew

I would love flowers and the sound of a whippoorwill and the beach and rain

that I would love to talk and laugh and cry HARD.

He knew I would marry a skinny, quiet cowboy

and love children and want to teach and need a strong tone

He new the exact number of years and hours He would let me teach

and the friends I would make and the faces and hearts I will never forget

and how desperately I would need my cherished friends through our years of infertility and heartache and loneliness and loss.

He had the perfect plan to change my haughty heart that proudly said too many times “I will a better mom because I work”

HE KNEW

after 6 months of bed rest

I would be mush when I laid eyes on our first born after 4 years of persistent pleading for a healthy baby

He knew our second born would be a TOTAL SURPRISE just 22 months later

HE appointed the nights I would lie WIDE AWAKE wrestling with HIS will for my life and

HE KNEW the exact moment I would

surrender

it all

to HIM

and leave my career that I loved and thought I would do forever

to come home and teach

our boys about

HIM

and HIS will for their lives.

He knew

I would begin blogging because life happens fast here on the farm and at the feed store and that

I’m forgetful and wish I weren’t

and HE KNEW strangers that visit Blessings Beyond the Barnyard would become my friends

through stories

shared

to GOD be the GLORY~

He KNEW it all.

See? Everybody has a story. Life experiences. Good. Bad. Happy. Sad.

Each distinctly original.

“We have a God who is a Creator, not a duplicator”

I’m the only me.

You’re the only YOU!

Oswald Chambers writes, “Never make a principle out of your experience; let God be as original with other people as He is with you.” Francis Chan adds to that “Be careful not to turn others’ lives into a mold for your own”

I once heard a speaker say,

“The power of your influence is like that of a ripple once a stone has been thrown…you never know where it may stop”