Every one has a story, but not everyone is willing to share their story.  God has allowed and orchestrated your story, and He desires to use it, not just in your life, but in the lives of others.

I’ve been looking through some old journals and came across this one I wrote in 2011.  It really hit me hard once again as I looked at my life since that time.  I wanted to share it with you.  

~~September 3, 2011

Continuing through the Psalms this morning, I began my reading in chapter 44.  Verses 1-3 struck me like a big ole stick.  Check ’em out.

“1 We have heard it with our ears, O God; 
our ancestors have told us what You did in their days, 
in days long ago.  2 With Your hand you drove out 
the nations and planted our ancestors; 
You crushed the peoples and made our ancestors flourish.  
3 It was not by their sword that they won the land, 
nor did their arm bring them victory; 
it was Your right hand, your arm, 
and the light of Your face, for You loved them.”
~~Psalm 44:1-3~~

The first thought I had about these few verses was about how important storytelling is.  If prior generations hadn’t told the stories of what God did for them, these verses wouldn’t exist.  Pretty sobering, huh?. 

This got me thinking about my own ancestry.  I know a lot of stories about my Grammy and Pap.  Funny stories.  Silly stories.  Stories about where they came from.  Stories about when they were children.  I’ve learned a lot about them through those great stories. 

Oh wow…I learned a lot about them from the stories, but I can’t say that I learned anything about God.   Now don’t get me wrong, I know the stories about how each of them came to the Lord, but other than that I don’t remember hearing any stories about how God actively worked in and through their lives. That thought left me feeling kinda sad.  

God knew how I was feeling, and the following conversation ensued.  

“Daughter, reign in those thoughts of yours.  Don’t get lost in the fog of your emotions.  Focus on what I’m trying to teach you.“

 “Oh yeah.  Right.  Thank you Father!  Now what were we talking about??“

God then challenged me to use the emotions I was feeling about the lack of generational God-stories to work for my good and for the good of future generations.  Regardless of the past we have experienced, God can use it in our lives, either as a catalyst to repeat the good, or as a guard to keep us from repeating the “not so good”.  Either way, our past can teach us a lot.

As I pondered this idea of generational storytelling, I began to think back over the times I have seen God at work in my life.  I can’t say that God has “driven out nations” or “crushed people” like the Israelites experienced, but that’s ok because that’s their story, it’s not mine.  As I thought back over the years, I do have a few times in my life where things happened that ONLY God could have accomplished. 

 “Have you told your children those stories, Daughter?”

“Yes, Lord.  I’ve shared them with Ash.”

 “Have you shared them with Jonathan?”

 “No, I can’t say that I’ve had the opportunity to do that.”

 “I have him in your family for a reason, Daughter.  He needs to hear those stories so he too can pass them on to Cayden.  MAKE the opportunity.  Don’t wait for it to just ‘happen’.”

“I’m sorry Lord.  I know I need to live my life with Your purposes in view.”

I began to think about why there were “just a few” times in my life when I experienced things only God could do.  Now I realize that we can’t have those huge things happening all the time, but I think that in my 40-something years of life, I would have seen God-sized miracles more often than I did.  So why didn’t I?  It certainly wasn’t because God wasn’t willing.  God is ALWAYS willing to do things that only He can do, so there’s no question that He was at work; and so that only HE gets the glory. 

“So why do you think you haven’t experienced Me more, Daughter?”

 “….I don’t know, Lord.”

 “Really now?  You don’t know.  You and I both know that you DO know why.  Own the ‘why’ Daughter.  You will never grow past it until you face it and own your mistakes.”

 “I’m sorry Lord.  The reason I haven’t seen more things only You could do is because of my fear…my lack of faith…my unbelief.  Oh Father, I’m so sorry.  ‘Help Thou my unbelief!’  I want to leave a lifetime of stories that show how BIG You are.  I want my children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren to have stories to remember.  I want them to see You.  I want them to experience You.  And I want them to experience their own God-sized working in their lives to share with their children.”

 “Then step past your fear; you know that it’s not from Me.  Exercise your faith, listen to My Spirit, and step out in obedience when I ask you to do what appears impossible.  Remember that when you can’t, I CAN.  That’s a great starting point for generational storytelling.”

You know after talking to God through this passage this morning, I was struck with a thought.  We’ve read about the stories of people like Noah, Moses, Joseph, Paul…and numerous others.  They wrote of what they experienced as they walked with God; things that God had taught them through their life experiences; things that God had done in and through them.  How big would the “book of the Bible” be, if there was one written chronicling God’s working in my life?  Sobering thought, huh??