Feb 25, 2015
Annie Lloyd
Alfred Station SDB Church, NY
Stories are everything. They help us to understand this convoluted and complicated world. Everyone is rooting for the protagonist, God, and opposing the antagonist, Satan. There are so many other characters that fall into this story: like you and me.
At the beginning, all the way back to the time when Adam and Eve took the fruit, everything changed. Just like every story, this one also had sadness, happiness, love, pain, and death.
Why does God give us the idea that we are a story? We are a chronicle of life, death, pain, sorrow, happiness, and joy. What is the point behind our story? Why is it so important? There’s always an ending anyways. Why does every single individual, or character, matter in this complex story? What do emotions have to compare to other emotions? Why do depression, pain and endless horrible thoughts get thrown into someone’s thoughts? Is it so they can relate to someone else, and help them to not feel so alone in the world? Does it happen to someone to give them the chance
to become closer with God so that their story can encourage others? Can their story help someone else be overtaken by the grace of God and help them to overcome?
I wonder sometimes, will God write another story? He could give it a different title, a new meaning, more beauty. Has he already made other stories that are different from the ones we see now? He can do unimaginable things.
I am just another character in this beautiful mess of a story. Not many know of me, but somehow we all connect beautifully. I may never understand why all the events and plot points that seem insignificant are valued in His story. From dropping a glass of water to undergoing a horrible experience, everything happens for a reason, for a purpose. The smallest glitch is all part of the story. We may never know why, but we can imagine, and know that.
He knows our story.
Romans 8:28
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
Isaiah 55:8-9
For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”
Deuteronomy 7:19
You saw with your own eyes the great trials, the signs and wonders, the mighty hand and outstretched arm, with which the Lord your God brought you out. The Lord your God will do the same to all the peoples you now fear.
2 Thessalonians 1:3-5
We ought always to thank God for you, brothers and sisters, and rightly so, because your faith is growing more and more, and the love all of you have for one another is increasing. Therefore, among God’s churches we boast about your perseverance and faith in all the persecutions and trials you are enduring. All this evidence that God’s judgment is right, and as a result you will be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are suffering.