I love stories. I always have.
My dad used to snuggle up on one of our squeaky beds and read his three offspring to sleep almost every night. It was my favorite part of the day. Closing my eyes, I would dream of shipwrecks and silver skates and sad little girls in freezing attic rooms and noble knights and talking rabbits and rafts on a river. Ah, the classics. How they fueled my already wired imagination. How blessed I was for that early introduction to the world of literature.
So I decided I wanted to become a writer too—for as far back as I can remember.
My first book was “published” in third grade. Although it never was a New York Times best seller, I couldn’t have been more excited nor my parents more proud. My mom surprised me; she’d taken my carefully handwritten pages and primitive illustrations, wrapped them in a heavy duty binder, and lovingly stitched them together on her sewing machine. The title? The Turkey Who Wanted to be Different. Pretty sure you won’t find it on Amazon.
But you could say I have been writing stories ever since. I have notebooks (napkins, receipts, bulletins, and other scraps of paper) full of stories and even more pages full of outlines and chicken scratch for others. I have huge art cases full of poster board sized illustrations. So many ideas I will never get them all out there.
I love to watch stories on TV or in the movies too. I listen to books on CD every time we take a road trip. And I fall asleep each night with a book sprawled across my pillow.
I like to think we are all innately and purposely designed by our Creator to love stories—especially since He has placed us in a story. Besides that, stories are an understandable language in a confusing world around us. Stories speak not only to our minds and emotions but to our very spirits. In stories we find ourselves identifying with situations we have never been in or dreaming that elusive and impossible dream we had long ago abandoned. Stories connect us to life and teach us its lessons. It’s mind boggling to realize that each of us has a unique story that can influence and inspire.
Do you think about your story? Do you think yours can influence and inspire?
I wonder about my story a lot. More of it unfolds all the time. I look back fondly on its beginning pages. And because I am a child of the King by grace through faith in Jesus who paid my sin debt, I am certain of a very happy ending to my story in His eternal kingdom with Him. Incredible! Sometimes I just want to skip to the end.
But here I am in the middle of my saga where I muddle along in the here and now chapters. I wish, at times, that some of them could be rewritten. Plot twists, faulty subplots, flawed characters, boring settings, failures, poor choices, missed opportunities, unhealthy conflict, and useless dialogue—will this clueless protagonist ever get it right?
Sadly, looking back, the pages of my life that shame me most are the pages I’ve tried to write all on my own. Me, the aspiring, would-be author. Impatient for an outcome, fearful of others, craving ease and pleasure, self-protecting and prideful, longing for love and acceptance, I haughtily grabbed the pen from the Author of my story and sought to compose a best-seller without Him. How foolish! Rereading those chapters in my mind, I am certain there will be no critical acclaim or a movie deal coming my way. I discover I am not such a good writer after all. My own storyline would inspire or influence no one at all.
How about you? Are there some chapters of your life you wish had never been written? Have you, too, wrested the pen from the Author and tried to go it on your own, thinking you imagined a better narrative for you? Are you stuck even now in the pain and consequences of your own story writing? Are you trying to find your own happy ending and your own heroes? Do you really believe you can outwit the villain of every story ever written? Do you honestly want to ignore the Divine Rescuer? Oh, how much time, energy, and attention we waste going our own way.
Thankfully, there is a wise and good Author of our stories. And He is kindly forgiving. With relief, we can relinquish the blank pages of our lives over to Him—and stop typing. Because He is great, good, gracious and glorious, we can trust Him to pen His plans and purposes for us and design our unique stories. He has been doing so all along, even when we stubbornly thought we were taking care of it by ourselves. Even when the story we’re in is hard and we have no idea what’s in the next chapter. Even when the characters of our story are abusive and evil. Even when the setting of our story is in the shadowed valley. With skillful hand, He can even take our messy and wasted pages, our confusing and painful pages, and weave them all into a story that recounts His merciful and unfailing rescue and love—for His acclaim. He is the ultimate Hero, the true Savior of the world. Our stories influence and inspire our audience because of who He is and what He has done for us and in us.
For our little stories are all part of the Father’s greater story of redemption through Jesus. This grand story is the story of the Bible and it’s about a people made in the image of their Creator. It’s the story of those runaways who rejected the love of their Maker. It’s the story of a Rescuer who made a way to bring them back and restore them to their Father. It’s the story of love and loss, sin and redemption, brokenness and healing. (Christina Fox)
Our stories are to tell His story.
Which begs the question, what is YOUR story saying? Is your Author clearly seen? Is He celebrated and admired? Is He trusted? Or is it all about you? Is mine all about me?
Are you telling it? How the world needs to hear about our loving Rescuer and Restorer, King Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith. They need to hear our stories. That will happen when we simply tell what Jesus has done for us. And isn’t that something to shout about? To write about? It will be an inspiring Best Seller, one penned not by a flawed and frail human author like me, but by the very Savior of the World.
I love that Big Daddy Weave gets it. Read his lyrics.
My Story
If I told you my story
You would hear Hope that wouldn't let go
And if I told you my story
You would hear Love that never gave up
And if I told you my story
You would hear Life, but it wasn't mine
If I should speak then let it be
Of the grace that is greater than all my sin
Of when justice was served and where mercy wins
Of the kindness of Jesus that draws me in
Oh to tell you my story is to tell of Him
If I told you my story
You would hear victory over the enemy
And if I told you my story
You would hear freedom that was won for me
And if I told you my story
You would hear Life overcome the grave
If I should speak then let it be
Of the grace that is greater than all my sin
Of when justice was served and where mercy wins
Of the kindness of Jesus that draws me in
Oh to tell you my story is to tell of Him.
Okay. Let’s tell—and write—our stories about Him.
—Eileen Hill
