Our Stories

The words from the song Here I Am by the band Downhere has really struck me. The song has been replaying in my head over and over again these few days! There are a few lines in the chorus that has come to mean so much more to me as I process them:

Here I am, Lord send me. Somehow my story is a part of Your plan. Here I am.

For me, the thought that keeps coming back is that it isn't my story that will count... it's THE story that God writes for my life that really counts! Am I willing to let HIM write it??? It really is something easier said than done, if you really think about it.

Related to these thoughts... the book The Shack --- something so simple as a life story the author writes as a gift to his children becoming a powerful best-seller! Now, that's a story only God can write. I know that there are people on both sides of this book, either agreeing with it or disagreeing with it. Regardless of what one's view is about the book... there is no denying that this book has opened up so much more conversations about God and faith among people who wouldn't normally talk about such things. I think that is awesome!

For example, the author William Paul Young was recently interviewed on CBC by The Hour's George Stroumboulopoulos. Who would've thought --- an author talking about Jesus being The Word on CBC!

Another thing related to these thoughts... a blog post I read yesterday entitled A Story Bigger Than You and Me. Now, only God would let me bump into a blog post with a title like that at a time when I am processing thoughts about what it means to let HIM write THE story for me. The blog author writes a prayer at the end of the blog post that really gripped me. Here it is:

God, give me a story only YOU can write. Whatever that looks like or what it accomplishes is up to YOU. But give me (and our community) a story that only YOU can write.

I say AMEN!