Why You Don't See Your Story as a Blessing

You have a story to tell. Your God story. The story of how God intersected your life at key moments, in pivotal circumstances, with providential relationships. The story of how God intersected your life and you walked away forever changed. As Christians, our God story is a blessing, something given to us to bless others with. But many of us don’t see our story as a blessing. Perhaps we see our story as:

Too flawed. You don’t think your story is a blessing because all it reveals is just how much you were able to mess up your life. You drank, smoke and chewed, and ran with girls that do. You’ve got consequences, addictions, arrest records, broken marriages, kids you don’t see. You don’t see a story worth telling.

Too normal. You grew up in a decent family, went to church as a kid, gave your life to Jesus at VBS when you were seven, and you’ve been in church ever since. You don’t feel you have a compelling story because you weren’t a drug dealer or convicted felon, because those are the ones the church loves to showcase. You’ve lived a normal church life. Nothing out of the ordinary. How’s that story a blessing? (How many folks with a story that’s ‘too flawed’ would give anything to have a story that’s ‘too normal’?)

Too painful. Some don’t like to tell their story because it’s too painful. Too many memories you try and keep locked away. Maybe it’s abuse, maybe it’s an addiction, maybe it’s a loss of a loved one that you still can’t see any redeeming value in. Maybe your story has something painful that still lingers today. It’s raw, and you don’t want to go anywhere near it. But it’s a part of your story; you just don’t see it as a blessing.

Too fake. What I mean by this is that on the outside people look up to you, respect you, say nice things about you. You’re a pillar in the community, a solid leader in your family. But on the inside, you know the truth. You project the image of someone who loves Jesus and is living right, but on the inside, there’s nothing there. It’s all a charade. You’re not even sure you believe in God anymore. The reason you’re in church is because of expectation, habit, duty. The story you let others believe isn’t the real story. If they knew the real you, well, you can’t have that now, can you?

The Bible is clear that our story is in fact a blessing, even though many of us don’t believe it. Wednesday we’ll discuss just how your God story is a blessing from God.