Your Story - Identity, Experiences, Calling

Tell a friend — hit share!

Your Story – Identity, Experiences, Calling

If you had to sum up your life story in just a few words, what would you choose? Would it be something hard, sad, or tough? Would you use a popular analogy, comparing your life to a roller-coaster, highway, or box of chocolates? Would the one word to describe your story have to be something significant, such as fulfilling, exciting, or joyful?

They are far too complex to be narrowed down to a single emotion or overarching theme. We’ve all had our hard times, our moments of incredible happiness, and our fair share of the mundane stuff in between.

That’s why it’s so important to reflect back on our lives, no matter what our stories have looked like up to this point. Chapter by chapter, God has been working all along, whether we realize it or not, and it’s essential to our journey that we stop and appreciate the journey. Why? Because our stories are beautiful and scarring, peaceful and frightening, nurturing and negligent, and our God has been sovereign through it all.

Where does my story begin?

Well, the first question we must ask about our story is where it began. Many of us don’t know where our story physically began, but we can be sure of where it truly began. The truth is that our story is God’s story, His plan. It originated with Him alone. What the psalmist wrote is true of all of us: “You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed.” Psalm 139:16 NLT.

It doesn’t matter who our parents are, where they are from, or who raised us. What matters is that God knew us before we were born and planned out our story before we took our first breath.

He chose YOU. Jesus Himself said, “You did not choose Me, but I chose you. I appointed you that you should go out and produce fruit and that your fruit should remain, so that whatever you ask the Father in My name, He will give you.” John 15:16 HCSB. It wasn’t of our own volition that we grew up and decided to follow Christ. Yes, of our free will, we turned to Him for forgiveness and redemption, but He had already chosen us at that moment. For He has existed for all time, He created all things, and all things were created through Him (see John 1). He knew you from the beginning of time, and even before.

Because your story began with God, your story matters. Don’t ever doubt for a second that you don’t have a purpose. Because you were formed by God’s hands, your story has great significance. It is a beautiful story because it is a God-ordained story.

How do I discover my story, and how do I live it out?

We know that our story began with God. Yet sometimes it can feel unclear what our story really is, or how to know for sure that we’re living out the calling God has for our lives.

When doubts and fears arise, we must remember that God’s will is not a mysterious plan hidden from us. A young woman once shared that a former professor remarked, “To discover God’s will for your life, do His will every day. If you’re living in God’s will every day, you will be living God’s will.” What the professor meant was that we must make choices every day that align with God’s commands. That is His will. And, when we’re walking in His will, we will find ourselves smack dab in the middle of His will for our lives.

We do not need to strive to fulfill our destiny

I love the New Living Translation for Ephesians 2:10: “For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.” Once again, God knew us before we were born. He already had each moment laid out, including every great thing you would do for His Kingdom. We don’t have to strive to fulfill that, for He said we will fulfill it. He is the one who gave us that destiny, and He is the one who will live it out through us. Isn’t that exciting?

Renewing our minds

Of course, there are steps we take to renew our minds and hearts, so they are attuned to His will. The first and most significant is prayer. Prayer connects us with God, so our desires and our hearts begin to match His. Additionally, reading the Word provides us with guidance that no one and nothing else on earth can provide. We can also think through our experiences and reflect on how God has moved through them (where has God shown up). For “we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them. For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son, so that his Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters” Romans 8:28-29 NLT (emphasis mine). God makes everything work towards the ultimate purpose of conforming you to the image of Christ. Nothing that has happened to you was for waste.

And remember, there is no need to compare your story to anyone else’s. God doesn’t repeat stories. Each one is unique and purposefully planned out by Him, used by Him for great things!

Where will my story end?

Our story goes far beyond our earthly circumstances. The experiences of our physical life are important, but they are far from the whole story. The whole story ends in eternity, in the presence of God forever and ever.

At the end of our stories, “He will wipe every tear from {our} eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” Revelation 21:4 NIV Everything will be new. Everything really will be okay. God Himself will be with us, and sin will be gone forever.

Knowing where we are going gives us the strength to get through today’s story. The story of this world can be complicated and challenging. You and I will face challenges in our lives that will try to tear us apart, tempt us to lose hope, and test our faith in God. But we must remember that our ultimate story is God’s story. It’s not the story of our challenging encounters or of our day-to-day troubles. It’s a story of eternal glory, a beautiful tale that shares a promise of joy and bliss forever in heaven.

The apostle Peter wrote, “So prepare your minds for action, be completely sober [in spirit—steadfast, self-disciplined, spiritually and morally alert], fix your hope completely on the grace [of God] that is coming to you when Jesus Christ is revealed” 1 Peter 1:13 AMP.

Let us do so.

Let us let go of the fear of failure, holding steadfast to hope in where we’re going.

Let us not put our hope in anything or anyone on earth.

Let us keep our hearts focused on Jesus and His promises for the future.

My question for you is, are you willing to say yes?