Tell Your Story

You know when you read a story, and it deeply inspires you or completely captivates your imagination, right?  You can relate to the characters, people who, despite their defects, eventually learn from their mistakes, realize their hidden potential, and eventually become the hero.  You discover a cohesive theme throughout the story that ties all the anecdotes together.  You thrill at the adventure and suspense, causing you to wonder what on earth is going to happen next and how in the world could these tangled situations ever be resolved.  You are surprised by plot twists along the way, shocking events that are completely unexpected.  And of course, you love a happy ending when everything puzzling and inexplicable suddenly makes sense. 

So what if part of the story was missing?  Would you want to read a book with the words, Once upon a time . . . they lived happily ever after.  Of course not. That’s not a story at all!

But that’s exactly what happens in real life when you only tell the good stuff.  When you say, Praise the Lord! or God is so good! – the happily ever after part, but skip over the dark and the messy and the tragic and the impossible.  When you leave out your character flaws and fears and heartaches and doubts.  When you jump to the happy ending without ever explaining what you have learned along the way, or without describing the winding road you took to get this place.

You may have experienced some really tough stuff. Some circumstances and relationships and decisions and struggles that you honestly didn’t think you would live through. Some adventure and suspense, if you will, that caused you to wonder what on earth was going to happen next and how in the world these tangled situations could ever be resolved.  Those are important parts of the story that need to be told.

Here is how David told a story.  Or in his case, wrote a song.

I waited patiently for the Lord;
    He inclined to me and heard my cry.

He drew me up from the pit of destruction,
    out of the miry bog,
and set my feet upon a rock,
    making my steps secure.

Psalm 40:1-2

There was the waiting.  The patiently waiting.  That long season when God was silent and nothing seemed to be happening.  When it seemed as if his prayers were never going to be answered.  

David was in, what he describes as, a pit of destruction.  A miry bog.  A desolate, desperate place of darkness and despair.  And then, oh finally, at just the right time, when everything seemed hopeless and impossible, God heard David’s cries for help.  The Hero came to the rescue!  He set David’s feet upon a rock, a firm and solid foundation, a place of safety and security.  There is was, the happy ending!!  

When you think about it, though, how would you have known what a remarkable ending it was, had you not first known about the pit of destruction?  How would you understand the joy and relief David must have felt at being rescued, had you not first heard that he waited patiently as he cried out to the Lord?   It is the dark parts of his story, the terrifying and the challenging, that make the ending of the story so much more inspiring and glorious!

But that’s not the end of David’s story.  He goes on to say . . . 

He put a new song in my mouth,
    a song of praise to our God.

Many will see and fear,
    and put their trust in the Lord.

Psalm 40:3

Most likely, when David was in that pit, lonely and discouraged, he could not imagine ever singing again.  It’s very difficult to sing in dark places.  After his rescue, though, God did not just give him his old song back.  No, God gave him a new song!  A song that he never would have been able to sing had he not experienced the waiting, the darkness, the tears, the ultimate rescue.  And when David is finally able to sing that new song, what happens?  Many will see and fear, and put their trust in the Lord.  His song, his story, will inspire others!

It is such a beautiful example of how to tell your story!  Don’t be afraid to share your own personal “pit of destruction.”   Tell about the dark and the messy and the tragic and the impossible. Be open about your character flaws and fears and heartaches and doubts. Explain what you have learned along the way.  Describe the winding road you took to get this solid place of security.  Emphasize how God’s faithfulness and strength sustained you in your darkest, most hopeless moments.  It is these parts of your story that make the ending – God’s rescue - so much more inspiring and glorious!

When God gives you a new song, sing it!  Sing about how God restored what once was lost. Sing about how He renewed what once was broken.  Sing a song of praise to God! 

Perhaps those who hear it, those who are currently experiencing their own deep “miry bog,” will be inspired to press on. Maybe your song, your story, will be just the encouragement they need to put their trust and hope and faith in the Lord.

Sing it. Write it. Blog it. Share it. Preach it. However you do it, tell your story.