Finding your story in His Story

If you are like me, you sometimes judge books by their covers. You might just skip over this book. Its cover is slightly grey with a few branches made from clip art and titled Another Letter from Mom.  Nothing about the cover, the spiral binding or even the black back cover would be familiar and certainly not the author’s name.
 
And yet, this book is beyond price to me. I was hooked the moment I started reading the “Prelude” page. As I continued to read the “letters”, the names popped out at me. Nicknames that I knew. Uncles, aunts, grandparents brother, sister, and even my own parents.
 
This is not just any book that can be found on the shelves of Gulliver’s or Barnes and Noble; it’s a book about my family’s history written by my mom. The stories might not be gripping to you, but they are to me. That’s what happens when you hear part of your story. Something that seems lifeless comes to life.  Something that looks dull becomes dynamite, firing up your heart and igniting your imagination.  You are reminded that you are part of something bigger than you are, that began before you and will continue on after you.
 
This is why God wants you to know His story. He wants to bring you into His “house” where His walls are lined with framed photos of your ancestors. He wants to show you who they were, their problems and mistakes, but also their great faith and His most of all His unfailing love.
 
Stories of a brave man named Abraham, who left everything he had ever known to follow a God whom he had never served. A woman named Esther who had the courage to stand up for her people, even if it cost her life. A prophet named Jonah who tried to run away from God and how He used a fish to help direct him back to his task at hand. About Peter the bold, turned humble servant. And Paul who endured constant problems to give life-saving hope.
 
But who God wants you to meet the most in His story is His Son. He desires you to know Jesus deeply, to hear His claims that what He began in the first chapter of creation He will realize at the last chapter of the New Creation, where a perfect people can live in a perfect place with their perfect Lord.
 
You and I have a story and with its ups and downs, sometimes it doesn’t make sense. But God has a plan, a story, that was in process since creation to bring us into friendship with Him. When we see our part in God’s greater story, it’s just like when I read my mom’s book, it’s dynamite. It fires up your heart and ignites your imagination, because YOU are in it.

​Ivan