What's Your Story?

We had the opportunity to spend some quality time together at a Family Retreat last weekend. It was really nice! Great time to spend canoeing on the lake, gathering around the campfire, playing kickball, collecting rocks, connecting with other families and worshiping God together. If you find a family camp or retreat near you, I highly recommend you make time for it.

One of our sessions at the retreat was about stories. Our children hear and read tons of stories as they grow. Most of these stories are fiction or not true. This is different than most of the history of our world. Up until the last few decades, most stories being told by a family where true (or at least based on a true event) and told by family members around the table or at family gatherings. The times together were spent sharing Bible stories, fishing stories, stories about silly things Uncle Jimmy did when he was little, stories about how Grandpa and Grandma fell in love, and stories about how "life" use to be. You could trust the people telling you the stories and knew that even if there was a bit of exaggeration included for effect, the meaning of the story was true and part of your family's uniqueness.

Our session on stories encouraged all of us to think of true situations in our lives where we knew God had been present and demonstrated His great love for us. It was really interesting to hear what the children thought of as a special blessing from God. Many of our children needed to think for several minutes, but having my husband and I share stories first really helped them. Here is some of what we shared with each other:
     -My husband shared about a time when we were trying to buy "the perfect house," only for us to loose it because of a technicality. If we would have bought that house, our lives would be completely different now. (different job, different coach, different dance center, different church, etc.) God had a plan and that house was not part of it, even though we thought it was perfect. We are so glad we didn't get "the perfect house" now.
     -I shared a story about a time when we were trying to take a trip. I had an agenda and we NEEDED to leave by a certain time in order to meet my agenda. Well, we didn't, we were several hours late. I was so frustrated! However, as we journeyed on our trip we came to a deadly multi-car accident. An accident we probably would have been a part of if we would have left on time. I have never been so thankful to be running late. God had a different plan and I am thankful.
     -Our children shared stories about their dance class, their ability to join our family, their friendships and our church.
It was really a wonderful session. It was great to have the children think about how God is working in their lives and hear them tell the story.

Ok, that was fun, but what is the point really? Well, in our society today it is often difficult to talk to others about Christ and His amazing love. We often hear things like, "that is great if you want to believe that, but I don't believe in God;" or "you can't prove that their is a God;" or "God is just a myth, He isn't real." There are many things that people say about God and our faith. They even have research and science to back up their arguments. Many feel there is nothing we can say to people like this that will help them see the love of Christ. However, our session shared with us that NO ONE can argue with your story. Your story is true and it happen to you, so there is really nothing they can say to disqualify your statements. It is a great way to help others see the amazing things God is doing in the world around them. Stories are a great tool that God can use to help others learn about Him.

I think that we should think about our stories a couple of times a year, thinking of new stories each time. This will help our own children see the great things God is doing in their lives. It will help grow their faith and help them be prepared to share their stories with others. God is calling us to impact the world for His Kingdom, and now we can do that one story at a time.