A Part of the Story

This weekend had me thinking a lot. It was like I was thrown into this story line that I didn’t really want to be a part of but I had no choice. The Bible commands us to fear God, and follow His commandments. That is the what we as humans are to do. It doesn’t tell us to judge our fellow humans, it doesn’t tell us to make others feel guilty for their point of views, it simply tells us to fear God and follow His commandments. The rest is His job. The problem with this, is the world gets in the way. There always seems to be a problem that needs to be “fixed”. If someone is different than the crowed they must be broken. My question is this, if someone is “broken”, how can they go and fix someone else who is “broken”? They can’t, nor is it their job to.

The greatest commandment and the most important is to love the Lord your God and to love your neighbor as yourself. Nowhere in this commandment does it say to fix or judge. There is no fear in love and it casts out all fears. Our lives are a story, they tell others who we are. God is a part of our story if we allow Him to be. We have that choice to say yes or no to Him. What a beautiful part of the story He is though if we allow Him to be, because He teaches us to love and to trust Him in the good and bad times.

When I was young there was no doubt in my mind that I would have Him as part of my story. I had people in my life who loved me and cared about who I became. I was always a strong willed person, but I also always had my faith to guide me. I had the solid foundation in which I could build my life upon. As an adult married with kids, this foundation kept me stable but did not make my life easy. My story was written to have thorns, to have pitfalls, and to have times in which I want to just say “forget it!” and turn away from my faith that makes being a member of society hard. Everyday I have to start my chapter for the day with a choice. Do I allow what I see on social media to harm my thoughts, my day my way of living? Do I decide to forgo the scrolling and head straight to my Bible so that I can learn and grow? Do I allow what people say during the day to affect the way I treat them? Do I love as God loves me?

A good friend of mine sent me a link to a song yesterday that I didn’t know I needed to hear. I had seen something on social media earlier in the day that really affected me and caused me to doubt. I felt as if I was in a plot twist and didn’t know who to talk to about it. When I finally realized my only person I could talk to was God, I went to my Bible and I prayed. I didn’t let anyone else know how I was feeling and how the post affected me. Throughout the day I received blessings and encouragements from out of the blue. Then finally when I got this link from my friend I knew that in all things God is there. He is carrying me when I feel He isn’t present, but He is still there. Life is not easy. The stories of the people around you are going to be different than yours. Yes there will be similarities but they will be different outcomes and reactions. My life is hard, but my hard may not be seen as hard in someone else’s eyes. When I watch my kids grow and make the decisions that they make, I want to jump for joy at some and at others I am fighting for them on my knees, all the while loving and supporting them through their decision processes.

I love to read, when I was younger I used to read these books that were detective type books where there was a problem that needed to be solved but the author made it to where the reader would choose one of two outcomes. So basically you would start reading the story, and then get to a point where you as the reader would make a decision, either turn the page and keep going down that plot line or turn to a page number specified to change up the outcome. If you didn’t like your choice you could go back and choose the one you didn’t originally chose. Our lives can be this way too, just because we chose one path doesn’t mean we can go back chose a different path. Not once was I ever told life would be easy. So I would not want anyone reading this to think I am saying that now. Life is hard. Creating your story is hard. Living your story is harder because other people’s stories are going to intertwine with yours. If you have a solid foundation, knowing that LOVE casts out all fear, then there is hope and yes even joy in knowing you are not alone in your narrative. Until next time:

You absolutely have to become ok with not being liked. No matter how loving or kind you are, you will never people please your way into collective acceptance. You could be a whole ray of sunshine and people will hate you because they like the rain. So just do you.

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Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter:  Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the duty of all mankind.    Ecclesiastes 12:13