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08
Mar
Step Into Your Story
Susan Gaddis

read with the windHow does one step into the story that God has planned for his life? How do we encounter the Holy in the daily in such a way that our life makes sense and contains purpose mixed with destiny? Here are 5 ways to step into your God story.

Consider your story

Begin each morning by consulting with the Author. He alone knows the direction your story line should take and how that might play out in the living of your day.  

Follow your story

Your story may or may not be reflected in your day planner. Such lists are good for the basic outline of your days, but the real story happens between the lines. The scribbles of your story are just as important as the lists.

Tackle those projects on your schedule in rhythm with the Spirit Holy. Watch for the interruptions in your day and give the unexpected your attention.

Listen to your story

Listen to the writer of your story. He knows your tale from Table of Contents through Endnotes. In his book, A Million Miles in a Thousand Years, Donald Miller explains, “There is a writer outside ourselves, plotting a better story for us, interacting with us, even, and whispering a better story into our consciousness.”

Learn through your story

The point of our lives isn’t our accomplishments or even our journey. It is the change that happens in us because of our journey—the change that occurs as we overcome the challenges of life. Therefore, every life situation is an opportunity to learn and grow into the likeness of Christ.

Enjoy your story

Take a few minutes just before you fall asleep to reflect on your day. God wants to enjoy the wonder with you of living the life he has laid out for you. Musing with the Lord creates a story bond between the Author and the main character—you. 

Our questions for today: What do you want people to say about you when you are gone? What do you want them to remember? What stories do you want folks to tell while holding the memory of you close to their hearts?

Leave your thoughts in the comment section below for us to mull over.

In Him together, Susan Gaddis

See What Story Are You Living for more on this topic.
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Category: At work, Daily chores, Personal growth, Spirit Rituals  Tags: , , , ,
05
Mar
What Story Are You Living?
Susan Gaddis

1176000_black_notebook_with_pencilThere are many scripts defining your life: The story you tell about yourself in your head. The story others tell about you or think about you. The story the enemy of your soul wants to create for you. But the story that matters is the one the Author of Life is writing for you. Which story are you living?

The easiest script to follow is the one running just below the surface of your thoughts. You know the one—“I’m not worthy.” “I’ve made a mistake AGAIN.” “I’m never going to be the person I really want to be.” Or perhaps it sounds like, “I deserve better than this.” “It’s not fair.” “It’s not my fault.” “If he would just change, my life would be better.”

Some choose to live the story others create for them. If you’re not careful, the expectations of your parents, spouse, kids, boss, or friends easily transcribes into your storyline.

A saga is often written by believing the opinions and judgments people place upon you. “You are difficult to live with.” “You can’t keep a job.” “You’re not a good parent.” People only see a facet of the complex person we really are, yet we tend to let their opinions define us.

The Destroyer of Souls creates his narrative for you based on the negative things you believe about yourself, whether gleaned from the story in your head or the things others think about you. The titles of Satan’s tales might read: The Good Wife, The Fugitive, Death Becomes Her, The Mother-In-Law, or Little House of Horrors.

You play a variety of roles in any of these stories—victim, hero, lost soul, damaged goods, villain, child, parent, or savior. Yet, none of these characters is really the starring role in the script God is writing for you.

God was writing your story before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4). He is the author and finisher of your journey (Hebrews 12:2). God introduced your story when he intricately formed you in your mother’s womb (Psalm 139). The place and time of your birth were purposely planned by him (Acts 17:26). The life script bearing your name contains such descriptions as pure, holy, and blameless (Ephesians 1). The exciting part waits to be given voice by you, but you have to step into the story.

Which story are you living? Share your journey with us in the comment section below.

Join me for coffee on Monday and we’ll talk about how to daily Step into Your Story.

In Him together, Susan Gaddis

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Category: Brain overhaul, Personal growth  Tags: , , , , , , , ,
10
Feb
Wanted: Wounded Storyteller
Susan Gaddis

224994_window-frame_iiI loved staying at Grandma Bessie’s house. She had the best bedtime stories. Tales of raising two children during the Great Depression, running a day care in her home, and baking pastries for the local restaurants were all told as we sat in her big bed and listened to the night trains go through old San Luis Obispo.

One of my favorite stories concerned my grandfather, a gentle husband and faithful train engineer who romanced the committed spinster, Bessie. Andrew was seventeen years older then Grandma, but he stood out as the love of her life. The story always ended with his death three months before my father entered the world.

That is how I best remember my grandma—through her stories. It was only recently I realized her narratives were actually stories of personal hardship and deep wounds. Though in the telling they were no longer wounds, but stories of how Jesus had walked with her through the dark times of her life.

Hidden behind the adventure of gleaning summer fruit for the ingredients of winter pies sat the heaviness of a hard working, single mom. Grandma identified herself to me by her wounds—tragedies transformed into stories of Jesus, a gospel if you will, written on the heart of an old woman.

God uses two methods for transforming us into the image of Christ. First, there is his own life growing within us. Secondly, he uses the pain, suffering, and trauma of earthly life to kill anything that doesn’t smell holy in us. If handled wisely, the second makes room for the first.

We all know people who are identified by their unhealed wounds. They call themselves victims. Then there are those identified by their healed wounds. They look like Jesus. Grandma Bessie looked like Jesus to me.

Being known by our wounds is just another characteristic of the Backwards Kingdom. In referring to John 20:19-20, Henri Nouwen said, “It is of great spiritual importance that Jesus made himself known to his disciples by showing them his wounds.”

To whom are you showing your wounds?  Are your scars telling a story or a gospel? Will you grow into a wounded storyteller reciting your stories to your grandchildren curled up under a blanket on a cold winter night, or will you just grow old?

Please share your thoughts with us in the comment section below.

In Him together, Susan Gaddis

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Category: Personal growth, The Backward Kingdom  Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,
01
Feb
Chatting About “A Million Miles in a Thousand Years” by Donald Miller
Susan Gaddis

_140_245_Book_83_coverDonald Miller’s new book, A Million Miles in a Thousand Years—What I Learned While Editing My Life, begins with this pointed comment, “The truth is, if what we choose to do with our lives won’t make a story meaningful, it won’t make a life meaningful either.”

Ouch! If you’re like me, I often think my life story wouldn’t even make a lousy “B” movie.

The premise of this book is that making your life count isn’t about what you accomplish, but about embracing your challenges; and if you have no worthy obstacles, find some. Difficulties, says Miller, are designed to change you. If you ignore, tolerate, or avoid problems, you’re missing the point of a life well lived and a story well told.

A Million Miles in a Thousand Years takes you through Miller’s own story of embracing and conquering his difficulties, some chosen, others thrust upon him. Along the way, you’ll cry, laugh, and even curse yourself for reading this book, because now you’ll realize you need to do something about your life. And it won’t be comfortable.

Well written, thoughtful, and very humorous, this is one book I will buy for my children and friends—if I loan it out, I might not get it back!

Read it yet? If not, why not? Do you have any contemplative musings or radical ravings about this book? How has it impacted your life? Please share your thoughts in the comments section below.

In Him together, Susan Gaddis

For more information on this book, click here.

(I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review and the opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”)
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