Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book
before one of them came to be—Psalm 139:16, NIV.
The book of life. Scripture mentions the book of life numerous times, whether in reference to how God knew us before He formed us, how He remembers us always, how we want to be included in this book and not have our names blotted out. My survival, and even more so, the multitude of experiences that I’ve had in my life that have God’s handprints all over them, remind me time and time again of not only the book of life, but how God is the author of life. No one but God could write the amazing life story that I’ve been given. And although I know my life story is a rather unique one, the truth is that God is the author of all of our life stories. I’ve been blessed to have my name written in the book of life, and I hope that you recognize your blessing in being included, also.
Although it took me years of my life to grapple with and heal from the truth about my life, I have come to understand the great blessing that my life, in all of its trials and tribulations, all of its amazing ironies and truths, is, just as God has written it for me. Looking back over 36 years of life, I now can’t imagine living any other life than this one that is written in the book of life. In addition to wanting to save lives through pro-life advocacy, I want to save and transform lives by sharing my life experiences and lessons as an encouragement and example for others to embrace the life that God has written for them.
I am excited to share with you that my first, long-awaited book is inching ever closer to reality. The amazing new developments in my life over the past year with my biological mother’s family and the truths that I’ve been given about my survival and life all added up to the final pieces of the book that the Holy Spirit had been leading me to write. I know now that my life story as I know it currently is THE STORY that I am called to share in a book, and even more so, God’s message about His role as the author of my life and yours and how we are called to live out His story for our us, is THE MESSAGE.
I will keep you updated as the book progresses to publication, as I know that there are many anxiously awaiting its arrival. In the meantime, I will be sharing bits and pieces of the book with you to introduce you to my work and start you on your journey in reflecting upon and embracing the story of your life.
From the Introduction of The Story of a Life
“Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you”—Jeremiah 1:5.
God is not only the Creator of life, but He is also the Author of life. The story of each of our lives was written long before we were created, and although sin and the consequences of sin in our world today often lead to man rewriting the story of life as it was originally written, God continues to write straight with even these crooked lines and He continues to write the story of our lives. Yet so many people in our world today don’t recognize or even want to accept the story of their life as He has written it. We want to erase a couple of sentences here or rewrite a few paragraphs there. We want to rip out a couple of pages or maybe a few chapters. The story of a life, however, is not meant to be a half-finished work or re-edited by man. All of the trials and tribulations, brokenness and restoration, sin and redemption, make up the story of our lives, which are beautiful as He has written them, if we just step back and look at the voluminous work of our lives as a whole.
The story of my life could have been a very short one on this Earth. “A child was conceived in love and killed in an abortion.” Sadly, this is similar to the story of fifty-six million children in the United States alone in the last 40 years of legalized abortion. Yet what man intends for evil, God intends for good, as Genesis 50:20 tells us. For the record, I don’t believe God originally wrote abortion into my life, as God is the Creator of life, but when it was introduced by man, or in my case, a woman, He rewrote the story of my life around it, wrapping my life up in His infinite glory and goodness, to create the story of a life that is more intricate, more beautiful, more redemptive, more grace-filled, than anything anyone else could have planned or written. God has taken the short sentence of a life that was written for me on earth and turned it into paragraph after paragraph, chapter after chapter, volume after volume.
Although the story of my life is more intense than many, God has authored the story of each of our lives, and it is up to us to live them out, triumphs and trials, twists and turns, blessings and burdens. Although I never could have imagined this life that was created for me, looking back at the landscape of my life thus far, I can see the penmanship of God through every part of it and I admire the beauty of the life story that He has written for me. I wouldn’t want to live any other life than the one that He created for me, no matter how hard or surreal it has been.
It is my sincerest prayer that you, too, recognize God’s narration in your life and that you accept and live out the story that He has written for you. Take it from me, when you live out the life that was written for you, you will find yourself infinitely blessed.
This is the story of a life.
#thestoryofalifethursday
Recent Comments