The Courage to Reconnect With Your Story
We all love a good story. From the damsel in distress to the hero who rides in on a shining white horse. But real life? It doesn’t always work that way. Real life can sometimes feel less like a good story and more like a loop of when does this get interesting or maybe when does this get less interesting — if you know what I mean. Regardless of how you feel about your current story, I truly believe that God is the one writing it. From mountain top experiences to your lowest valleys, God is at work.
The hard part? Having the courage to reconnect with your story. To embrace where you’ve been, where you are today, and where God might be leading you tomorrow. Here at One Foot, we just wrapped our first Unlocking Your Story Group Experience where we dove into our stories — all the while listening for what God was saying with our past, present, and future. And because it’s fresh in my mind, I’d like to share a few insights on cultivating the courage to reconnect with our stories as is.
The courage to admit where we are
I’m a dreamer. I like to keep moving forward in hope and dream about what’s ahead. The only downfall? I’m not always hip on admitting where I am today….
….admitting that I don’t always like what life feels like today
…admitting that I don’t always prioritize my relationship with God and my faith
….admitting that I am created on purpose for a purpose from my mother’s womb (Ps 139), but I don’t quite know what that means
….admitting that I’m living a life I never expected
But in order for us to reconnect with God and the story He is writing with our life, we have to make a pit stop and embrace where we are now. What is going well in my life? What areas need work? What areas are experiences I’m not even sure I really want to keep around? And well, what’s out of my control when it comes to changing that aspect of my life?
If you’ve been around here a while — then you know that one of my favorite ways to do that is with a coaching tool called the life wheel. It’s like a pie chart divided into 8 sections. Each section represents an area of our life (think faith, work, relationships) which we rate on a scale of 1-10. The idea isn’t to have a balanced wheel at all tens, but to identify those areas God may be leading us to focus on and bring to Him. The point? It’s to help us admit where we are in our story — which takes courage.
The courage to slow down
I don’t know about you, but I live my life on two speeds. Speed one is we are doing nothing (except watching a little Cubs baseball). This speed feels non-productive and I’m not even sure it’s restful — but comes as a result of speed two. Speed two is me living life with my hair on fire. There’s a lot to do so there’s no time to slow down and smell the roses, if you will.
As we walked through the 8 unique life maps of our Unlocking Your Story experience, I realized that reconnecting to my story included slowing down. It included allowing my self to live somewhere in between my two life speeds. It came with a conviction that I do have time for things like taking care of my health, going for a walk, and chatting with my neighbor.
If you’re anything like me, you may need a little jolt of courage to slow down. Because slowing down includes the margin to think, dive deep, and uncover those things we are hiding with our busyness. The hurts we’ve never processed. The areas of our life that are comfortable but may need to change. The ways God wants to speak to us if we would just allow the time and space for Him to do so.
The courage to trust God
As we wrapped up our Unlocking Your Story experience, I was reading a book by John Mark Comer called God Has a Name. The book is based on a couple of verses in Exodus 34.
“And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation.””
John Mark Comer unpacks this passage verse-by-verse. The most interesting thing came at the end where he discussed verse 7 — where God does not leave generations of people unpunished for sin. I know what you’re thinking because we all have questions. If the Lord is compassionate why would children suffer for the sins of their fathers (and mothers). I had the same thought. The most interesting part? The reason the generations still faced the consequences of past sin all came down to trusting God. The people of Israel did not trust God when he told them to eat just the manna for one day. The people of Israel did not trust God when He gave them the land and told them to march in. The people of Israel wanted to go back to Egypt while the wandered in the wilderness.
Before we get too hard on them, we may struggle with the same things. Trusting what we read about God in the Bible. Trusting Him when we’re in a valley. Trusting Him when the story He’s writing with our lives is not the life we imagined. Trusting Him to continue working even when it feels like He’s not working.
Trusting God includes trusting Him with the story of your life. From your time as a child to your everyday moments today. It calls for tracing His hand of faithfulness and walking by faith into what’s ahead. It involves taking Him at His Word and choosing to listen for His voice — even when you don’t know what that would sound like in your life today.
The courage to reconnect with your story is not easy. Choosing to be brave to say before God that everything in my life belongs because you are the author. But the reward? The reward is tracing His hand of love as he continues to write. The reward is resting in His will. The reward is finding peace and purpose right where you are.
If you’ve been feeling disconnected from yourself, God, and your story — then I’ve got you covered. We’ll be offering Unlocking Your Story coaching experiences (1:1, and groups) on repeat. If you’d like to learn more, let’s chat! I’d love to share how reconnecting to your story may be just what you’re looking for!
