The Power of Story.

"All human beings love parables, because all human beings love story.
We live our lives in narrative. We all love stories."
--Matthew Hauge.

Oh Professor Hauge, you and your wise, simple, words, still inhabiting my mind years later, thank you for those.

I have been especially challenged with the contents of my own story recently. I seem to find myself preaching to others about how important their stories are and how they should be shared with those around them to enrich & benefit the way we interact with one another. Yet, sharing my own story seems too scary, like too much of a burden to release to anyone. A double standard at its finest. However, I am facing a thick realization of how false that actually is. I am realizing that I am the one afraid of my story. I am the one who feels burdened by its contents, and I am the one who has named it Unworthy, Gruesome, and Filthy. Yes, it has its gruesome moments, but those are not what the entire story is about. No the story is about something so much bigger, and so so much greater than those things. The story is made up of the journey and all that it

but those are not what defines the story. What defines it is the place I stand today. The place where I can say I have been more than used & abused, wrestled with God more times than I can count on fingers & toes, but in that same place I stand, still hand in hand with a God who has an incredible plan.

 I was reading Bittersweet recently, because of course I can't go anywhere without a Shauna Neiquist copy of something or other on hand.  But while I was reading I happened to read a story called, "Your Story Must Be Told." A story I really needed to read in this season. A story that gently reminded me yet again that my story is my own and also, that it is God breathed.

There is power in our stories.  Stories connect us to people and draw us in close.  Stories have no rules no boundaries no guidelines.  Stories move us, make us laugh, distract us, entertain us, challenge us, and guide us. Our story does nothing less that all of these things. My story is not a story of shame or filth, but rather, a story of faithfulness. Faithfulness of an unfailing God and faithfulness of a girl who knows her God adores her. Keeping that story hidden is the shame, the story is a gift. And this is what I am learning.



Danielle Nicole.