WHAT IS YOUR STORY?
Marianne Wiggins, an American author,
wrote the novel “Almost Heaven.” One of her
central characters is a middle-aged woman named Melanie John. We first meet
her in the psychiatric unit of the Medical College of Virginia, after experiencing
hysterical amnesia. Shortly before that, she was a happily married mother
of four living in the Richmond suburbs.
Five weeks earlier, she and Jason,
her husband and the love of her life, were headed down the highway with their
four kids seated in the back. Melanie had been writing during their
drive, when a gust of wind carried her paper out the window.
When Jason pulled the car over to the
side of the road, Melanie got out and headed into a nearby field to recover her
writing. That’s when she heard the terrifying screech of skidding
tires. She turned just in time to witness another vehicle slamming into
the rear of her family car. The car
exploded, and her husband and children were killed instantaneously.
Melanie’s emotional system coped by
shutting down completely – blocking out the memory of that day and, sadly, all recollections
of her entire family life as well. The last two decades were totally
erased from her conscious memory. The very last memory Melanie could
recall was her graduation from law school, 20 years earlier. But her most
precious memories, of meeting Jason and falling in love, of her wedding day, of
the births of her children, of the building of their new home, were absolutely
lost.
Although her amnesia acted as an
emotional anesthetic, Melanie was totally robbed of herself and had no real
sense of the most meaningful parts of her identity. Powerful unanswered
questions filled her room. Inside this
shell of a body, who is Melanie John? What is her life? Where does
she fit? What’s her place and purpose in this world? Without the
stories of the last 20 years, she had no easy way of knowing. Without the
stories of her past, there was no meaningful present, and quite possibly no
meaningful future.
The novel recounts Melanie’s painful
journey to recover her memories and regain her sense of self. One of the
things this story clearly reminds us about is that OUR LIVES ARE MADE UP OF OUR STORIES. Our sense of
self, who we are, why we are here, where we fit in and where we are headed are roadmaps
by which we make sense of our lives. Indeed, our lives
are fundamentally shaped by our family and cultural stories, times of gain and
loss, times of weeping and rejoicing, stories that tell us who we are, stories
that reveal our priorities and values.
Nevertheless, FOR EVERY CHRISTIAN THERE IS AN ALTERNATIVE
STORY. It is a faith-saga that transcends family, culture, time,
space and happenstance – providing us with meaning, balance, wisdom and
direction.
My personal journey has a
multiplicity of chapters, scenes, settings and life-events – some saturated
with joy and fulfilment, some not so much. But I do have ONE PRIMARY OVERARCHING STORY that
colors all and affects all. Do you want to know what it is?
The late Fanny J. Crosby, a blind yet
gifted Christian composer from Bridgeport, Connecticut, captures it so well in
the lyrics of her beautiful classic hymn, “Blessed Assurance.”
Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine!
Oh, what a foretaste of glory divine!
Heir of salvation, purchase of God,
Born of His Spirit, washed in His blood.
Oh, what a foretaste of glory divine!
Heir of salvation, purchase of God,
Born of His Spirit, washed in His blood.
THIS IS MY
STORY, this is my song,
Praising my Savior all the day long.
Praising my Savior all the day long.
My friend, WHAT IS YOUR STORY?
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