WHAT IS YOUR STORY?

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.

THIS IS MY STORY, this is my song,
Praising my Savior all the day long.

 My friend, WHAT IS YOUR STORY?

Sisters and brothers, be continually blessed, and please (above all else) MAKE SURE YOU ARE READY TO MEET OUR SOON COMING KING.  Maranatha!