Finding Joy When #TheStruggleIsRealSample

Day 3: Defining Moments – What Makes You You

It’s easy to believe that the most important parts of our stories happen on the biggest days. And of course, those big days are unforgettable, but what if the main substance of what makes you you is found in other moments? The unseen moments. The moments when an opportunity comes and we act, or react, in ways that reveal the true nature of our hearts and our souls. 

Maybe it’s a moment in your twenties that reminded you of a hardship in your teens. Or maybe a moment in your forties that revealed the substance of who you had become. These are the moments that shape the stories of our lives—the stories we ourselves believe about the lives we’ve been given. 

Studies have shown that the way people articulate the story of their lives has a great impact on their overall well-being. Those who have the highest satisfaction with life were able to integrate episodes of struggle and hardship into a story that reflected a sense of overcoming and learning from the struggle. Here’s a simple way to express this truth: 

 Who We Are + Moments That Matter = Stories We Live

Our choices and actions flow from the way we understand ourselves on the grand stage of life, how we decide what moments matter, how we tell our own story to ourselves, and how we live because of it. 

Finding our story means engaging with honesty about the forces that have shaped us into who we are—our big and little struggles, our understanding of who we are and how we fit into the world, and how we understand ourselves in relationship with God.   God is ultimate truth and reality, and without Him, we won’t find security in the midst of our struggles or freedom despite our failures. This is where His Word makes all the difference. In God’s creative and gracious way, He gives us stories in the Bible that help us interpret our story. The stories in Scripture are gritty, funny, poignant, unfinished, and real. So are we. The chapters aren’t clean, clear, and straightforward. God’s people wander and struggle—just like us. But when we take a closer look, we discover what it means to coauthor our stories with God at the center. And when we see the entirety of His Word as our ultimate reality, we find the main plot of our own story.

Conversation Starter: Think about the moments in your life that have shaped who you are, how you view yourself, the world around you, and your relationship with God. Can you identify a key moment that had a particularly strong impact on you? 

Getting Started: Make a list of the pivotal moments, events, and relationships that have helped shape your faith up to this point and shape them into a brief story that you can share with others—particularly those who played a key role in your personal journey. 

Verses:

2 Corinthians 5:17

Romans 15:13

Ephesians 2:8-9