My Story, Your Glory: 5 Days to Discovering the Journey God Has Planned for YouChikamu

Day 1: My Life Story, Your Glory

Ever since humans began using the written word, they have been working to find a way to cover up their mistakes. Did you know that once upon a time people actually used moist bread to erase their writing errors? Fortunately for all the bread lovers of the world, Edward Nairne developed and marketed the very first rubber eraser in 1770.

Nearly two hundred years later (in 1956), an American typist named Bette Nesmith Graham invented a correction fluid that we know today as White-Out. Bette helped save the jobs of countless receptionists and made a ton of money doing it. As computers came along, the good old delete key provided us with a super easy way to get rid of our mistakes. Of course, if you use an Apple product now, you can even “unsend” messages on your iPhone and computer. This compulsion to erase what we have written extends into our lives too.

I know what many of you are thinking, “If only it were that easy to erase the unwanted sentences, paragraphs, and chapters of our lives.” Unfortunately, no moist bread, eraser, White-Out, or delete key can undo the parts of our own story we don’t like. We’ve all said and done things we wish we could undo. It is just part of being human.

But have you ever considered that maybe when we are tempted to hide those parts of our lives, to white them out so that no one can see them—that isn’t part of God’s plan? What if instead of trying to erase, we simply handed our story over to God and trusted Him to reclaim and redeem our story by rewriting it in His own handwriting?

When we read about the apostle Paul’s life and ministry, we find that he was not concerned at all about “whiting out” the parts of his past that he most regretted.

He didn’t shy away from the bad parts of his story. Saul terrorized and imprisoned the early Christians. He understood that God’s grace is not some “magic eraser in the sky.” God stepped into his life, changed his name, and began to retell his story. After his conversion, Paul was not only transparent about the mistakes of his past but was also honest about continuing to struggle with sin (Romans 7). God reframes our stories with words of love in the nurturing light of His redemptive plan.

God takes broken sentences and uses them to rewrite your life into something beautiful. I think that’s why Paul acknowledged freely (and to all who would listen) that he was the worst of sinners. He was free to share the redemptive truth of his entire story—not just the shiny and glossy parts—because he understood that God was using every line to bring others closer to the truth of His love.

Today, I want to challenge you to embrace the truth that God is aware of every line, every sentence, every paragraph, yes, every chapter of your story and He isn’t scared off by any of it. God knows every detail, and He still loves you. In fact, He wants to step into the darkest and most broken parts and use that very material to build something beautiful. God doesn’t even bother with a delete key—He is too busy rewriting.

CRAFT YOUR STORY

In your journal, take some time to document a part of your story that you have resisted handing over to God. Maybe it is a difficult season of your life or a time when you struggled spiritually or hurt others. Maybe it is that sentence you wish you hadn't spoken. Consider if you have hidden or tried to white it out rather than handing it over to Him. How might God want to rewrite that area of your life?

SHARE YOUR STORY

Write the names of three people who need to hear how God is rewriting your story. Maybe you know of someone hurt by that unwanted part of your story or someone struggling in a similar way who would be encouraged by God’s work in your life. Plan to spend some time with these people in the next few weeks and share your testimony.