In place of the audio version of this post, hear the full message on this topic. (From Sunday, October 17, 2021 – Greenville Vineyard, Greenville SC. The message begins at around 27:17. Feel free to enjoy the worship before too!

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Anyone who has followed this blog or who has known me for longer than 10 minutes knows I love stories. I love telling them – bedtime at my house is downright theatrical. I especially enjoy reading them and writing them. And right now, like you, I am living one.

Sometimes there are pages I would like to delete…sometimes there are entire chapters I would enjoy seeing go up in flames. But the truth is, once the words are written, they can’t be rewritten.  

… Or can it?

The REAL truth is that while I think I own the pen to write my own story, once I said ‘Yes’ to Jesus, I placed the pen and story into His hands.  According to the book of Hebrews, He is the One who authors and finishes our faith (Heb 12:2) Revelation says, He is the Alpha and the Omega… The Beginning and the End.

He stands outside of time. Yet He chooses to step into time to feel the pain and weightiness of our past. He sits with us in the present and raises us to where Jesus is seated with The Father to give us His perspective. Then, He walks with us into our promised future — All in a moment of eternity. (Insert mind-blown emoji and praise break here). 

David understood this when He said, “All of my days were written in your book, before one of them came to be.” (Ps. 139:16)

 And since God is the Author of our stories, He is the only one who can rewrite our story and change the ending… if we let Him. 

The other day I was sitting with my little one watching the PBS Kids show Super Why. And as He often does, Holy Spirit began encouraging my heart through it. He preached the gospel to me all over again… 

Does that ever happen to you? I’m sitting there minding my business and then Holy Spirit shares something simple that I have to meditate on for weeks… from PBS kids… seriously. 

The characters in each of the stories are doomed to live in stories that aren’t working. They are frustrated and continue repeating the same mistakes until the Super Readers come. 

The Super Readers open the book. Read the story. And change the ending by rewording what doesn’t work.

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Isn’t that what Jesus does? He comes and breaks into the hopelessness of our stories. He sits with us there in the pain and grief over our sin (or the sins of others) and He offers us a better way. A better WORD. 

With Jesus, the story always ends in life even when death is part of the story… Reread that. 

He is LIFE! With Jesus, the story always ends in life even when death is part of the story…

Jesus invites us to sit with Him in heavenly places, to see what He sees, and to REWORD WHAT ISN’T WORKING…

If our view of the story reads, “I’m not good enough”

Or, “See, bad things always happen to me..”

Or, All the women in my family struggle with…

Or Everyone always leaves me…

Then maybe it is a good time to ask the Author and Finisher for a better ending. 

Let’s pray:

Jesus you truly are the only One trustworthy to give me a better ending. Please give me faith to trust you. Help me see the story you are writing, even if it is different from what I’m used to. Help me to accept your Word by faith. Amen.

Practice:

With your Bible close by, ask Jesus to come into your story. Allow him to point out one page that seems to bleed with frustration or hopelessness. Now ask Jesus to show you what He sees instead (a better Word). Write down any words or verses that come to mind and pray them over the next week or so.

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