Living Life Forward

Have you ever thought about your story?  How you got to where you are now?  We all have one.
 And most are filled with many, many chapters that seem like they happened an entire mini-series ago.

There are chapters of joyful, wonderful times that we openly share with everyone.  You know those times, all the happy pictures and posts on Facebook, the times with family and friends, the new jobs, the goals reached, the exciting events in life.  We're happy to share those times with everyone.

And we all have chapters that we'd just as soon have deleted, though they don't necessarily defeat us, more just annoy us.  You know what I'm talking about.  Those not-so-good choices we made that our mothers still have included in the family encyclopedic photo album.  Those somewhat embarrassing times that we thought were quite grand at the time and now look back and think, "Wow.  That was stupid."  You know, like really big hair, really bad clothing styles and really bad boyfriend choices.  But mom won't tear those pages out of that photo album, so we live with the more-than-vivid memories when company visits and laugh it off to young ignorance.

And then there are those chapters of shame.  There may not be actual photos of these times, but the  memories in our minds are just as clear as if they happened yesterday.  The life-changing events that we didn't expect, the choices made hoping to please someone we loved for what we thought was the right reason, the times of loss, defeat, heartbreak.  The times we'd just as soon forget completely.  The shame and regret and feeling of total unbelief that we trusted so completely, loved so passionately, and didn't see the signs pointing to the coming failure or loss.  The 20/20 times.  The times that when we look back, we can see clearly with 20/20 vision what was coming, but we were so infatuated with the moment we didn't allow ourselves to see reality.

Each chapter has it's importance, many times for later use.  It can be a lesson for us to learn, sure, but more importantly, it can be a lesson for us to share.  If we will approach each chapter in life as a lesson to be learned, we will be inspired, able to focus on living a courageous life, and ultimately become unstoppable with God's grace.  We must not allow pride to get in the way, but we mustn't be ashamed of our chapters, for each one has a purpose.  And if we will allow it, God will take our chapters, forming them into a beautiful story, and use that story for His glory.

"Life can only be understood backwards, but it must be lived forward."
~Soren Kierkegaard