Category: Faith

I’ve never been a knitter.

I tried it for a like a second and then realized I was terrible at it. This was mostly because the tiny dishcloth I was knitting resembled a trapezoid rather than a square.

Although my knitting dreams were crushed, the world was saved from unnecessary trapezoid shaped blankets that would’ve left their feet unbearably cold.

You’re welcome, world.

A Tapestry of Lives

Something I did take away from my brief stint of knitting was the allegorical meaning behind it.

I just love the idea of many different threads being knit into one beautiful piece of art.

Just as you can weave endless color variations to make one garment, so too, our lives have the ability to weave together seamlessly into one story.

Something every human has in common.

A while back I was at a woman’s retreat in a lovely, out-of-the-way conference center where our small groups were meeting up and sharing. We were asked to speak openly about an event or life experience that affected us and changed our lives.

I listened intently to each one of these women as we moved counter-clockwise and  shared stories;

One had been through cancer.

Another had been through abuse.

And yet another had lost a friend to suicide.

One woman had a life untouched by real hurt but struggled with her value as a wife and mother.

I could see that each woman had real struggles, the pain was evident in every spilled tear and spoken word.

But something else was immediately apparent as well, the trials we shared just weren’t equal.

At least not from a human perspective.

A person going through cancer and someone struggling with their value just doesn’t seem comparable.

And clearly from our viewpoint down here on this whirling blue ball—they don’t.

But you know what?

In God’s eyes, all suffering is equal

It’s clear that just as God doesn’t see sin on levels. He doesn’t measure our suffering by some cosmic level of importance and only shows up to the important trials.

The difficulty in daily trials is that it’s so tempting to think they don’t matter. It’s easy to not share the things we find ourselves fighting daily because “so and so” is going through something so much worse.

When in truth, the little matters as much as the big.

No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind…1 Corinthians 10:13

You are not the first to go through the trial you are suffering through. There are others— there is an entire community that experiences the same thing as you.

For years I felt as though the suffering I endured was my own and no one else experienced anything like it.

And at the same time, I believed the lie that what I went through wasn’t equal to the suffering that others had been through. I believed I wasn’t important.

This thinking kept me isolated and made me believe I was a victim, rather than another victor with a story to share.

I was forgetting the most important part of the trials we endure—it’s the hope that comes out of them.

As humans, we see trials on levels of severity and deem that some are so much worse than others, but in reality, a wound is still a wound.

The hardships we face and the comfort we receive through them is precious gold to be shared, no matter how severe.

Enduring trials and tribulations births empathy, which serves a real purpose in moving us towards our fellow-man.

Our suffering serves a purpose.

In the depth of our personal trials, we can forget there is a benefit for others to be found. When we surface up out of the deep cavern of suffering, we emerge with nuggets of wisdom that no professor could ever teach.

Suffering truly is the greatest schoolmaster in empathy. The comfort and wisdom received in trials are meant to be shared with those that are walking the same hard road we’ve just traveled.

…Who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.” 2 Corinthians 1:4

The comfort God extends was never meant to be hidden away.

It was always meant to be shared. 

Knowing our suffering serves a greater purpose helps to bring peace and perspective to our struggles.

I believe that once we see the hope that others can have through our trials we are able to have a measure of peace with that portion of our story.

Part of this is simply knowing we all suffer—to be human is to suffer in some way, shape or form.

In the end, I believe knowing what to do with it is the key.

Ask yourself these questions:

• What have you been through and what wisdom have you gained that could possibly help others?
• In what way can you be a blessing to someone else because of a strength you have gained through a personal struggle?
• Are you still walking a hard path today? If so, who can you reach out to that has gone through a similar struggle that you can glean wisdom from?
• Who can you bless in spite of the hardship you are going through? How can you take your eyes off of yourself and put them on someone else?

God designed us with a desire to love, to give comfort and to live within a community.

He never intended for us to live in a world where suffering is so prevalent, but as He loves to do, He takes the ugly and uses it for good.

Coming across another soul that has walked the same troubled path creates a bond.

It’s a sisterhood or brotherhood forged in the fire of adversity, and sometimes those are the strongest kind.

To read the previous posts about sharing your story, click here. 

My bible study leader breezed through the door with the smell of cider and freshly baked goods chasing her.

After placing the warm batch of pumpkin muffins and a carafe of steaming hot cider on the table, she informed us that we were having story time for today’s lesson. (Listen, a person hands me a pumpkin muffin and tells me to sit on a comfy couch for 45 minutes—I don’t question—I just do.)

She began by showing us the cover of a “smallish” book called The Butterfly Effect, by Andy Andrews. The Butterfly Effect is an idea that something as small as the flutter of a butterfly’s wing can ultimately cause a typhoon halfway around the world.

While this may seem like a ridiculous concept, it actually makes sense—

Little things matter and big things begin small.

I found it to be a wonderful and timely book for myself and the message God has been placing on my heart. The author explains how portions of history were determined by everyday people. He shows how a decision that one person made created ripples across the waters of time to change the course of history.

It was another message from a big God to remind me that every person matters and every life has a purpose.

YOU matter

Your story matters and can make a difference in ways you could never imagine.

Every day we make small, seemingly simple choices that could have the potential to have far-reaching effects without even realizing it.

It’s quite humbling to pause and think that you are literally the only you that will ever be on this Earth. Your uniqueness was handcrafted for a reason. You matter and every choice you make matters.

A few weeks ago I wrote a little about how your unique voice matters, and the importance of sharing your story.

Today I wanted to remind you of something else that matters, your unique life. And who better to remind us than a quote from the one and only, Dr. Seuss!

“Today you are you, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is youer than you.” Dr. Seuss, Happy Birthday to You!

Truthfully, there is no other YOU and there never will be.

You were put here to impact the people within your sphere.

We can be tempted to believe that we could never be an influencer in our little world to make a difference in the greater picture. But remember, the size of our sphere doesn’t matter, it’s what we do within that sphere that ultimately counts.

Perhaps today we could make a choice that impacts our sphere for the better?

One Day of Faith

We like to think of people in the Bible as being great pillars of faith every moment of their existence. When in reality, it’s a bunch of stories about a group of people who lived ordinary lives. They really only had one or two monumental moments where the spotlight was shined on them.

Think Esther, Ruth, and Rahab—to name a few.

These people had a choice to make. Their choices and their life had the potential to do little to nothing at all, but instead, they changed everything and really had no idea it would.

There are things we will do in the mundane that can’t possibly seem as if it will change the trajectory of tomorrow. You just never know how much that one decision can impact tomorrow or one hundred years from now.

Just like the Butterfly Effect, we have the ability to flap tiny wings that will reverberate into hurricane force winds.

When you think of the choices that were made in just a few examples I gave, they ultimately led to the arrival of the Messiah.

One person made a choice, lived their lives and changed everything.

The Bible is a beautiful reminder of how there are many parts to one story.

We are all a part of something bigger than ourselves.

It is nearly impossible to truly finish anything in this life. We primarily exist to pass the baton, so to speak. Every bit of what we are doing is simply building toward a future for someone else to finish.

Just as Moses passed the baton to Joshua in the desert, we live our lives with the understanding that we are truly only one part of the story.

As equally as important as Moses was in beginning the mission of bringing the Israelites into the promised land, so too was Joshua in finishing that race.

When we think of this example it’s apparent how we are only part of the story because even Joshua wasn’t the final word.

The baton is still being passed today.

Every seemingly simple choice we make in our everyday life has the possibility to change someone.

God chose to use various people from different walks of life for His story. It’s just ordinary people and their stories that have worked to change every generation after them.

This tells me that our stories matter.

Even Jesus intertwined his story into all of ours. He came at the appointed time in history to live, die and rise again. He began the race and then passed the baton to his disciples and to all those after them.

We are so much more than a singular person living a solitary life.

When we live our lives and share our stories we are creating space for someone to possibly change their perspective. We give hope when we follow after Jesus in faith, knowing even the hard things have a purpose.

Remember next time you are tempted to believe that your life and story is somehow insignificant;

You are the only you that will ever be.

And you and your story matter tremendously.

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