Stewarding the Story

John came home from his preschool Sunday School class last week with the following memory verse:

“Let the redeemed of the Lord tell their story.”

-Psalm 107:2a

Trying to clean out the car, I almost tossed the verse in the trash with the rest of the junk that had accumulated in my minivan throughout the previous week.  But as I took a second glance, the verse came alive. 

Stories are immensely powerful.  Furthermore, we each have a story to share; we each know people who need to hear them.  Stories connect us, making our differences fade, our empathy grow, and our eyes widen.  Exchanging stories can give both comfort when it is most needed and also hope that new possibilities are just around the corner.

I have recently had the privilege of attending two coffee gatherings with other parents from John’s new school.  And what have we done?  We have gabbed and gabbed, sharing our stories and those of our children.  Yes, some useful info on doctors, therapists, or resource groups was traded, but what we really came away with were heart-felt stories of love, fears, devotion, and exhaustion.  Knowing we are not alone as parents of children with special needs…  Knowing our love and strength for our children will continue to carry us…  Feeling united in the struggles but also fortified in the gifts this life brings.  We came together as strangers but left with a body of support, an email address for those questions that keep you up at night, a friendly face to recognize in carpool line. 

My friends, Jay and Katherine Wolf, put it this way on their blog:

“All of us who have journeyed the road of suffering, are forever, inextricably connected through our pain.  In a strange way, the commiseration of pain gives us a gift, one that is desperately sought after by all human beings—the gift of being known by another person.  When you go through tragedy, perhaps especially if you are younger and maybe even more if you are a person of faith, you gravitate towards others who are unwitting members of that same club.  And even if you aren’t known by these friends in the more traditional sense of friendship, you are known in deeper places—in those places where hope has been deferred and the desire for healing of the soul aches within.”

Your story may be different as well as your support networks.  But as God’s redeemed people, we are called to tell our stories and, more importantly, to proclaim HIS story.  This is where stewardship comes in (the Wolfs also shared this concept of stewarding our stories in a recent sermon they gave).  I find that as we employ our redeemed vision that the Lord enables, we begin to see our own stories through His lens, as part of the Gospel narrative of brokenness, restoration, and hope.  And to whom much is given, much is required (Luke 12:48).  We have been given forgiveness, healing, and hope in order to share it!

After re-reading the memory verse, I turned to John (Daniel wasn’t with me at the time) and exclaimed, “John, you have an incredible story!  And you are telling your story and impacting so many for the Kingdom!”

Let’s encourage each other, God’s beloved and redeemed people, to courageously steward our stories, knowing that as we do we find we are not alone.  We give and receive hope.  We are deeply known while giving this same gift to others.  We allow Christ to shine His light on our broken places and invite His cleansing touch.  The Incarnation is real in and through each one of us.  His Kingdom is advancing.  

John got glasses yesterday!!  Hoping they will be a big help!

Some of you may remember from the Caringbridge days when John got glasses as an 8 month old!  Well, their use didn't last long as we felt the priority was focusing on strengthening his cortical vision (how the eyes communicate and receive information from the brain rather than working on the problems with the eyeballs themselves).  Fortunately, his cortical issues have much improved over the years and now it is time once again to address those beautiful blue eyes! 

Prayers:

-Please pray for John’s adjustment to his new glasses and that they will help his overall development along with his vision.

-Pray for John as he works toward sitting independently.

-We are so grateful for his new school/neurodevelopmental center and praise God for His provision!  We are also thankful for all the nurturing adults (and children) God has placed in John’s life.  

4 Years!

“I will remember the deeds of the Lord; yes, I will remember your miracles of long ago. I will consider all your works
and meditate on all your mighty deeds.”

-Psalm 77:11-12

This week we celebrate 4 YEARS of seizure freedom for sweet John (and for our family)!  We are overjoyed!  I know I have said this before… but when you go from desperately counting minutes between seizures and holding on to hours and days, counting YEARS is nothing short of a miracle!

Over the past 4.5 years of John’s life, we have learned to celebrate the big and little milestones.  Birthdays, church dedication, last day in the hospital in April 2009, seizure-freedom anniversaries, medication-freedom anniversaries, encouraging test results, first egg at Waffle House, etc.  Our boy was not supposed to live, much less be as healthy as he is.  He has his challenges but, truly, he is thriving and couldn’t radiate more joy. 

What we have gained through the trials and triumphs is the great import of recalling the works of the Lord.  Pausing to celebrate both the weighty and also the seemingly insignificant events.  These markers of our lives.  These causes for gratitude.  

And gratitude is always significant, pointing us to Jesus and carrying us forward a step further than we once felt capable.  In my mini-paraphrase of the inspiration found in Ann Voskamp’s book One Thousand Gifts, gratitude leads to the miracles of joy, peace, and healing.  By celebrating life’s small and big miracles with a grateful heart, we are given an increased vision to perceive even more of the Lord and His very incarnation woven into so many aspects of our days.

A friend’s grandmother recently wrote the following in an email as she reflected upon her own chronic tragedy involving one of her children in her early years: “I learned rapidly that misery is a choice.  Joy, on the other hand, is a gift already lying within me...always mine to claim...at any moment of my day.”  Oh, the great wisdom of years spent walking with the Lord!

In the Old Testament, God’s followers set up ebenezers (often a pile of rocks) to commemorate God’s work in a particular place or in a particular way.  In doing this, they gave glory to God and created tangible evidence to help them recall God’s provision.

Do you have ebenezers or journals or moments you can look back to, that help you remember what God has done in your life?  I know I need to look at mine more frequently, because gratitude, joy, and remembrance of God’s faithfulness ARE each a decision.  And when we allow room to see our blessings, they do begin to take over even the darkest places.

Here are a few of our ebenezers and memories:

The picture our friends signed at John's one year seizure-freedom party!

A framed ebenezer dear friends gave us on John's first seizure-freedom anniversary.

A mini Prosecco toast to celebrate John's PERFECT MRI and EEG in Boston on October 20, 2010.

Last year's celebration... a cookie cake is always a must!

And a future ebenezer from the cake we served at John's luncheon following his church baby dedication in August, 2009.  This cake traveled from our freezer in Virginia to our freezer in Georgia.... and I know it will be the best cake we will ever taste when the time comes to celebrate!

“Nehemiah said, ‘Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared. This day is holy to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.’”

-Nehemiah 8:10

Additional Answers…

The following quote is from my friend Trish Ryan’s blog (check out her books as well!):

“God grows new things in soil I was sure was dead. The muddy, torn up ground of my life gets a new foundation, and then new walls and a roof and even some tiny starter shrubs in a garden. And it’s not that I don’t miss the old or wish some things had gone very, very differently. It’s that life is bigger than we think it is.”

I just love this quote, don’t you?  Trish beautifully captures this notion I have been struggling with… wishing certain things had gone very differently (I think those things are the result of either this fallen world or due to our intentional transgressions) but also believing in a good God who is sovereign and has a plan for each one of our lives.  That’s where the “life is bigger than we think it is” comes in. 

This concept begins to take shape and to go beyond the clichés (such as, “When life hands you lemons, make lemonade.”  Never liked that quote…) as we experience this new foundation God pours, as we see a new structure develop, as we witness fresh growth, yes “starter shrubs” even.  Signs of life.

I refuse to give God credit for the muck and tragedies, for our wayward ways, for the brokenness we’ve inherited from humanity choosing its own course.  Can God use the pain?  Certainly.  Does He necessarily cause it all?  I think not.  As I wrote after Warren died, which was shared at his funeral, we do not “make peace” with occurrences such as death (whether it is a death due to a medical error or simply death after a long, well-lived life)…. Why? Because death was never part of God’s original plan.  Rather, it was a break in His intended order.

Instead of despair, I find hope in refusing to make peace with sin, with both glaring and subtle breaks in God’s intended order.  When it comes to pain and grappling with loss, we don’t buck up and piously pretend we are happy with our lot.  But rather we give our pain to the Lord, accept His balm, and begin to realize life in Him is bigger than we thought.  And that is something we can begin to be happy about.  Somehow healing commences, and we are given new footing and the ability to move forward.

To me, this encapsulates the claim Scripture makes that Christ is making all things new.  If He is making things new, the implication is that something is broken and needs remaking…. needs fixing.  Isn’t life like that?  I know my life, my circumstances, my attitude, and my faith need the new, God-life breathed into them deeply and thoroughly.

I do not have all the answers nor will I on this side of heaven.  But I choose restoration over pretenses.  God’s plan of hope over blaming His sovereignty for the mess around us.     

Bring on the starter shrubs!