S7 Ep. 3 / Your Story and God's Story

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What moments of your life stick out to you when you think of your past? Many of us may feel trapped or discouraged because of the brokenness in our past. We wonder if our brokenness and suffering will ever end. At the same time, we feel a longing in our hearts for something better. We know God’s story promises restoration, an even greater ending than our beginning in the Garden of Eden, but we feel tension as the sin in our world reminds us we have not fully realized the restoration. In this tension, we experience ambivalence, meaning we’re holding two or more emotions that feel contradictory.
As we wrestle with this tension in the now and the not yet, we may feel shame and helplessness. We realize we can’t resolve the weight of our present suffering or the longing for something greater than this life. We taste some of the redemption and hope of Jesus’ sacrifice, and we also feel sin decaying our world. Jesus’ life on earth shows us our greatest joys and triumphs can and will be threaded with sorrow. The very Son of God felt this same tension as He grieved over the death of loved ones and for lost souls. Despite the grief, He also modeled a life of hope for restoration to demonstrate how to live well in ambivalence. As Paul says in 2 Corinthians 6:10, we are sorrowful yet rejoicing.
Remembering the Grand Narrative can bring hope and joy when we feel stuck in a season of our story. When we focus on the brokenness, we can lose sight of God’s faithfulness. His promise of restoration can become blurred, and shame and despair can grab a foothold. And yet, God’s promise to never leave us or forsake us rings true no matter our season. By looking backwards, we can recognize that He has walked alongside us and carried us through every part of our story. As He has been faithful in the past, He will be faithful to bring us to final restoration.
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⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Known Ministries⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ (www.knownminis...) is ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Alex Kocher⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ (www.flourishco...) and Brenda Payne. Season 7 of Conversational Counseling on "Counseling is Story Work."