What a phenomenal time the last week has been.  Getting the privilege to be around many other developing counselors like me, all of whom share a faith in Christ.  My wife asked me if it was nice being in a school environment like that and the simple answer was yes.  Never experiencing anything like that in all my years of schooling was phenomenal.  It changes your whole perspective,that’s for sure.  Aside from that, I received some great inspiration.  The day I left and then yesterday, the day after coming home, my pastor began a teaching journey to begin to share his story.  His personal walk through life and then coming to faith in Christ. In addition, we have others that will be sharing their story.  It’s reminded me of something very significant.  Each one of our stories matters, as our stories a part of God’s epic story.

About 18 months ago, I stood in front of a camera at a local park and laid out a part of my journey after a challenge was issued.  You can see that video on this site.  That story was not fully complete though.  At the time, I was growing.  I was building my faith, but I was not yet, in all honesty, sold out for Christ.  I had not completely surrendered control to Him.  That came in January in this year when he radically transformed my life.

Last week, as a part of our learning, we had draw out something called a spiritual life map.  A valuable tool to have.  This is basically a time like of my life showing the high and low points and where God’s hands have been there.  As I review my life map and then talked with others on theirs, I was reminded that for each of us, no matter where God takes us, our story matters.  It is all an intricate part of God’s epic story that He is using for His glory.

What a powerful exercise that was, just being completely open and honest and putting the good out there with the bad.  It showed me something else.  Through the midst of the struggles and the awesome times of my life, God’s hands were always there and He never gave up on me, just as He never gave up on you.  Why?  Because to Him, your story matters.  In Ephesians 1:4, Paul reminds us that “He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him.”  God has always had us in mind from before creation.  In Matthew 25:34, Jesus said, “Come, you who are blessed by My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.”  Each one of our spiritual life maps look different.  They are all unique in their design.  God designed it all that way and to see it laid out in that way is so tremendous.

Now for some of you, you may have never really looked at your story or shared a testimony with people.  You may think to yourself, I don’t really have a story to share.  Let me tell you, you do and that story matters.  If your unsure of how the story unfolds, then I would challenge you to create a spiritual life map for yourself.  Just draw out a time line of your life of key events, starting whenever you want, birth, or last year.  It’s up to you.  Then mark key points of your life, when things happened, ups and downs.  Times where God’s hand was in your life and other times when you may have turned away.  Believe me, when you look at in this way, you can see His hands in he mix and it all begins to unfold.

You will see from this that your story is powerful.  Your story has been touched by God or you may see where God is calling you to come back to Him.  You don’t have to have some big mountain top experience like I did, literally, but you will see where God has been at work, if you’re honest and real about it.  Your story does matter.  Everyone’s story matters.

“Your story matters; as it is a part of God’s epic story.” – Me