Maybe real courage is simply bearing witness to the wild and mysterious story God has always been writing. Perhaps true success is finally believing our actual, everyday part in his story is good . . . and good enough. — Fiercehearted
We started our twenty-one days together talking about stories, about a friend of mine who shared hers on a black stool that swivels. And we are coming full circle because we, fiercehearted women, are all living a story today. A story crafted and told by the Author of heaven. The star-scatterer. The mountain-mover. The water-walker. It is a story of being brave and strong and true. A story of, most of all, love.
In the day-to-day, it doesn’t feel like a story. It feels like dishes in the sink. Reports on the desk. Another mile behind the steering wheel of the car. But this doesn’t change what’s real. Beneath the surface of all that ordinary still lurks the glory.
Sometimes the plot is confusing. Or strange. Or sad. Sometimes we want to cut a chapter out with sharp scissors. Sometimes we want to be the editors with the red ink. Sometimes we want to skip right to the end just to make sure it says, “And they lived happily ever after.”
But this is not our role. It is not for us to say, “This is what happens next” or “I’m changing the ending.” Instead, we are to trust, to wait, to be in the middle of the mystery. There is so much we do not know, that we will not know, but we can be certain of this: the Author is good and we are loved.
Yes, even when the unexpected sentence comes. When we face that dark-as-night period. When the syllables jumble together and we scratch our heads. Even in those places, between those lines, there is a God at work who has always been speaking, always been creating beauty out of the broken. “Jesus also did many other things. If they were all written down, I suppose the whole world could not contain the books that would be written” (John 21:25, NLT).
Jesus is still doing many other things. He is not done with history. He is not finished with the part of it that is our story either. Whatever scene we find ourselves in today, it is not the final page. Hold on, there is a turning coming. There is more than this, more than here and now. We have not yet seen the there and then.
We are overcomers. We are warriors. We are a force to be reckoned with in this world. And whatever the future brings, our God is still holding the pen. He is the only one who gets to write “The End.”
XOXO,
Holley
P.S. This post is an excerpt from my new ebook: Strong, Brave, Loved. We’re wrapping up the 21 Day Strong, Brave, Loved Challenge — but it’s not too late for you to join! If you missed it, just visit this post to learn more and then head to my Facebook or Instagram pages for each day’s challenge and encouragement. You can easily start at the beginning – Day One – because the Challenge will stay up on both Facebook and Instagram! If you’ve completed the Challenge and would like more encouragement, Fiercehearted would be a great next step for you!
*****
Right now, we’re doing a special link-up series to celebrate Fiercehearted: Live Fully, Love Bravely. You’re a fiercehearted woman so I’m asking you to pour out a little love and courage with your words every Wednesday {the link-up goes live at 5:30am CST}. Simply write an encouraging blog post, especially if it’s about living fully and loving bravely, and then share it here. Don’t have a blog? You can still write an encouraging comment. If you’re reading this by email, go to holleygerth.com to see all the fun and join in too.
When you link up your post, take a moment to leave an encouraging comment on the one that’s linked up just before yours. Thanks, friends!
I’m having Coffee For Your Heart with my friend Holley Gerth!
{click to tweet that you’re joining me here today}
[inlinkz_linkup id=759163 mode=1]
