More to the Story

“There is more to the story.

It doesn’t end here.

There is more to the story

then we can see or hear.”

Loren Thornburg

Books and movies are fun because you often get the whole story in one sitting. Sometimes I wish life was a little more like that. Where if I wanted to know the end of the story I could just keep watching, or reading, or listening. But, our own stories don’t work quite like that. We only get one day at a time. However, just like a movie or book is not over halfway so there are more to our own stories. It’s just so hard to see that when we are in the middle of something that is really hard. It’s seems impossible to see past or out of it or that it will ever end. At this point it feels like the end of the story, but there is more. There is more to your story if you will just keep going, one day at a time, one page at a time knowing that the place you find yourself is not the end...there is more!!

“Friends, when life gets really difficult, don’t jump to the conclusion that God isn’t on the job. Instead be glad that you are in the very thick of what Christ experienced. This is a spiritual refining process, with glory just around the corner.”

1 Peter 4: 12-13 MSG

God is a God who is all about restoration, revival, and redemption. With this in mind we can know He is not about to stop writing the story of your life in the middle of it. I love all the places that His word speaks to this. We see in Isaiah the picture of Israel as a stump but the promise that it will be a “holy seed that will grow again.” We see all the stories in the gospel of healings and lives brought back from the dead, with the ultimate resurrection of Christ. Yet, with this I can so relate to the disciples. Jesus told them there would be more to the story but they couldn’t understand it all. So even when He died they believed it was the end of the story...but, there was more. The same is true for our own stories...there is more. So take the encouragement of Peter that in the midst of difficulty we can hang on knowing that God is on the job and therefore there is “glory just around the corner.” We can trust that there is more to the story than the place we find ourselves in.

No Formula

“Healing is not a formula it’s a process.”

Loren Thornburg

Healing is not math, it is not a science. A plus B does not always get you C. There is no “one” way to get from here to healed. Yet, often we treat it like that or expect that it should work like that. Often because we see what it looks like for other people. We see or hear stories of another person’s healing and think our own should look the same. However we are forgetting some key factors in this assumption. We are not all the same. You are very unique in your personality and ways that you think, act and feel. Thus, even if A plus B did get someone else C, you are not ‘A’ and your process is going to look very different as a result of that. Also, you are seeing someone else’s process from the outside and experiencing your own on the inside. What looks easy on the outside may be causing much more pain on the inside than you see. Healing has no formula, for the ways it comes, in the times it come, and to the extent that it comes. But, it does grow, you do change, and you do heal as you are willing to let it be a process.

“Then Jesus placed his hands over the man’s eyes again. As the man stared intently, his sight was completely restored, and he could see everything clearly.”

Mark 9:25 NLT

In reading this story of Jesus healing a blind man at Bethsaida my first reaction is confusion. This is not the usual healing story. Usually when Jesus touches someone for healing they are healed, and not just halfway healed, but fully healed. Yet, in this story it seems to take Jesus two tries to heal the blind man. When we can move past the question of why we can see some very powerful aspects of healing, (which if you’re like me if often takes some help and time to move past the why’s). Look past with me and see the heart of Jesus. He is committed to seeing the blind man fully healed. He doesn’t stop with the man being able to see a little but continues working and healing until the blind man’s sight was “completely restored, and he could see everything clearly.” Now, although for the blind man this seems like a relatively short process we still see there was a process. A process that began long before his encounter with Jesus but involved years of blindness, friends getting him there, his willingness to trust Jesus to spit on his eyes, and to keep believing that Jesus could heal him. So, in our blindness let’s keep believing through the process of our healing knowing that Jesus is about complete restoration.

Welcome Life

“The more life you invite the less room there is for all that steals it.”

Loren Thornburg

What does your welcome sign say? I think about signs, front doors, the face of the building they all communicate something either inviting or something that makes you want to turn away. Now it is often misleading to what is actually inside, however it gets you through the door. So I wonder what my welcome sign says to others. In addition it seems that what my welcome sign says has a huge impact on what comes into my life. For I could be welcoming things of destruction or I could be welcoming things of life. So I ask again what does your welcome sign say? What things are you inviting into your life? Welcome life and you will find more life. Let’s welcome life!!

“All these faithful ones died without receiving what God had promised them, but they saw it all from a distance and welcomed the promises of God.”
Hebrews 11:13 NLT

The hall of faith as we refer to Hebrews 11 as recounts so many that lived lives of great faith. They believed in the promises of God even though not all of them were able to live to see that which God has promised them. What separated them was the ways they welcomed the promises of God. Their faith had a welcome sign that warmly embraced the promises of God. Now this doesn’t mean that they always did this perfectly. They too had times and ways that they trusted in oppression and lies more than His promises. Yet they are listed in this hall of faith because of the ways they learned to welcome the promises of God even when it didn’t make sense, even when it didn’t feel true, and even when they faced obstacles. Because they found He is the only truth, the only one trustworthy, and our only hope. Our only hope is His promises so let’s welcome them.

Lost is Found

“All that’s been lost and the dreams that have died

The hurt and the shame that you buried inside

It can all be redeemed every tear that you cried

What never was now is more with our hope that is Christ”

Loren Thornburg

We have all lost something at some point. Thankfully we have lost and founds. A lost and found is a place where we can retrieve items we lost that have been found by other people. Unfortunately not everyone returns what has been lost. Sometimes that which we lose is stolen. Other times if we wait too long to go to the lost and found our item will be thrown away. I often wish there was a lost and found for things in our lives...dreams that have been lost to defeat, childhoods that have been lost to hardships, hope that has been lost to heartache. More than I wish to find the CD that I lost or the bike that was stolen I wish for the dreams and the hope that’s been lost along the way. Thankfully that is possible with Jesus Christ. So now we can hear Jesus sing to us the words written by Tyrone Wells, “and if you just try with me maybe in time you’ll see I want to be everything you lost along the way; the song that you used to sing and your favorite dream, I want to be everything you lost along the way.”

“Fear not; you will no longer live in shame. The shame of your youth and the sorrows of widowhood will be remembered no more, for your Creator will be your husband. The Lord Almighty is his name! He is your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, the God of all the earth. For the Lord has called you back from your grief--”

Isaiah 54:4-6 NLT

Isaiah gives us such a great picture of the way God wants to redeem all the dreams and hope that has been lost in our lives. The woman who lived in much shame in her youth and much sorrow in her widowhood will no longer find that to be her reality. Instead of her dreams being lost now her grief will be lost. The Lord will be all that she lost along the way. He will be her husband, He will take her shame and instead of shame show her love and compassion. And He longs to have compassion on you too! He is calling you back from your grief, your pain, your shame and calling you into Himself that you might find restoration for all that’s been destroyed. It takes time; it takes grace; it takes trust, but the Lord is faithful and more than able to redeem all that’s been lost along your way.

Time Does More than Pass

“Time does more than pass...it changes

Time does more than pass...it grows

Time does more than pass...it heals

Time does more than pass...it shows.”

Loren Thornburg

Time is one of those things like the wind. You can’t actually see it but you can see the effects of it. Many of the effects can’t be seen because they happen so slowly. You can’t actually see a child growing but they get taller each year. You can’t see the leaves changing color but you see they have changed color. You can’t see a cut turning into a scar but you see the scar. This growth is real as is the change, but it happens so slowly that we can’t always see it changing. The same is true with ourselves. We are changing but it’s hard for us to see because it happens at such a slow rate. At least this is true for lasting change. It goes slow. So when you think time is just passing there is more that is going on that you can’t see...you’re changing, growing, and healing. Just wait a little longer and it will show.

“That is why waiting does not diminish us, any more than waiting diminishes a pregnant mother. We are enlarged in the waiting. We, of course, don’t see what is enlarging us.”

Romans 8:24 MSG

I love the picture of the pregnant woman. The belly of the pregnant woman grows so slow that you can’t see it move but you see the belly has grown. It is the time and the waiting that allows this growth to take place. So is true for the things in our lives. It is time that grows us, changes us, heals us. It is time and waiting that enlarges us until we are ready to give birth to that new thing. God is not one to let anything go to waste. But He also is not one to move until just the right time, which often is not as soon as we would like. So know that as you are waiting He is enlarging, growing, and healing letting nothing go to waste. He has not forgotten you, nor left you just to pass the time. He is enlarging you to prepare you for the birth of what’s next.

Words on Display

“It’s bigger than you thought, in more ways than you thought, more often than you thought...it’s love.”

Loren Thornburg

The mom comes to her son’s soccer game, the husband who fixes the leaky faucet, the friends who sends an encouraging card, the roommate who asks about the day, and on and on. There are so many ways to say I love you! It’s in our time, in our service, in our gifts, in being present, in ourselves, and all around us. It’s not limited to a word, not limited to one way and not limited in it’s resources. There is no point at which love cannot enter in. It’s being shown to you in ways you didn’t know. There’s way to show it in ways you didn’t know. Don’t miss it!! See it, share it, be it!! It’s bigger than you thought!

“...He puts words of grace and beauty on display.”

Proverbs 15:26 MSG

It’s almost my favorite time of the year when the yellow flowers bloom filling the hillsides with beauty. I love it!! And I’m reminded that God must love me a lot!! He put the words I love You on display in the yellow flower filled hillsides. Yet, this is only one of millions of ways that He does this every day. Did you see it today? Did you hear it today? He is telling you He loves you everyday in so many ways! It’s in the beauty around you, the people around you, the ways He provides, the encouragement He brings, it goes on and on and on and on!! There is no point or level beyond which God can reach or go to tell you He loves you!!

What Time Is it

“The seasons know when to change, the waves know when to ebb and flow, the sun knows when to set and rise and so we too must know what time it is.”

Loren Thornburg

Just as there are different seasons of nature so also there are different seasons in our own lives. As we watch the Olympics I am reminded of the different seasons that it took for them to get there. A time to work out and a time to rest. A time to go back to basics and a time to try something new. A time to practice and a time to compete. The problem comes when they work out when it’s time to rest or move on to something new when they aren’t ready. As a coach I know the problems of pushing when it’s time to let up, continuing to teach when it’s time to try it, or of moving on when it’s still time to master the foundational skill. Our personal lives and dreams have similar importance in the timing and seasons. The key to reaching our goals and dreams is knowing what time it is. It may be time to step out towards your dream, or time to wait for other things to fall into place, or time to rest all together, or time to push through, or a time to get back up from a fall, or a time to reach out, or a time to be alone. Like the athlete or the coach the problems come when we try to move past the season we are in before it’s time. We all go through different seasons of life, different ebbs and flows of our journeys. The key is knowing what time it is.

“There is a time for everything, a season for every activity under heaven…”

Ecclesiastes 3:1 NLT

The Creator of the seasons has created seasons in your own life. As you look back at your life you can see the ways different times marked different seasons. A season to work, a season to learn, a season to rest, a season to play, a season to wait, a season to move, a season to transition, a season to settle, a season to be satisfied, a season to be challenged. So now the question is what season are you in now? For when we see the season we know better what to do. When we know it’s winter we know to bundle up avoiding the danger of the cold. When we know it’s time to wait we know not to push avoiding the frustrations that brings or the fall of moving too early. Sometimes it may be clear what season it is and other times it may take some searching, but with each season God is at work. In the ebbs and flows, ups and downs, coming and going He has a purpose for it all. So whatever season you are in know that there is a time for everything, having passed through the hands of the maker of the seasons.