John 9:24-25, Judges 11:2-7, John 4:7-30, Luke 4:18-22, 2 Corinthians 10:5, Daniel 11:32, 2 Samuel 12:24

Men and brethren, everyone has a story and every story has pieces that make it unique. The great thing about life is that no two stories are the same. There are billions of people in this world and none are like you. You are unique. Your entire life journey including your upbringing, challenges, your hard learned lessons, your experiences, achievements and gifts, are all a series of footprints that have brought you to this very moment in time. How you tell your story can define you, it can make you a Captain and celebrated, or it can make people use it as an instrument of oppression. You will not go far in destiny if you hang on to stories of self-pity and humiliation. David told his story of triumphing in the bush, and it paves way for the dethronement of Goliath. I pray for you today, Heaven shall use that your story to become the stepping stone to your greatness. 

The Samaritan woman was telling Jesus the story of Abraham and hid her own story. But Jesus was not there to condemn her but to set her free and grant her the opportunity to drink from the living water. When her eyes opened to the truth, “The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.” John 4:7-30. She realized, she must tell her own story to key into the Abrahamic inheritance and blessings. What is your Story? I declare, may it lead to your miracles. 

We all have those stories we tell ourselves about ourselves, the ones we have been telling ourselves for years about who we are, why we have the experiences we have, what explains the things that happen to us, and how our pasts have influenced our current lives. Sometimes these stories are positive, as in “I’ve been through so much and I’ve come out the other side a stronger person” or “I’m a really great friend” and others are not so positive, such as ‘I’ve always been lonely” or “I’m not creative. “These stories inevitably stem from actual experiences we’ve had, whether having our attempts to be creative criticized or from repeatedly being told that we’re a good friend, but whether positive or negative, our personal narratives never tell the entire story of who we are. You may be a great friend much of the time, but there are times when you’ve not been; you may have felt a lot of loneliness in your life but there have been lots of times when you’ve felt connected, too. Men and brethren, sometimes we allow others to tell our stories, and we are stuck from the negative experiences like Jephthah. Every person you walk or drive past on the street has their own story. Every person in front of you in line at the shopping mall has their own story. Every friend and colleague in your life has their own story. Today,  anyone here suffering, humiliated by the stories others told about you, Heaven shall set you free. Things will happen for you to be vindicated. 

What is your story? Many of us have stifled our life by heeding some misguided critic who implied we were not good enough, forgetting that failure is an event, not a person. The brothers of Jephthah the Gileadite told his story even though he was a mighty warrior. They said to him and to any who cares to listen “You are not going to get any inheritance in our family,” they said, “because you are the son of another woman” Judges11:2. But they remembered Jephthah when they were in trouble Judges 11:7. I decree, all those who have told wrong stories about you shall come begging you for assistance; they shall come asking you for a favour, the Lord shall make you their head.

Right where you are, the people who get us deserve us. The people who don’t like our stories are welcome to keep looking. We don’t need them, and we’ll get stronger when we glide right past them on our paths. The truth is that, life will constantly test your resolve and level of commitment. Therefore, never let success get to your head and never let failure get to your heart.

Every great story involves a problem or challenge to be solved by the characters of the story. An interesting challenge is what turns a boring list of everyday events into an interesting and exciting story for others to see and appreciate. The challenge creates tension and you can discover who you are and pass on valuable life lessons when you tell your story. Therefore, whoever has experienced the power of God has a story to tell. Telling your story is the easiest way to preach the gospel. People may argue with your message, but they can’t argue with your experience. When God backs up your story with grace, it has the power to birth faith in a lost soul. Like the blind man who had waited many years for a miracle “Then again called they the man that was blind, and said unto him, Give God the praise: we know that this man is a sinner. He answered and said, Whether he be a sinner or no, I know not: one thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see.” John 9:24-25. The greater the difficulties we have overcome, the more powerful our stories are for evangelizing. God can turn our experience into a salvation story for others.

Jesus opened the book and read the scriptures that concerned him and then he declared his own story “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” Luke 4:18-22

What do you believe and why do you believe it? What do you know and why do you know it? We know with our hearts. Our body tells us what we know. Our mind processes and decides based on old information. It’s time to create the story we want to live in to. And become that story ourselves. It’s time to not be afraid. To listen again. And know that anything—everything—is possible.

All of us have a point of view on the things that happen to us that we articulate in form of a story about our lives. We story family struggles, the loves of our lives, friendships, and ups and downs of circumstance and the ways we manage them. We even story the funny things that happen to us through the day. Our stories disclose our goals and aspirations, fears, identity and self-worth, the roles we choose to play in life, the way we handle adversity and the values and beliefs that we hold dear. We may not choose what happens to us, but the stories we give to experience are ours alone. In summary,

Number One: Consider our thoughts and feelings, even the ones that you may be trying to avoid or deny. We have to put them under subjection to the word of God. 2 Corinthians 10:5, 1 Corinthians 15:27,

Number Two: Generate the understanding and meaning from this process of knowing who you are in Christ. This process will open you to the role that best serves the aims, goals, and purpose of your whole life. ”Who are you?” is the question here. You may decide that you need to exercise more self-oriented aims at this stage of your life. Perhaps, you decide that a complete game change is wrong for you, because you’ve been living the life that feels most authentic to you. Jephthah knew he was a mighty man of valour, he has the secrets that the town was looking for, he knows the answer to the questions, he knows God. Daniel 11:32

Number Three: Pick up on the stories already inside of you that perhaps you have forgotten, missed, or lost. These stories that have been in pushed into the background of your awareness often contain aspects of your personality that you can use to start a new chapter in your life. Reach deep inside of you to find parts, put them together and run with them. We all encounter transitions in our lives when we must struggle to make sense of the dots of our past. We make decisions to either wallow in their disarray, sweep them into the dustbin and start over, or carefully arrange them into some semblance of order. And there is order if we sharpen our pencils and do the work. The work of crafting our story. There comes a point when we choose to no longer suffer with the guilt or regret of our past and to brush away the dust to find the lessons. Then we move forward. That is the work. “Then David comforted his wife Bathsheba, and he went to her and made love to her. She gave birth to a son, and they named him Solomon. The Lord loved him” 2 Samuel 12:24

The story framework that results from these three steps should serve as a bridge to your future. This is the story line that will be most instrumental to your personal growth. How will you know it? Your gut resonates deeply with your story. Yes, that’s right, you will say. And, your whole body will relax in response to it. Don’t behave like a zero when God has made you a hero. Satan is not intimidated by the size of your bible or how many times you attend church. He is intimidated by your character. He knows when you have not submitted yourself to God. Holiness is not necessarily the absence of sin but the presence of repentance. Saul disobeyed God and David committed adultery and murder. The difference between these two is that while Saul was too proud, David was repentant.

Finally, you are more than the culmination of your past misfortunes and present dire circumstances. We must connect the dots of our life lest we wander and suffer. They consist of our core values, scattered with the breadcrumb trail of our decisions, a sprinkling of our hope and trust for what is possible, bound together by a thick black line of acceptance for what we cannot change and allow God to turn our mess into a message to our greatness. And “We can say, I was blind, now I can see. I was in lack and now I have in surplus; I was barren but now, I am a mother of children”.