Writing into the Future
By: Susan Deborah Schiller
Day 9 of the Write to Freedom Mini Memoir eCourse
Life Story Writing Tip: We're on an adventure and it's a little like the dot-dot-dot road pictured above. I call it a dot-dot-dot road because sometimes it's there and something it's not. Remember those dot-to-dot coloring books?
Writing our stories is generally not a straight, linear line of storytelling. It's usually quite curvy and sometimes the path disappears for awhile. It's what causes us to stop and take a bearing on our surroundings, check the compass, make needed course corrections, and then continue the journey. Today's writing adventure will help us to bridge the gap between now and tomorrow, creating a story that will navigate us into the future.
When I first explored this dot-dot-dot road it took me through a burned out forest. The road was badly eroded and took me on a twisted climb up a steep hill and across rugged terrain. It was a bit scary, and there were times when I wasn't sure my four-wheeling skills were enough to prevent disaster! But I made it, and my little success turned into joy as I discovered I could do more than I realized… that I could navigate a dot-dot-dot road.
Such is the adventure of life. Sometimes there is no road and you have to forge ahead and chart your own path.
One day I learned the value of charting my own path as I wrote in my journal, hearing God's voice say to me: "Instead of writing about your past, I want you to begin recording the history of your future." I discovered it was an invitation to co-author the story of my life.
Through the amazing "coincidences" and "serendipity" of our life's twists and turns, most of us have discovered that Someone is directing our life story. When I study my life story, I begin to understand that I'm choreographed into a much larger production – His grand story – History.
You have a story to tell, that is as much a Gospel story as anyone else's, including Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. The Master Storyteller in each of our lives is the same Creator who designed the whole set, penned the scripts, and created the universe as our stage.
God is inviting us on an adventure to create the BEST stories we can imagine. In fact, our imagination is the key to writing our future, but it begins by listening to your own story. We must first KNOW our story before we can write our story!
Why Listening to Your Story is Critical
If you're feeling disconnected, disempowered, and just going through the motions of life, it could be that you've forgotten your storyline, the Master's cues, and your character's role.
Most of us don't like our stories. You see, God often sets us up, and we don't like the direction he takes. He writes a different story for us than we would choose for ourselves. Part of the resistance we run into, in writing our memoir, is that we don't like our story. The main reason we don't like it is because we don't yet understand it. We don't understand why God does things and doesn't do other things… and we feel we've made a mess of it all. We don't realize it's just the underside of life…
Corrie Ten Boom, holocaust survivor and author of "The Hiding Place," once taught a group of young teenagers the story of the Master Weaver. As she told her story, she held up a beautiful tapestry as she read her poem:
My Life is but a weaving
between my Lord and me;
I cannot choose the colors
He worketh steadily.
Oft times He weaveth sorrow
And I, in foolish pride,
Forget He sees the upper,
And I the under side.
Not til the loom is silent
And the shuttles cease to fly,
Shall God unroll the canvas
And explain the reason why.
The dark threads are as needful
In the Weaver’s skillful hand,
As the threads of gold and silver
In the pattern He has planned.
He knows, He loves, He cares,
Nothing this truth can dim.
He gives His very best to those
Who leave the choice with Him.
We see the underside, the shadowlands, but there's so much more! We can't tell our story until we know our story, and that is the purpose of these activations. It's God who wants to be found in your story. He wants to be seen and known in our life!
There is something special and unique about you – a story that is original and irreplaceable – and He wants to SHINE through you! That's what happens when we listen and allow God to tell us our story, from the upperside of the tapestry!
Your story and my story are merged with the stories of the other characters in our life: parents, teachers, friends, pastors, neighbors, bosses… None of us is an island to ourselves, and we can't begin to understand our story unless we study our relationships and name our friends and foes, and in doing so, understand how they have influenced our lives.
Dr. Dan Allender, author of "To Be Told," says:
"In many ways, the plot of our life is the story of humankind. It is about how we came to be who we are (Creation), how we lost ourselves (the Fall), and what it means to discover the name God has written for us (redemption), and how the ending of our story reflects the great consummation of God's story (his coming). Our plot is an encounter with the heartache and dreams and desires related to our personal tragedies – the events of our life that occur between fall and redemption and, ultimately, glorification."
Today's activation is to sit quietly with pen and paper near at hand. Ask God to show you your story, from His perspective, and invite Him to give you a glimpse of your next chapter(s)… what they can potentially be, if you take action corresponding to your faith. And then ask Him what steps you need to take to get to the next chapter, or to close the chapter you're currently living.
This is how many good writers write, in fact… starting at the end and then working back to the beginning. I wrote "Dare to Believe" as a step of faith, to activate the next chapter of my own life, and as always, I share it with you because I'm on this journey right beside you. And, I invite you to share your story with me!
With all my love,
Sue
Susan Schiller knows how it feels to lose everything: marriage and family, church and reputation, finances and businesses, and more. Susan's upcoming, interactive memoir, "On the Way Home," tells the story of how she came to be known as "the most abused woman" her counselors had yet met and how she learned to navigate her way out of hell to a rich and satisfying life. In her lifetime, Susan has served in duties ranging from home school mom – to pastor – to full-time deliverance minister – and to Midwest regional prayer coordinator for a large international ministry. These days you can usually find Susan soaking in her favorite hot springs pool, reading a book (or several), blogging, baking bread, or hanging out with her family and friends. You can get a free copy of Susan's upcoming book, "On the Way Home" by registering here.
Copyright 2014, Susan Schiller, http://TeamFamilyOnline.com. For reprint permission for any private or commercial use, in any form of media, please contact Susan Schiller.
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Thank you. I hadn't read ALL of Day 3, until now. Love ya!
🙂
day 9? What am I missing?
You haven’t missed anything – https://loveyourstory.org/members-access/ – contains an archive of activations. The password was sent via email in the Day 3 activation. If you need, let me know and I can resend it 🙂 You should receive Day 4 in a couple days. They are spaced so that no one gets overwhelmed with too much at once!