How would you tell your own life story?
Many cultures use stories to explain things in life that we don’t understand. Greek mythology often explained trials by blaming them on some god’s whims or personal vendetta. Luckily, our God is not like the gods of ancient Greece. Though our God doesn’t seek revenge or act on a whim, he does let trials happen in our lives—and sometimes we write him into our stories as a villain because of it.
PICTURE BY HENRY CO
In her article “Do You Need to Change Your Life Story?,” Angela Ahn says, “I had the mistaken belief that I had done something wrong to incur the displeasure of a wrathful God upon me.” When we are hurt by the trials in our lives, it’s easy to blame “a wrathful God.” Ahn realized that the problem wasn’t God’s treatment of her but the story she was telling herself. Once she understood that God was not the source of her problems but the support throughout her problems, she gratefully welcomed the role that God played in her story.
What stories do you tell yourself? How do you view your hopes and dreams, failures, and successes? Think for a moment. Do you need to change the way you present God’s role in your story?
God’s will is not a fleeting whim of a changing being, nor the calculated punishment of a wrathful avenger. God’s plan is one of love, mercy, and justice. When we write our stories in a positive light, we can, as Ahn wrote, “look back at [our lives] through the lens of gratitude.” Above all else, we can be grateful that our God is a God truly worth writing into our life stories.
Read more about Angela Ahn’s personal experience in her article “Do You Need to Change Your Life Story?”
Source: Liahona
—Abbie Call, Latter-day Saint Insights
FEATURE IMAGE BY VINICIUS WEISCHOFER
Take a look at Brigitte Madrian’s “Harry Potter and the 5 Gospel Truths” to learn more about using stories to understand the trials in our lives.
Read or watch more about writing God into your life story in Camille N. Johnson’s talk “Invite Christ to Author Your Story.”