Your story is not over until it is over. It's like a seed a farmer plants in good soil. With the advent of spring, it begins to bud. Once summer comes, it spreads its wings and blossoms. As fall approaches, leaves begin to fall, shedding unwanted fragments from past seasons. Shedding off the unnecessary. The irrelevant. And when winter comes, it dies or remains dormant...only to be resurrected again the next spring. And the cycle goes on and on. Like words in a book, smothered with commas and colored with cliff-hangers, so are the words that carefully detail your life's story. They keep speaking. They don't stop in the middle of a sentence.
Six days before the Passover,
Jesus came to Bethany,
where Lazarus was who had been dead,
whom He had raised from the dead. John 12:1 NKJV
Six days before Passover,
Jesus entered Bethany where Lazarus,
so recently raised from the dead,
was living. John 12:1 The Message
Six days before Passover,
Jesus entered Bethany where Lazarus,
so recently raised from the dead,
was living. John 12:1 The Message
One look at that verse and an epiphany comes forth. I stop reading once I realize that in the previous chapter Lazarus was dead.
Dead. Buried. No longer breathing.
One day he was living life to the fullest, having fun days with his sisters, Mary and Martha, and his friend, Jesus. And another day he was dead. But in this chapter, praise God, he IS alive again. In this chapter, he's referred to as the "Lazarus who had been dead, but who Jesus had raised from the dead."
Your Story is Alive. It might have paused, maybe even died, but it's alive again:
The details of Lazarus' life's story were only just unfolding at this time. His death was only a comma. A pause. A glitch in time. An ellipsis. A stint. And then his resurrection happened after that to show the glory and power of God.
You might be in a situation where you think it's the end of the world, but if only you could see through the eyes of God, you would give it one more push. You will be resurrected.
We die daily, but we also resurrect daily in Christ. We constantly die to things that are of no use to us. Every week, a truck comes to my neighborhood to pick up all the week-long thrash, disposed items deposited daily into the dark emptiness of a trashcan. So also are the things we die daily to. The things of the world that we lose: our old character, our fleshly desires, our old goals, our no-longer-used physical items (an old couch, old clothes, old lip gloss, old toothbrush).
I was a teenager once. Filled with young, ignorant desires. Sometimes excellently justified desires. Those were great times. The best of times and the worst of times. I remember spending long vacations with my siblings. Going swimming. Eating suya. Chicken and chips. VBS. Buying that bright pink Adidas tennis shoes that became my most priced possession because I bought them from a real Adidas store in Lagos (major thanks to my dad). I loved and was loved. I laughed and cried. I was full of life, and I still am.
However, now I'm in my late twenties (really!). But hey, I'm loving where I am. I have a wonderful husband. An adorable baby. A career that's gradually pushing me forward past boundaries I could never have imagined I'd be pushing (no, I didn't plan to be in this field). Right now, I have no limits to the things I can do. I know God wants me here, but I also realize now that my life is only just unfolding. Like Lazarus, some things in my life might have died, but I stand here to praise His name because I have been fully resurrected in Christ and I'm swimming in newly found grace for this beautiful dream of a life God has placed in front of me. I am somewhere still at the beginning of the book God wrote about me. So much is still ahead of me. I'm still pressing forward. Of course, I still have loads of things I want to accomplish and challenges to overcome. We all have those. But the key is dying daily to things of the world that are irrelevant to my purpose, and resurrecting daily in Christ. Learning daily. Gleaning wisdom. Feeling empowered.
What about you? Do you feel like this knowledge of being in a continuous unfolding story in the eyes of God has empowered you to live fully in the present? You should feel empowered too. You should feel encouraged and strengthened to press forward. Yes, grab God's hand. He's always been there waiting for you to realize that there's so much ahead of you. He has already seen the end, and it looks really good for you, if you believe. Don't you have God's Word? His Word is powerful and such an eye-opener and purpose giver. Here are some of the words He is speaking to you today:
God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good? Numbers 23:19 NKJV
He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also He has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end. Ecclesiastes 3:11 NKJV
When the Lord brought back the captivity of Zion, we were like those who dream. Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with singing. Then they said among the nations, "The Lord has done great things for them." The Lord has done great things for us, and we are glad." Psalms 126:1-3 (verse supplied by an amazing Lamp Reader @twitolufunke on Twitter)
When the Lord brought back the captivity of Zion, we were like those who dream. Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with singing. Then they said among the nations, "The Lord has done great things for them." The Lord has done great things for us, and we are glad." Psalms 126:1-3 (verse supplied by an amazing Lamp Reader @twitolufunke on Twitter)
I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last. Revelation 22:13 NKJV
Dear Readers, if there's something in your life that seemed really precious to you and it's dead today, don't stop living. Your life is still unfolding. Ask the Holy Spirit for the next step to take. If there's one thing you get out of this, I want it to be these words: "My life is still unfolding. God is making everything beautiful in my life right now. There's so much to be grateful for right in this moment. I will anticipate my future because God is not done with me yet. I will die daily to the things that are irrelevant to my purpose, and I will also resurrect daily to face newness in Christ."
Question: What is that one thing in your life that God is directing you to let go of, but you're still holding on to? I'd love to read your comment.
