A Real Life Bible Story

 11 years ago, I got a job as a file clerk in an office. All I had to do was know my A, B, C’s and place the files accordingly. Walking in every day became a process of tensing every muscle in my body, bracing myself for the sound of my name. For an angry voice to tell me I had done something wrong. I felt terrified because I thought I was too dumb to hold a job. A job that a 5-year-old could likely do...I thought it was too much for me.  

There are so many versions of myself that would be flabbergasted that I have completed my Master of Science in Marriage and Family Therapy degree. 

I remember telling people that I was going to be a marriage counselor when I was 16, but 16-year-old me and every version of myself between now and then weren’t ready to do the work. 

One of my very favorite people in Scripture is Abraham. What I really love is the beautiful way God fathers him. God takes him from a man who struggles to take even a step in congruence with His instructions to someone who trusts Him so deeply that, when God tells him to sacrifice his son, Abraham doesn’t just declare his faithfulness; he walks it.

I would never compare myself to Abraham, but I feel like God has walked with me in a similar way. He has fathered me beautifully. Sometimes, it feels like I’m experiencing a real-life Bible story.

He has taken me from a girl who was broken, believed she couldn’t be loved, was suicidal, and couldn’t tell the truth to save her life…to a girl who is still broken but healing by God’s grace, is grateful to be alive, and tells the truth radically.

From a girl who couldn’t stick to anything to a woman who maintained an A average over six years of school and has been happily married for almost 25 years.

I don’t tell you this to brag. I want to communicate what a miracle all of this feels like to me.

This isn’t a happily-ever-after story. Life doesn’t work like that. This is more like one of those vista points where you stop to look back over where you’ve been, take in the view, and then keep going because there’s still more to do.

“He who began a good work in me will bring it to completion…”