Write a better story.

I finished Donald Miller's newest book- A Million Miles in a Thousand Years. It's a must-have, in my opinion. Especially if you long for something more to be made from your life. I am so intrigued by the elements of a story... by how a movie or a book can suck you in completely and manipulate your emotions in the perfect way to make you cheer for, hate, or envy a character who is not even real! It's an interesting thing, for sure. And the stories that Don is beginning to tell, and has already told in his life, are wonderful. And I love it because a great story basically all comes down to relationships. You don't have to travel to another country or do something no one else has ever done to write a good story. There's a Story being told all around us... we just have to find where we fit & how we can make it better.

When I grabbed this book off my shelf a minute ago I saw a travel journal that one of my friends bought me before I shipped off to YWAM. It's still empty. Yes, I wrote that story down in another journal, but it made me so desire to start another journey. To fill those pages with more encounters with God, with unique and beautiful people, with deeper truth about myself. I am so excited for the new season I am beginning.

I really like this quote from Don's book:

"Writing a story isn't about making your peaceful fantasies come true. The whole point of the story is the character arc. You didn't think joy could change a person, did you? Joy is what you feel when the conflict is over. But it's the conflict that changes the person."

How often do we, even a lot of us Christians, cling to the hope that we will not experience trouble, trial, conflict and pain in our lives? Yet Jesus himself promised us those very things. He says on another page, "And when you stop expecting God to end all your troubles, you'll be surprised how much you like spending time with God."

I've been convicted about that lately. Instead of seeking God for specific direction for my life all the time, maybe I should just sit down, open my mind and my heart, make some good coffee, and just talk. Talk about the day, talk about my dreams, ask what He is thinking, tell Him how thankful I am.

So today marks year number two since the tragic day at YWAM Denver. Tiffany and Phil-- man, you guys are missed greatly. It's hard not to linger on thoughts of what you might be doing right now if you had not been taken from here. But I am so encouraged because we are not those who are without hope. I know where you are is where I truly long to be... in the perfect, awesome, complete & restoring presence of our Savior King. Thank you for your stories & for the legacies you've left. We'll keep the Love Story going, even to the ends of the earth!

I was so moved by the afterword of this book. It's about what will happen at the end of all of our stories. I want to change it up a bit to fit my life experiences so far. And I challenge you to do something like this. Examine your life, your story, and see how much you have let it be His story. Because we should be more concerned with the Story than we are about ourselves. And because "the world needs for us to have courage; the world needs for us to write something better."

I don't wonder anymore what I'll tell God when I go to heaven, when we sit in the chairs under the tree, outside the city. I'll tell Him about the time in Nepal when chickens and goats were running through our houses, and when we would just stop and think about how wonderful this world is in all of its creativity. I'll tell Him how amazing the stars look from this side of Earth... how in that quaint, far away village you could see the wisps of the Milky Way. And I will thank Him for giving me these images of His glory.

I'll ask Him if He remembers all the times I cried myself to sleep as a little girl, and He'll look comfortingly at me and tell me He was there. I'll tell Him about all the retreats and youth trips and how much fun I had learning how to live for Him.

I'll tell Him about all the great laughs with the friends and family He gave me, and what I loved and appreciated about each and every one of them.

I'll tell him about the joys of giving to homeless people and missionaries and making sure kids had presents on Christmas morning. And He'll probably show me how big of a difference my dollars really made.

I'll tell Him about teaching kids His Word, and how amazing it was to see them understand the sacrifice of His Son. I'll tell Him about our Kids Camps and ask why it had to be so stinkin' hot in the summer time.

I'll share my favorite parts of His Word & all the sermons and messages that changed my life. He'll tell me how He worked everything out perfectly for me to hear them at that specific time in my life. Then He'll thank me for being obedient, and I will worship Him.

I'll go on and on about how marvelously He painted the sunsets, and how sweet and thoughtful He was to give me the opportunities He did. I'll be sorry for the ones I chose to miss out on, and He'll nod and agree that it was my loss, but insist that I carried out His plans for my life beautifully.

I'll tell these things to God, and He'll laugh, I think, and then remind me of all the parts I forgot, the parts that were His favorites. We'll sit and remember my story together, and then He'll stand and put His arms around me and say, "Well done," and that He liked my story.

And my soul won't be thirsty anymore.

Finally, He'll turn, and we'll walk toward the city, a city He will have spoken into existence, a city built in a place where once there had been nothing.