Story hour. Story power.
""There is an appropriate way to use your story, not as an excuse but as a testimony to God's ability to free you from the past." -Andy Stanley
I love a good story. I just heard one that completely blows me away because it is close and real. It will have to wait for another day... and to be honest, the end isn't yet written. I can see that God is still moving. So, it must wait. Waiting is hard.
Storytelling is a powerful tool for changing lives. Jesus used it in parables, but before that... he was actually present and engaged in helping people discover their story. There was an odd boy... actually a cousin named John... he grew up with. John and Jesus were boys together, family and friends. There were fishermen, tax collectors, doctors, tent makers and more who found their stories woven into the life of Christ during Earth years.
The longest conversation between Jesus and any one person is the Samaritan woman at Jacob's well. She was a woman tainted and wounded by life. She had been with husbands and was currently cohabiting with a man. What we don't know is the number of losses that led up to her place and station in life. How many betrayals, broken promises and hurts. There must have been something likeable about her. She was bold and curious in her conversation with Jesus. He shocked her by knowing her story and repeating it back to her. Her story became her testimony and her town was impacted for the Gospel.
What did she feel when he was crucified? Was she there or did she hear about it after the fact? We don't know. We do know that she changed and her story impacted her community. She knew almost instantly in her wounded, broken spirit that he had power and held promises he could keep. She is one of my all time favorite women in the Bible and she was a train wreck on paper.
All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is by his great mercy that we have been born again, because God raised Jesus Christ from the dead. Now we live with great expectation, -1 Peter 1:3
She was alive again after her encounter with the redeeming love of Jesus. Telling her story impacted those around her. It was his love, not his judgement that called her into a relationship. He knew her circumstances and her story, but showed her love and kindness. She was drawn by love, living water and the peace she felt in His presence.
This is when I imagine her addressing him by his Hebrew name... Yeshua. He became her Yeshua that day. The disciples were confused and tainted by a lifetime of biases about non-Jews. Jesus made clear at every turn that he had come to open the gates to all who would believe, repent and receive.
Many Samaritans from the village believed in Jesus because the woman had said, “He told me everything I ever did!” When they came out to see him, they begged him to stay in their village. So he stayed for two days, long enough for many more to hear his message and believe. -John 4:38-41
Today, I am grateful for the power of a story.
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