I Love a Good Story!

Megan Follows as Anne Shirley of Anne of Green Gables

Finished watching the first and second movies of Anne of Green Gables with my daughters tonight. I think they are thoroughly in love with Anne and Gilbert, at least in the movies... now to get them to love the books as well.... I love Anne Shirley, and I identify with her in so many ways... I love her Anne with an E!

My sister introduced me to Anne Shirley many years ago. She first loaned me her copies of the movies, and I can't even count how many times I watched them. Eventually, the vhs tapes were worn out and no longer worked, and I had planned to buy new copies for my sister, but that never happened...

Recently, a friend loaned me her dvd's of the first two movies in the series, and I cried in all the places I have always cried with these movies. Sometimes, my girls just stopped watching the movie to watch me. At one point, when Matthew Cuthbert died in Anne's arms, I was sobbing so hard, I could barely speak.

My 7 year old said, rather unsympathetically, "Mommy, why are you crying? It isn't real."

I whispered to her, "Because I have lost my sister..."

And then, she leaned over me and hugged me, and laid her little head on my shoulder.... and, just like that, my little girl learned empathy...

And that is why I love teaching Christian literature and watching movies that move my heart. I have told my co-op students that by reading good, Christian literature, we are given the opportunity to look at a conflict or dilemma ... some kind of problem... through the eyes of the author, and it gives us a chance to problem solve with them. We get to learn from the story the author's worldview, and through this, even if we disagree with the author, we get to think about our own worldview... we have the chance to have our thoughts and emotions shaped; convictions are formed and sharpened.

Forgive my passion on this subject, but I didn't really love great literature until I started homeschooling. I loved to read when I was little, but I didn't really have much opportunity for reading classic stories except the little that was introduced in textbooks. When I began homeschooling, it occurred to me that all these classic stories should be read if they are classics... I decided I needed to RE-educate myself. I started reading one each summer, and occasionally, I would read some during the school year... plus I read a few out loud to my kids... So much was learned through that time.... History, science and morality and death, anger, grief, and misery, redemption, virtue, and integrity, survival and loneliness, man's inhumanity to man.... and the strength of the human spirit...... it was all there.... all depths of human emotion came alive in those books.

And, you can't really imagine how important it has been to me that my children.... with all their dyslexic tendencies.... LOVE the blessing of STORY.... Granted, it is harder for the older boys to sit and read now that they are adults with jobs, but in their own way, they all love STORY... whether it is listening to audiobooks, reading books off my library shelves, going to a movie together on the premier night, acting in a drama, or telling their own stories in speeches in their classes, or just processing their day with me.... they do love story...

These stories are important because they reflect the REAL STORY.... We learn the most important story where we have a HERO who rescues and saves us from a villain who truly wants to destroy us. We read God's Word each day and we memorize the verses that will be hidden in our hearts for whenever the need arises to recall them to fight temptation and to encourage hope.
Our lives will play out in our own stories, and each chapter will reveal more and more of who we are and what we are designed and ordained to be... and the Author of all things... the Giver of Life and Death has written each page of our lives....
John Eldridge says in his book, Epic: The Story God is Telling:
"What if all the great stories that have ever moved you, brought you joy or tears-- what if they are telling you something about the true Story into which you have been cast?.....For when you were born, you were born into an Epic that has already been under way for quite some time. It is a Story of beauty and intimacy and adventure, a Story of danger and loss and heroism and betrayal."
It is an amazing thought, isn't it?

Now, I am teaching my younger four children the same, and I admit, the three girls are a lot easier than any of the boys ever were. My youngest son is a hard sell at his age.... but, I have no fear... because story is always a part of our lives in one form or another... He will learn this too, and I am patient.

I love a good story! <3

Sharing Your Testimony or Sacred Storytelling....

I heard a sermon about sharing your testimony... and then,  I watched "The Holy Spirit" movie on Bethel TV again... and thought about the different ways we share our faith.

Some really do believe their faith is private and not meant to be shared except by action alone...action is good, but, it goes against scripture that commands us "to tell."

Some believe that they have to "tell" in order to be accepted by God, and they work hard to be out telling people based on that false perception, but there is nothing we can do to be accepted by God. His acceptance is a gift, and is based on the sacrifice of His Son, not what we do....

Some believe that they have to scare people into becoming Christians, and while I agree that Hell is a scary place, I wonder how well someone's faith holds up when it has been based on fear alone? I would think a lot of joy would be left out....

Extroverts share in extroverted ways, and often have an easier time sharing with strangers, but God made introverts, too, and loves their gentle disciple- making, one-on-one ways... He pulls each out of their comfort zones at times, but He uses all personalities,  all temperaments, all learning styles, and all gifts, talents, and abilities.

Most of us, I think, understand that sharing our faith comes with a little bit of trepidation because we recognize the enormity of someone's salvation. We want to be open to the leading of the Holy Spirit, but we often become so focused on our own inadequacies, that we forget it isn't our job to convert. It is His.

Mostly, we need to realize that our story comes out of our gratefulness for all that God has done, and we don't have to share our story perfectly... or even completely (it would take forever for me to share EVERY thing God has done!)

But, as we listen to the Holy Spirit and share what we have learned in an appropriate situation, God takes our inadequacy and turns it into a "word in due season." It is He who does that. We just have to step out in obedience, and risk sharing... He often doesn't give the perfect word until our mouth is willing to open and share it. At least, that has been my own personal experience.

I am thankful that sharing my story (or, really, any story ;-) ) has not been something I have struggled with much, but I know that is not the case for everyone. I can tell you, though, if you are willing to share, He can use just about anything you say. Even when I have completely blown it and said all the wrong things, God still used it to touch hearts.

And, you know, if you do mess up, and He uses it, you have a greater sense of who He is and He gets all the glory!

Just sharing..... :-) <3

All Things.....

Today was a bad day.... and not only did I feel bad, but I felt very emotional all day long... I am pretty sure I have had at least 3 or 4 good cries today.... 

It isn't that my "suffering" is so horrible... I understand that others suffer more. Even I have experienced greater pain in the past... much greater than what I deal with daily now. I just watched "God's Comfort" with Joni Eareckson Tada on www.rightnowmedia.org. If you have access to this, you will be blessed if you watch anything on that website by Joni. In "God's Comfort," Joni spoke about living her life in a wheelchair after an accident caused her to become a quadriplegic... and also about her struggle with cancer and constant chronic pain in more recent times.

I could never measure my own brand of suffering against hers, but the wonderful thing about her is that she doesn't measure hers against mine either. She says, we all suffer in some way... it is part of life..... and so we do... Listening to her speak about her pain and suffering helps me to gain perspective, yet she speaks in such a relate-able way, I can empathize with her journey. I hurt for her.... I cry with her.

Even though I hate pain and fatigue and uncontrollable emotions, I am SO thankful for the level of empathy I have gained for others through these very things. There would be a loss of depth in my life if I had not encountered pain and suffering....grief and loss........ So, when I saw this meme, I loved it.... because people do get it wrong.... telling me to DO something ... believing that I can do whatever I want to do, if I just BELIEVE enough .... that changing my THINKING will change everything....that it is ALL up to me.... It is easier to tell a person what to do than to enter into their pain with them.

But, when I despair and become discouraged... it isn't so much because of pain and suffering as it is that I am struggling in the tension of walking out what it means to be content. What it means to have His strength flow through me EVEN WHEN my pain and fatigue do not leave me.... EVEN WHEN I feel defeated and discouraged.... EVEN WHEN I feel like my health issues are controlling me and making living life the way I WANT to live seem impossible..... EVEN WHEN I CAN'T do what others want me to do or what I want to do, nor even pretend like I can.... and even when I look perfectly normal to the rest of the world, but come home completely exhausted to my family.

Sometimes, I really do have to feel the weight of it, grieve a little, and then dust myself off and move forward. Not allowing me that moment of grief actually hampers my ability to make progress. Truly trusting the Lord comes out of acknowledging a loss fully, not in denying the loss. But, I have learned to avoid those who hamper or hinder my grief process, well-intentioned as they may be..... I just remember that Jesus is where I need to take that pain.... He gets me.... 

In the show I watched, Joni said to find others who need your empathy.... and I cried and said, "Lord, I can't do anything... I am exhausted...I don't feel good...how can I serve? " And, then just at that moment, a friend of mine tagged me on Facebook for a woman who had questions regarding miscarriage, and suddenly, I was using what God had given me to help another person. He is kind and gentle like that.... Someone else would've said, "Go find a way to serve.." which isn't bad, but isn't helpful either..... but He always seems to say, "Look up, here is someone now...." 

Sorry so long... it has been a long day.... but, in the nitty gritty of life, we all need the opportunity of a long day... because these are the days that remind us of where we draw strength.... and it reminds us that He loves us and won't abandon us... and that we can count on Him and His faithfulness.... In Him we CAN be content no matter the circumstances.... "I can do all things through Him who strengthens me...."