Don’t be a pen snatcher!

 

Don’t be a pen snatcher. I’ve been thinking about this today. If you’re confused, then that’s okay. Stay with me. I don’t have anything profound to share but I pray that you will be encouraged with what God has been working on me about.

In previous posts, I’ve talked about how God writes the script of our lives and how all too often, we are discontent with the story’s plot.

Sometimes in life, circumstances happen that throw our plans into disarray. We hit a bump in the road that sends us off the course we had planned. Unexpected things happen and before we know it, we wake up one day, realizing that this is not the life we planned and not the life we wanted. This is not the script we wanted written.

We had a totally different picture in mind. The picture of what we thought life would look like is vastly different than the reality.

I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately with the trials our daughter has been facing and the unfathomable plot twists in her story.

The script of her life is definitely not playing out the way she expected and it’s not how we, as her parents, expected either. No one could have foreseen what she has had to go through these past few years. No one but God, that is.

Are you struggling today with the way your story is playing out? Are you discouraged because the script of your life is not at all what you had planned? Are you frustrated with the season of life you currently find yourself in?

Maybe you are facing illness. Or maybe it’s the loss of a friendship. Or a very busy season that just won’t let up and let you catch your breath. Are you riding a wave of emotions that range from sadness to hurt, to anger, to bitterness?

Can I encourage you today to refrain from snatching the pen!

This is something I find myself doing all too regularly. I find myself dissatisfied with the story God is writing and so I try and wrest the pen from his grasp, feeling sure that I can write better than he can. Surely, I can change the story to suit me. Surely, I can write a better ending.

But I can’t. And spoiler alert, you can’t either.

God has all wisdom and all power and all knowledge. He knows the beginning from the end. He knows the future and so he is more than capable at holding the pen and writing our stories.

Our stories are often messy and unpredictable, full of ups and downs, twists and turns, but don’t you think that the God who formed the universe with his voice, the God who catches our tears in a bottle, the God who knows about each sparrow that falls to the ground, don’t you think he can handle your life’s story?

Not only is he able to go above and beyond what we ask, we are promised that he will do exceeding more than what we even think! What a beautiful promise.  

Ephesians 3:20-21a KJV - Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, Unto him be glory….

I want to remind you that although you can’t choose the life circumstances you go through, you can choose HOW you go through them.

Your peace, your joy, and your contentment are dependent on the choices you make.

If you’re struggling today with the circumstances you find yourself in, if you find yourself fighting against God as you try to snatch away the pen, if you feel as though you’ve reached the end of your rope, then don’t despair.

There is a simple remedy. LET GO OF THE PEN!

Stop fighting with the pen, stop tearing the pages out, stop adding pages in, stop changing the fonts, stop messing with the pauses, the commas, the chapter divisions.

Trust God with your story. Let go of the pen. Don’t try to change or rewrite it. Submit the writing to him and let him add in the plot twists and the joy and laughter, the hurt and tears.

God, the author of the precious Word of God we so casually hold in our hands, the Book of all Books, the greatest piece of literature ever written, inspired by God Almighty, penned by men of God, passed down through the ages, never able to be destroyed, the most beautiful love letter ever written, that same God can be trusted to write your story.

Let God take full control and rest assured that your story is in his hands.

He is the only one fully qualified to write the script of your life. Because of who he is, he is the only one that can write the story of your life and it be complete and according to his perfect will.

Just because the story we find ourselves in right now is not to our liking, doesn’t mean God is not working behind the scenes.

God loves to write the script of our lives and weave into it his love, his mercy, his compassion and faithfulness so that we will see him for who he is and it will drive us to worship and praise as we allow him to have first place in our lives, realising that but for him, we are nothing, and he alone is able to take our stories and make something beautiful of them.

He really is the best author there is. No matter what life looks like for you right now, God knows about it. He is writing your story. He knows the end of the story, and so he knows exactly what needs to be written in order to finish the book.

Don’t be a pen snatcher! Let go!

Trust in him. Delight yourself in him. Commit your way unto him. Rest in him. (Psalm 37)

Proverbs 3:5-6 KJV - Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.