As writers, we love to think up a good backstory to a character we’ve created. We know that without a compelling backstory our characters feel and read like cardboard cutouts on the page.
But what about your own life? What if you’re trying to hide your backstory from others so they don’t see your broken parts? What if God wants to use your backstory to help other people see Him more clearly? Because it’s your backstory that helps your faith to grow more deeply.
For the most part of life, our backstory isn’t that thrilling. There are parts that don’t really make for interesting reading and we tend to gloss over them as we go along our journey. However, God sees everything you do because He knows those are the moments that shape you. He knows your internal and external conflicts right down to the last detail. He understands that wound that affected you when you were a child or that friend who betrayed your trust when you thought they’d be in your life forever.
IN THE MOMENT.
This is the reason why we keep reading and re-reading the stories in the Bible. We wouldn’t be able to celebrate David finally becoming king unless we knew his backstory. Like David, we will face our Goliath and our Saul before the promise God gave you comes to pass. Joseph’s backstory was what made him become prime minister over Egypt. Every trial and test were shaping and moulding Joseph to not just become a good leader but a great leader. It would be so easy to judge him, dressed in his Egyptian clothes and living in Pharaoh’s palace unless we knew the agony of his backstory.
Many Bible heroes had to overcome family circumstances and social class to be all that God made them be. God is very big on developing your character, and it’s through your backstory that you learn the most valuable lessons. Conflict is what makes a story about success good. It’s in those key moments that God is doing a great job in you, so you can reach out to someone else and tell them, “I’ve been where you are and it’s going to be okay.”
Your testimony is like a diamond cut from a rock that was hard and difficult to get to. Precious moments that helped to clarify the value of the stone. It’s in the moment that we look back and see how much we’ve grown. It’s in the moment when we’re writing our stories that we’ve gained so much wisdom through our backstory.
A relationship is what God wants more than anything with you, my friend. So, don’t pretend you don’t have a backstory. Don’t gloss over the lessons you’ve learnt along life’s journey. Own your story, it’s part of who you are. Because it’s in those defining, significant moments that God uses your voice in the most powerful and unbelievable ways.
Wendy xo
I love this post, Wendy! Thank you for encouraging us to remember God is writing our story – and He isn’t finished yet! Xx
Yes! He is the Author and Finisher of our faith. W 😘
Thank you very much for this very inspirational post! Our God is an Awesome God and I know that He is still working on me! God Bless you for this very helpful and very inspirational post. Thank you.
You are so welcome, Alicia! 😘
This touched me deeply, dear Wendy. My backstory still resonates in me today. As authors, we don’t begin with the back story but weave it through our protagonists’ characters as in real life. Nobody knows but Jesus what has happened in our past, but how wonderful to realize He knows us through and through and gives us His Holy Spirit to guide, encourage and strengthen us in our life.
Thank you Rita for your lovely comment. Yes, our backstory is so much a part of who we are and God uses the good and the bad to help us to extend our hand out to someone else who just needs a ‘kiss’ from heaven. W 😘