Your Story
By now you know I love the spiritual truths told through the imagery of Narnia and the adventures undertaken there. This Aslan moment from “A Horse and His Boy” is no different. In this juncture of the story Shasta finally comes face-to-face with Aslan though he has interacted with him several times before. Actually, Shasta wrongly believed he had met multiple bad lions. Shasta comes to realize that he is not only being followed by an unknown presence but that this presence is the very thing he fears the most. It’s in this moment of great fear that Shasta begins a conversation with Aslan and it is with this conversation that he learns some great life truths.
“Who are you?” he said, barely above a whisper.
“One who has waited long for you to speak, “ said the Thing
Have you ever had a moment where you have been too busy to talk to God? Maybe you didn’t realize you needed to speak with Him or maybe you were intentionally keeping busy because you didn’t want to speak with Him? I’ve done it all and I’ve come to realize that regardless of the situation God is always waiting for me to speak. He is a loving Father who wants to be a part of your life. He wants to hear your hopes and fears and concerns and dreams but He will often wait until you decide to open up and much like Shasta, those moments often come when we are alone and at our wits end.
As Shasta realizes that Aslan isn’t to be feared he begins to lament to the great lion about all his worries and problems but much like in our lives, Aslan explains how he has the wrong perspective on many of these troubles. In fact, many of his “problems” came from Aslan, Himself, which led Shasta to ask about an earlier moment involving one of his traveling companions.
“Then it was you who wounded Aravis?”
“It was I.”
“But what for?”
“Child,” said the Voice, “I am telling you your story, not hers. I tell no one any story but his own.”
What a brilliant bit of truth for our lives held in a children’s story. I think as we grow in our Christian journey we eventually come to the same awareness as Shasta. I remember my moment of having this discussion with the Lord which came with two realizations.
The first was in comparison. I didn’t like how some things in my life were going, especially in comparison to others around me so I began to question God on why He was or wasn’t doing certain things. I very graciously gave God a chance to explain Himself on the off chance that He had a good reason for His decision instead of just making a huge mistake like I imagined. The Lord gave me a very similar response as Aslan. I only need to worry about my own part in the story and no one else’s. I couldn’t, and still can’t, see all that is being done. So often I try to live life like I can see all the pieces and that’s simply not reality. I could no more dream up all the Lord has working together than I could design the night sky.
The second realization came from my prayer life and involved several prayer needs that I felt laid on my heart and prayer journaled about. That’s where I got “too big for my britches” again. I like to highlight my journal when the Lord answers my prayers as a visual reminder of His faithfulness. However, there were several prayers that I couldn’t highlight because I didn’t know the outcomes and that really bothered me so I naturally complained to the Lord. He lovingly reminded me that it wasn’t my business. I was called to pray about the situation. It was not my job to accomplish the outcome nor was it my business to find out the conclusion. I was called to pray and trust His faithfulness. Why did I feel the need to “check in” on what He was doing? It was such a great lesson in letting go of what isn’t my portion or purpose.
I find that so many of my frustrations, heartbreaks and discontentments come from viewing someone else’s story from the outside and thinking that I know all that is going on in God’s great plan. I’ve said before that comparison kills and that is still true. Maybe it is easier to focus on someone else’s story because we feel disappointed with ours or we know we have failed in our journey. I think I’ve come to learn that in these moments we need to ask the Father to tell us OUR story again. Ask the Father to give you direction and clarity so that your story will be a beautiful chapter and testimony in His overarching plan for creation. Without your story pages would be missing and the book simply wouldn’t make sense so hold tight to the beauty of a story that is being written only for you.
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