“But I have this sense that the story God has begun to write he will finish. That story will be good. The accident remains now, as it always has been, a horrible experience that did great damage to us and to so many others. It was and will remain a very bad chapter. But the whole of my life is becoming what appears to be a very good book” (p. 212) –A Grace Disguised
If you want to know the backstory to the book A Grace Disguised, you can click here to read the story behind the book, and the experience of loss by the author.
I've loved this quote for a number of years. In life, whether it's a loss, grieving, death, or something else, we WILL have bad chapters. That certainly is a promise for our life. But just because it's a bad chapter doesn't mean that your entire life will be a good book. You can choose to learn from the bad chapter, but you can also choose to end the chapter, and to allow your life story to be a very good book. And, just because the whole of your life is a good book doesn't discount the fact that the chapter was bad.
When you read a book or watch a movie, imagine if there was no tension, drama, fight, or "action". It wouldn't be a very good or entertaining story, right? We need some of the "bad" to help make the story good. Isn't that true with life as well?
When you're in the midst of pain and suffering remember that it's a chapter, and it's not the whole story. This will be part of the story, but the story can still be great!
What a lovely message. I've been blogging about such things for Mental Health month as well. Glad to be following now.
ReplyDeleteGreat message. Reminds me of the gospel song the storm is passing over. It is hard to feel like bad times will pass when you are in the midst of the bad. But they will. I think it is also important to remember, during good times, that they will pass to so that you can appreciate them all the more.
ReplyDeleteThanks for linking up for Flashback Friday. Link of every Friday on www.casing-joy.com