I sat there next to him. My mom grabbed the kids from Children's Church and brought them down to us. We sat there. Together. The four of us. The screen came up. It was our story on the big screen. It was me rambling about not giving up and Chris sitting there quietly. In my defense, he did talk during the interview. It wasn't much but he did. The video is less than 10 minutes long. But when you sit there in your church and watch people hear your story. You are coming out. The dirt...yeah people are hearing it, looking at it. You are coming out. And that is rare.
I could easily tell you 10 stories of divorce without struggling to recall. I could get you more than 20 if you gave me some time to think. Maybe 30. Ugly stories. Stories of regret. Stories of pain. Let's flip the script though. Tell me a story of reconcilliation. A story of a couple that battled and made it through. Someone that overcame the odds and made it to the other side. I have TWO. And I don't know either of those couples. I want to know them and talk with them but since they are a friend of a friend it would come off a little stalkerish and well that just normally doesn't go well. Why don't I know stories of couples that have battled and succeeded. Because Satan sucks! We hide. We cover up. We just don't share our dirt with people. WHY?? Let's open the Bible and read stories of hookers, sinners, tax collectors, and oozing wounds. Then we go into the church and we are perfect , coordinated and pretending. I am not saying that we need to go out and tell the cashier at Target that we just kicked our husband out of the house earlier and that this whole container of Ben and Jerry's will be eaten alone in the tub after we put the kids in bed tonight. That would be oversharing. Although, I do tend to overshare
The video happened. People watched. Friends were surprised. This part made me feel about two inches tall. I hate when people are fake. And yet they were surprised. Maybe I don't overshare as much as I thought I do. My favorite part was when people wanted to talk. See the talking part is my favorite part of Jesus' ministry. That and the eating. I love that he loved to eat with people in their homes. I love when people have me over to feed me. But the talking....that's when hearts are changed. I listened to people that were touched and that made coming out worthwhile. Then I could breathe. I was out. Weeks passed and there were no negative ripples. No repercussions.
Then the video was shared on our church's Facebook page. It was late in the evening and like all mature adults I was laying in bed playing on Facebook before I went to sleep. I clicked "share to timeline" and went to sleep. I woke up the next morning and the amount of likes, shares, private messages, text messages and comments blessed my soul. You TOLD your story. You shared with me the battles you had been through or were going through. You blessed my soul. You were honest and as a result of that I knew to pray for you and how to pray for you. When we did the video, I decided that I wanted to touch ONE MARRIAGE. Just one.... I am sure that I make God giggle often.
Here is what I would ask you. SHARE YOUR STORY. Tell someone. For the love of pasta...talk to someone about what you are going through or have went through. Share. If you don't think you have anyone to tell. Tell me.
If you haven't seen the video click the linky below. Right now I just feel super excited that it has been viewed 109 times. Although, I must confess nine of those have been me. Call me lame but I sit in AWE of what God brought me and my family through.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQjTcCEVcNs
No comments:
Post a Comment