Life is a beautiful thing. Our beginning is a cell, and somehow we
are woven into the creation of a thinking, breathing, walking human being. DNA makes our character, our emotions and what makes us feel alive.
When our souls feel crushed and our hearts are broken, our eyes know how
to cry. When joy bubbles inside of us, our mouths remember to smile.
We
grow, we walk, we laugh, we cry, we bleed, we run. Only a God
so magnificent and all-powerful could have created us. He made an
never-ending universe with galaxies full of stars, a blanket over heaven
laced with holes, a glimpse of glory.
And still, He thinks of us. Still, He knows our name. Still, He holds our hearts.
He created life. He created people.
People are absolutely incredible. We have stories and hurts, wounds and scars, hidden loss and joy, desires and laughter. Yet we only reveal the things we want people to see and hide the things we are terrified that they might see. There is so much more to us than meets the eye.
And this summer, I met some beautiful people. Their stories have images that barely scratch the surface of who they are. Their eyes reflect the love of Christ and their smiles promise us that we are not alone in our battles. I heard testimonies of people who have walked through incredible pain and come out on the other side healed by Christ. Each and every one was so different, yet so alike.
I met a little boy with a tender heart searching for love, the true Love. Children who's stories I pray aren't quite finished yet. I have seen joy etched on a child's face when she knew her Savior was in her heart.
I have met girls who just have a desire to fit in, a desire to be beautiful by this world's painful standards. Girls who pray that life won't turn out the way they fear. Girls with such precious spirits and a desire to follow God and just figuring out how.
God made us all so different, and we can't hold back because of that. He made us with different gifts, physical and spiritual.
He made us so we could guide each other, hold hands when it's dark and we are blinded by our selfish hearts in the middle of trial.
The stories that felt so painful at the time, when the pen was dragged across the tender spot of your heart, was beautiful when the words were aligned and the dark ink was shining from the light.
God doesn't waste a story with a tear-jerking middle. He doesn't waste a climax that makes you want to rewrite the entire story. He ends every story with a purpose. With a testimony.
This summer I saw my testimony used. I felt my faith stretched. I know God's not finished with me yet. Sometimes I wish He were, because I feel like I'm at just the right point, like I could stay right here forever. But He has more. More hurts, more smiles, more trials, more joys. So I trust that as this summer of my life that was just a beautiful chapter in the book of my life closes, the rest of the book will be wonderful, no matter where the Author of my life thinks my character needs to be tested and stretched. He has the pen, and I've given Him the tablet of my heart.
