True Story

I am a storyteller
Quite brilliant if I do say so
I tell them tales they want to hear
And they believe it's me they know
But you know better
Chorus:
You see my imperfections
Still you say I'm a masterpiece
A marvelous reflection
The image of Yourself in me
You paint with strokes of grace
Undoing my disguise
You say beauty lies
in the true story
excerpt from True Story by Ginny Owens (from the album Something More)

We all tell stories. Sometimes we tell them so often we believe them - good or bad. Not all of them are true, even if we have come to think they are.

I once wrote a monologue and performed it at church. It was called The Real Me. It wasn't extremely flattering, but it was how I viewed myself and how I thought others viewed me. I was terribly afraid that when all the skeletons fell out of the closet, those people who once were my friends wouldn't be any more. That's how I look at the things I did BC (before Christ) and unfortunately several things that happened after I accepted Jesus as my savior. I had a judgmental streak a mile wide (through the grace of God its down to maybe a quarter mile wide now) and I thought I would be shunned if people "knew". Because that's what Christians do right - they shun you if you're not like them.

How wrong I was. I've met so many broken people who have been healed through God's strokes of grace. And now they share their experiences - actually tell others of their shortcomings and failures. And what an encouragement it is.

Because we don't have to be perfect. We don't have to be do-it-all, know-it-all supermoms (or super dads, or super friends)

We don't even have to be super Christians.

We have to be authentic.

We have to be true.

Because our whole life is a story. The trials we have help us grow (if we handle them right) but they can also help others overcome their struggles. God takes us places we don't want to go to teach us things we need to know. And to share what we've learned with others so they know they aren't going it along.

Because my whole life is a story ...
Of where I've been
And where you've brought me to
Of who I am
All because of you
excerpt from True Story by Ginny Owens (from the album Something More)

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