Episode 24 - The Practice of Villains
“… and I started to felt feel the invitation to tell my story differently, which also meant I had to realize I had a very specific way I was telling it in a very dualistic good, bad, right, wrong, hero, villain, victim villain kind of way”.
In this episode, I want to invite you into a discussion on how we tell our stories. We all have stories about the things that have happened to us, to the events that have shaped us. And most of the time the story includes a victim or a hero, and a villain. When we do this, someone becomes the center of our story. What if we could re-frame our stories so that Jesus was the true center of our story, he was the hero, the protagonist of the story?
Steps to Reframing:
Look at your story.
Where was God always calling you?
How was he always wooing you even as a young child, your story is probably way bigger than you realized it was.
Start with your story.
And then look at the versions of the stories you tell that have to do with how you were hurt.
Or how somebody hurt you or where you might be able to name a villain.
Where are those villains?
What is the story that surrounds those villains?
What part do they play?
What part do you play?
Tell the story.
Don't shrink back from this part. It's easy to want to. I wanted to skip over this part and go right to I got to forgive. I know you don't want to be the unmerciful servant.
But you can't forgive until you've named what happened and you've grieved what happened.
Tell the story of what happened.
Name your villain.
Because you can't let go of that until you name it.
And then take that story and read it to God.
And then go find some silence and solitude.
Spend an hour or two to just listen.
Listen to what God has to say.
Listen to what he had to think.
What did he think when these things were going on?
How does he feel about that other person?
And then see what God has to do.
See what miracles He comes up with.
What space he creates for you to
maybe start to being curious.
