Grieving Our Hard Stories - a 6-Day Devotional on Living GriefSample

That Day She Took The Chance

One of the things I love most about God is His creative genius as a story-writer. For example, how does a prostitute become a biblical hero? And more than that, how does she become part of the lineage of Jesus?

Remember Rahab? The young Canaanite woman living in Jericho? Rahab was a prostitute who knew little about God but was willing to step out in faith to help two Israelite spies. Rahab believed in something bigger than her people's false gods, and we find in the book of Joshua a young woman with a stirring inside her. God was not hindered by her past. He had an important plan for Rahab, and as she steps out in faith, she begins to experience Hope.

There was a time when I believed my divorce disqualified me from being effective in ministry. I started to believe that my past would taint my purpose.

But God

But that’s not how God works. God is in the business of using our difficult past - our grief, our disappointments, our broken roads and sharp edges - to bring hope and healing to others.

I don’t imagine Rahab knew when she took the chance with the spies that we’d be thanking her hundreds of years later. But here we are. Her choice to step out in faith, even though her story of grief was heavy and hard, has inspired many of us to do the same.

That’s how God works. He takes our hard stories, our grief-worthy history, and weaves redemption. He makes us ministers. Not in spite of our grief, pasts, or hard stories but because of them.

Because what God did that day reminds us that He is always weaving a beautiful storyline. Regardless of our choices and the choices against us, God is working everything for good. And we can trust Him to bring beauty from our grief stories.

What parts of your hard story has God used for good? If you listen deeply to the desires of your heart, what do you think God would like to do through your grief and healing?