Empty pages and open books

Holly: I'm challenged by the message I heard today at church.  To sum it up in very, very basic terms, we as Christians are called to act.  Early on, we were asked that if we had our "book of Acts" written out, what would it look like? Would it be worth reading? (referring to the Acts of the Apostles in the New Testament).  I believe mine would look something like this:

Chapter 1: Holly starts going to church with her family.  Gets baptized when she's 10 years old.
Chapter 2: Holly goes to a different church with her family.
Chapter 3: Holly goes to church on Sunday and youth group on Wednesday.  This continues for several years.
Chapter 4: Holly goes on a mission trip to Nicaragua, and her mind and eyes are opened, her heart is full, and her spirit and faith are renewed.
Chapter 5: Holly goes to church on Sunday and youth group on Wednesday.  Decides Berea College is THE place to be.
Chapter 6: Holly survives her first few weeks of college, but then realizes that something is just not quite right with her and God.  After a long October night, and a long conversation between her, her sister, and God, she decides to start over with God.
Chapter 7: In May of 2009, Holly and her sister rededicate their lives to Christ, in front of their new church family.
Chapter 8: The years pass.  Times are great, times are hard, and Holly's faith journey is an up and down tirade of events, lessons, truths, prayers, introductions to Lord of the Rings and other things and people that strengthen her faith, etc, etc, etc.  But through that, she has grown with a church family that loves her, built relationships with numerous individuals, tried many different avenues for quiet time, and has done a lot of journaling...among many other things.  She realizes she has such a long way to go, but also recognizes how far God has brought her.
Chapter 9: ???

And that's where I am now.  I know that I am called to act, but to be honest, I don't know where to go from here.  Every day is a step of faith that I must take, trusting that God will walk with me and give me the discernment to make godly decisions and act in accordance with Him.  I don't know what my future holds.  But I thank God that He does!

The title of this post is "Empty pages and open books".  I'm continuing to write my "Acts" on empty pages, because there are so many possibilities out there.  The bible says that with God, all things are possible.  Walking with God is an adventure, and when He extends his unrelenting grace at the start of every day, He is opening His books of possibilities and choices for us.

Kelly: I came up with the title of today's blog based off a song in which the first line of the chorus goes "I'm an empty page. I'm an open book." God is ultimately the author of our stories and He writes our story. In my experience, mine has been full of uncertainty, tremendous joys and successes as well as darkness and despair. If I could title my story, it would be called "But God..." In my college days in the gospel choir we sang in our director, who was full of life and the Spirit, would often say "BUT GOD!" when a student shared a struggle or when we all got together in prayer and prayed for whatever was laid on our hearts. My role as a chaplain in that choir often had that two word phrase resonating in my head not as doubt but as hope. The word "but" usually precedes the "bad news" or something that isn't quite certain. In this case, it was a simple reminder for me to just stop and think "look at what God is bringing me through and what He brought me through." But God.

My story holds no powerful revelations. God hasn't spoken to me through burning bushes. I've never led thousands of people out of slavery, brought a dead man back to life, or calmed a storm with my hands. But God, that SAME God has written me a story that is like no other. My personality is God and only God; the joy of the Lord creeping up when needed. The truth is, I don't know what the rest of my story holds, but I know who's holding the pen, or at least I'm doing my best to get to know Him more and more. So should someone ever read my story, I'm not sure if it would be "interesting" or if anyone would actually want to read it. But that's the beauty of knowing other brothers and sisters; their stories are all different because we all serve the same God and He's made all of our stories different. I have seen God work in wonderful and mysterious ways not only in my life but in those around me. I've turned away from God and wanted to hold onto friendships that weren't meant to be, wanted to hear from jobs on my time, and say yes or no to whatever I wanted. But God welcomed me back each and every time, no questions asked. Ya'll, I'm not a perfect person, far from it. But when you get a not perfect person who is matched up with the perfect God who made her very existence here possible, that equals the greatest acts of faith, hope and love that nothing can buy. That to me is a story worth reading.