God: The Re-Creator by Rose McCormick Brandon

The students in my writing class, ranging from thirty-something to seventy-something, have compelling stories to tell. From my perspective, standing at the windows of their souls, I see God as a hero rescuer, running full-speed to save a child from flying bullets, to relieve an adult of trauma. I see Him kneeling by a drunk wounded from a fall after a night of heavy boozing. This fall will be the catalyst that leads him to say, "Things have gotta change." And they do. Over time. As God gently rearranges the man in spirit and body.

"God is writing His story," I tell them, "and He's writing it through you. Your story is a page in His book, a significant page."

Solomon marvelled at four mysteries: The way of an eagle in the air; the way of a serpent upon a rock; the way of a ship in the midst of the sea; and the way of a man with a maid. (Proverbs 30:19)

Solomon's short-sightedness shows. Yes, there's beauty and mystery in nature but, the greatest marvel is how God weaves Himself into the fabric of a human life. With each delicate stitch He re-creates the nature of a person, takes all their loose ends and knits them into a new pattern, something fresh and hitherto unimagined.

I didn't know my students when they were broken, terrified and threatened but their words transport me into their pasts. Their stories show me where they used to be. I see where they are now. 

Oh my, what a difference!

God at work - yesterday, today and tomorrow. Until He comes again and puts a stop to all work, He will continue to gather the damaged pieces of human lives and re-fashion them into works of art. .

God's story has many pages, including one with my name on it. One day, the last page will be written and His book will close. Until then, anyone who wants to can have their story included in His story.

Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written. John 21:25

Rose McCormick Brandon is the author of four books, including, Promises of Home - Stories of Canada's British Home Children. Visit her blogs, Listening to my Hair Grow and Promises of Home. Her books are available at http://writingfromtheheart.webs.com

Writing Your God Story by Rose McCormick Brandon

I’m teaching Writing Your God Story at my church, the second go-around for this six-night workshop. No one gets more out of these classes than I. As prophets of doom condemn the world and one is tempted to believe that nothing good is happening, stories of redemption pour forth from my students and fill my soul with hope. Their stories remind me that God is always working in human hearts.

One tells his story of a life of addiction to food and alcohol. Until three and a half years ago. That’s when he met Jesus and His life began to change. Today, he’s one hundred pounds thinner and sober. And eager to tell his story.

A young woman born in a refugee camp in Rwanda to a praying mother tells how God saved her life more than once. As a child she stood on the bridge over the river as thousands of bodies floated by. I recall this image as it appeared on the news. She was there, present, viewing this horrific scene. Today, she’s the founder of an organization that supports Rwandan children.

A man writes of his healing from cancer. Another writes in creative non-fiction style about the darkness of his past. The big stories of forgiving abusers and God’s intervention in hopeless cases should be told. But so should the small stories, those everyday miracles of finding a lost item, obeying a nudge from God to call a friend, a check appearing in the mail box on the day the rent is due – this is where people live and they want to know that God cares.

It’s important to tell our stories. Tell where we came from, where we’re headed and what has happened along the way.

Personal stories remind us of God’s goodness. They inspire faith. 

Keep all God’s salvation stories fresh and present. Micah 6:5 (The Message)

Our stories are important because they intersect with God’s story. View your life story as one page in God’s massive book.  God is still writing His story, and He’s writing it in our lives. C. H. Spurgeon wrote, “On a small scale, we have repeated a portion of early church history in our own personal stories. The life of the believer is the life of Christ in miniature.”

If we only speak our stories, they will be forgotten. But, if we write them, they will remain.

Our God stories are our best witnessing tools. Let’s keep telling them.

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Rose McCormick Brandon is the author of four books, including, Promises of Home - Stories of Canada's British Home Children. Visit her blogs, Listening to my Hair Grow and Promises of Home. Her books are available at http://writingfromtheheart.webs.com

Evening Class by Rose McCormick Brandon

I stood at the library counter to check out a book by one of my favorite fiction authors.

“Did you know Maeve Binchy died?” the woman at the desk asked.

I hadn’t heard. As happens when favourite authors die, I felt a twinge of personal loss. No more quirky Irish characters tripping through Dublin’s streets with the threads of Maeve’s stories unwinding behind them. I expressed my regret to the librarian who was pleased to find someone to share her grief.

“I went to Dublin to visit my brother,” she said. “When I was there someone pointed out Maeve’s house to me. I saw her sitting in her study at a window that looked out on the Irish Sea.” 

A writer engaged in the business of writing – a treasured sight.

Our private memorial ended and I left the library with Binchy’s book, “Evening Class,” tucked under my arm. In the story, several unlikely Irish people enroll in a night class to learn Italian.

My reading of the book coincided with the beginning of my own evening class.

At the first class, I asked my students, “What is it that you want to write?”

Each person had a story to tell. I had expected that. What surprised me was the intense tragedy of their stories. Three of them had faced life-altering traumas. For them, the time had come to put those experiences in publishable form.

After that first evening class, sorrow for their sufferings kept me awake.

At our second meeting, students read early drafts aloud. In worshipful voices, they told of transforming experiences. Each had been to a corner of hell and found God there. They had poured their pain onto the page.

Now, they struggled to transition to the miracle phase of their stories.

Unlike Maeve Binchy’s humorous class my little gathering’s atmosphere hummed with holiness because the Writer of Redemption Stories sat at our work table.

A twenty-something wrote about a bleak night in the city’s downtown core that became a turning point. She wrote of God healing her from addictions. Her sufferings as a child would make most people turn to drink and drugs. Today, she’s sober and at peace. She wept as she read her story. The rest of us wept with her.

The intersection where our stories collide with God’s story is called Grace. Grace overlooks our dependencies, takes pity on our sufferings, reaches into the darkness that shrouds and rescues us. Grace hugs the unhuggable. Grace sees the crying child within and doesn't judge by outward behaviour. People need the grace stories my evening class is producing. Readers' hearts will ache and rejoice when they see God’s byline embedded in these stories.

If you met them, the darlings in my evening class, you wouldn't believe where they've been. You might gape as I almost did when one by one they read their stories.

Maeve Binchy's Evening Class is made up of off-beat characters who entertain me. I love the lilt of their language, their odd approach to life. But they are fictional. My evening class consists of real people who have waded through darkness, endured pain to get to the place where their God stories shine. They’re willing to relive the suffering, which is what they must do to write their stories.

Why would they willingly wade back into the sorrow? So the world will know that Jesus is still writing grace stories.

Nothing surpasses the power of the personal story to impact lives. Our testimonies begin long before we become aware of them and they will continue long after we’ve left earth . . . if we write them.

 

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Rose McCormick Brandon is the author of four books: Promises of Home - Stories of Canada's British Home Children, One Good Word Makes all the Difference, He Loves Me Not He Loves Me (with Sandra Nunn), Vanished (with Shirley Brown). Her articles, personal experiences, short stories and devotionals are published in many periodicals in Canada, U.S. and Australia. Visit her blogs: Listening to my Hair Grow and Promises of Home (Stories of Canada's British Home Children). Purchase her books at her website, Writing from he Heart.

Contact Rose McCormick Brandon at rosembrandon@yahoo.ca