My son hates anything sad or scary, even on television. Through movie afternoons, we keep asking him, “Who wins in the end?” eliciting the much-rehearsed reply, “baddies always lose, goodies always win.” Watching ‘Cinderella,’ one Sunday afternoon, his usual panic set in. The initial beauty of the film faded into the darker scenes and he announced that he wanted to watch something else!
Knowing he would cope better with the scary bits if he knew what lay beyond them, I pressed pause. After five minutes explaining about ugly sisters, wicked step mothers, magic pumpkins, glass slippers, a handsome prince and a happily ever after, he was all smiles again, eager to press on.
As we watched more, it struck me that we, as adults, are not dissimilar in our approach to life and faith. We meander happily through sunnier parts of life but when troubles and trials hit, we want to pause the story, hide away from the sheer discomfort of it. If, we reason, we could just know that next week, month, year, things will look up, we could keep going. The uncertainty makes us doubt and fear. We long to know the end from the beginning but we don’t – we can’t.
There is, however, reassurance in knowing the One who does! Sometimes we yearn for God to unfold our narrative in advance, as I did for my son; we reason that it would help us to anticipate the peaks and troughs, navigate them more gracefully. Instead God calls us to a place of surrender and trust, where all we can do is place our hand in His and trust Him to lead us safely through, giving us all the grace we need for each moment.
We do not know what twists and turns will lead us through life to our story’s end, but we can count on two things. Firstly, God will work out all things, joy-filled and excruciatingly painful, for our good. Secondly, the final end to all of our stories will be one of rejoicing, wholeness and peace for all eternity, if we’ve put our trust in Him. With my hand in the hand of an author who writes like that, I can confidently walk through my story, even without knowing the full script. I can walk, trust and surrender – even stumble and trip – knowing that the One who wrote my story from the very beginning, will give me all I need to live it, right until the very end.
Georgina Tennant
King’s Lynn Christian Fellowship