Episode #163 A Freedom Secret: Go Back to Where Your Stories Began – Significant Stories

Hey friends. Do you know that we have stories we tell ourselves and that we have told ourselves for years and we don't even know where they come from? We're talking about that on today's episode because some of these stories that we've been carrying and retelling about who we are and about who God is actually were never true. But they can feel true because of stuff that we've gone through in our pasts.

As humans, we are a story people. We live by story. We connect through story. We anticipate and perceive and process events and circumstances and relationships through the lens of stories.

All of our stories started somewhere when we go from cognitively understanding something or wondering about something, it becomes cemented as a story in our lives when we perceive that that story lines up with our experience.

But it's not always intentional like that. We'll live through something really beautiful or really hard, and we take away a story from that experience. We take away stories about what that circumstance says about who we are or who God is, about our potential, about our identity, about the other people who are involved in the circumstance with us.

And so if you're jumping in here and you haven't heard the very last two episodes, I encourage you to go back and catch up on those ones where we talk about stepping back and looking at a story and then assessing how that story applies to a circumstance.

And today we're in question number three, which is: where and when did this story start?

As I'm walking through this series here, I've been thinking about the life of Joseph. And so I went back to reread it in scripture and Joseph doesn't have a lot of wisdom when we first meet him.

He is getting these dreams that seem to elevate him above his family members, and so he tells them about it and his brothers do not respond favorably to it. So dreams ended up getting Joseph in trouble when he talked about them.

And his brothers sell him into slavery and a lie is told about him. So he ends up in prison where again, there's people with dreams. And so, he chooses to say something about the dreams and nothing really fruitful happens for Joseph out of telling those dreams, until again, there's an opportunity with dreams and Pharaoh is looking for someone who can interpret dreams. And the royal cupbearer remembers Joseph and brings Joseph up to the most powerful ruler of his day.

And as I've been reading this story and seeing so many of the hard things that Joseph went through in his life, I started looking at this storyline of dreams in a different way. The story he could have picked up is that dreams are bad…the interpretation of dreams will only give me heartache, will only put me in trouble. And if he had picked up that storyline, Joseph could have said, you know what? I'm not going to do this anymore. The whole dream thing is not working out for me.

When really, for those of us who know the story, God used those circumstances for massive good for Joseph, for his whole family, for the whole tribe of Israel. There were pivotal moments that came about because Joseph engaged in these conversations about dreams.

And so as you look at this story, as you inspect it from different angles and look to understand different facets, one of those questions to ask is where and when did this story start? Where did this come from? Maybe you'll have a memory that immediately comes to mind, or maybe you'll need to sit and wonder about it for a little bit.

You don't have to know the origin for all of the stories you believe. I don't think that's really possible for all of us to know where each and every story started for us. I know for me, oftentimes I'll have a few different events that seem to confirm a storyline to me and I have to kind of walk back a few years before that to say, okay, this is, I think the first memory I have of believing this story about myself.

These stories come through because of how we perceive or experience a circumstance. All of our perspectives are limited. We have different levels of awareness and spiritual or emotional maturity, even just knowing the greater context of what's happening in an event that's different in different seasons of our lives.

We're not judging ourselves by believing this story. Instead, we want to look back and see if we can identify where this story came from.

And if you can't, that's a great question to ask God.
And if you can, that's a great starting point to then continue this conversation with God because his vantage point is much greater than our own.

One of the passages I've been going back to as we walk through this workflow is Psalm 139:1-3.

“You have searched me, Lord,
and you know me.
You know when I sit and when I rise;
you perceive my thoughts from afar.
You discern my going out and my lying down;
you are familiar with all my ways.” (Psalm 139:1-3)

God has always had this awareness of us and we don't need to be concerned that God knows us so well. It's a beautiful gift that we can rely on as we're seeking to understand these originating events for these storylines.
And so our question for reflection is where and when did this story start? And if you're not sure, ask God.

God, will you show me where and when did this story start?

As you reflect on this, I encourage you to jot down some notes and then continue that conversation with God.

God, where else? What other events or circumstances in my life seem to affirm this story to me?

There's more he wants to show you about it.

Have a good talk.

And if you've been encouraged by this content, please share it with a friend and help them grow in their conversational relationship with God too!

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