A Painful Story

Every one of us has a painful story. No matter what our life has been, we have baggage or we have an ongoing trial that affects us, some place of brokenness from within us or being endured by us. Whether pain covers our story or creates pockets here and there, we all know its scar on our lives. And with that scar usually comes the fear of bringing someone else into the story. 

What if we're rejected because of the pain in our story? How do we deal with the guilt of asking someone else to carry it too? And if we can get passed both of those questions, what about the pain of watching our burden become someone else's? 

And yet it's because of those pain points that someone deciding to step in makes such a powerful impact on us. Someone accepting us, comforting us, and going beyond to not only value our story but to want to make it their own. To want to take our full story no matter what baggage or trials are a part of that. To share our story with us. 

That is such a vulnerable place to be, and it's not only the vulnerability of risking someone who will walk away but also the vulnerability of accepting someone who will stay. Of receiving that kind of audacious love which risks itself. 

That love that pictures the gospel and reminds us how unfathomable it is. 

Because our deepest pains, our deepest trials, our heaviest baggage is a mere pinprick of the pain Jesus experienced in stepping into our story. 

He came, knowing the pain of entering into our brokenness. The pain of a world cursed by sin, the pain of betrayal, the pain of rejection, the pain of our sin which He faced in life and bore on the cross. And He came anyway.

Jesus entered into our story that we might have His story. That we might receive His righteousness, His nearness to the Father, His holiness, His reconciliation and redemption. He took on our sin and brokenness that we might have another story, which we could never achieve on our own. 

And that is the most incredible, unfathomable reality.

That is true love in action. That is unconditional love. That is awe-inspiring. That is unbelievable love. 

We do not deserve this love, but Jesus chased us down anyway. He pursued our story to give us His; to rewrite our brokenness into His beauty. To dwell with us. To be joined with us. By His grace alone. By His radical love. By His persistent pursuit. By the power of His heart for us. 

Mere human love cannot compare, but it can draw us in. It can remind us of this reality we so often take for granted. Those moments of standing in awe of someone's love for us can draw us into the deeper love Christ has for us, the deeper pursuit, the deeper grace and how unflinchingly and radically Jesus loves us and always will. No matter the pain of our story. 

He knows it all. He entered into it all. He took it all. We're His. Beloved, chosen, secured by His love for us.