The Stars on Summer Nights, Story No. 2

Photo by: Visionari Studio, Alexandria MN

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Inspired by the testimonies of others and the invitation given to me a few weeks ago to share my own, I have created this space on my blog to share My Story. Here is the introduction and an invitation to read along as I share My Life's Stories to give a Testimony of God's Goodness. Along the way, I hope you will also be inspired and equipped to start recording your story. ​

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If you have been following along with My Story the last couple of weeks, you have read been introduced to the objectives propelling me to share my testimony, Pixar-style. In the post, One Cold December Day, Story No. 1, you will find the top five objectives articulated in no particular order.  And in, Most of Life Happens in the In-between, I shared how the story of the Israelites crossing over the Jordan river in Joshua 4 can be instructions to us on the importance of setting up "stones of remembrance" (stories that reveal God's mighty power to save, provide, and keep promises). 

One of the reasons recalling our life's story and writing out how our experiences speak to an active, relational, and powerful God is that overcoming may be waiting just on the other side of remembering. Remembering may trigger pain but by grace, remembering can also help us see God's provision and promises--perhaps even better in the looking back than in the moment. 

In addition, when we have taken the time to write out and gain insight on God's working of good throughout our own story, learning from both the successes and the failures, we build up a repertoire of tools for ministering to others. Yes, your testimony hold the power to help others overcome too. Your story isn't just for yourself, it is yours to use to show others that God is great, powerful and near. 

And he said to the people of Israel, “When your children ask their fathers in times to come, ‘What do these stones [stories} mean?’ then you shall let your children know, ‘Israel passed over this Jordan on dry ground.’ . . . so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the hand of the Lord is mighty, that you may fear the Lord your God forever.”                                                                                                                                                 ~Joshua 4:1-24 (ESV)

And our testimony isn't just for now, it is for future battle. ​ Revelations 12:11 says this, And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.

Why is overcoming found in the blood of the Lamb AND our testimonies ? 

Why in this broken down, story inundated world is it the word of our testimonies that will save us from the Beast in the Final Days?​​

Because in remembering, we see God’s hand in our life, we see evidence of his promises, we see that we have experienced Him and no one can every steal the experiences we know we have had that give testament to peace, love, grace, forgiveness, overcoming. And in the end, the real one, it is who remember God has been to us that will tether us to the strength we need to stand firm in the truth that Christ has saved us and redeemed our stories so that we can overcome any battle that comes against us. 

I am excited for you to read today's story, The Stars on Summer Nights. This "stone" brings me back to when my faith was childlike in the most precious of ways, my awe of God was born, and it reminds me that God set me in just the right place, at just the right time, to form the core of me into who he was calling me to be in the seemingly distant future. This is one part of my story I love because I struggle greatly to remember much about my childhood. But this, this I remember and it sings sweet melodies to my soul when I recall it. 

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Pixar-Style Testimony
The Stars on Summer Nights, Story No.2 

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• Once upon a time, there were four small children born to two hard-working, devoted and loving farmer-parents. Not much of the outside world influenced this home because the labor to keep the farm running kept everyone planted on those acres that needed tending.
• Every day the sun would come up, the cows would be cared for, the kids would go to school, the kids would come home from school, the kids would build forts and go on adventures and try to sell, at the end of their long dirt driveway, rocks they had split open with a hammer. The splitting revealed what looked like crystals or diamonds on the inside, leading the children to believe they were gems of high worth.  
• Some days, when summer arrived and the alfalfa crop needed taking in, the farmer and his wife had no choice but to work until it was all harvested so that rain would not ruin the crops that would keep their animals alive through the other seasons of the year.
• Because of that, the work was not done at sundown. Instead, they would work together into the late hours of night, driving through the fields and stacking up the hay bales on the rack. Since their little tribe of four were too young to be alone in the house, they would join their parents out in the field.
• Because of that, when the hay rack was stacked 8-10 bales high, and halfway covered length-wise, the father would build an empty space just big enough for the children to scramble up to and lay down for the rest of the ride. The stars on those summer nights out in the field were magnificent. And the oldest girl felt like she was laying just underneath them. Some kids learn about constellations in science class, these farm kids had the thrill of finding them on their own. There was no fear of the night when riding on the top of the hay rack, the mother driving the machinery, the father stacking the hay, and the hum of all creation singing its own lullaby to four kids huddled together on top of a moving pile of hay. Childhood was filled with moments like these, instilling in these children a strong bond between one another. This family did everything together: Other than sleeping and school, it was rare to be separated from one another.
• Until finally, they all outgrew living life in these small, predictable patterns. Yet, this childhood spent outdoors and together breathed into the soul of the second born a wonder and awe for the creator of the world, and a sense of adventure that she never really noticed until her adult life began revealing that part of what made her, her was her love of adventuring to new places. What called her to missions, to do hard things, and to believe that God was real because creation shouted of his majesty, were all tied to the many days of her childhood spent on a farm with parents who chose Christ to be the center, siblings who were her best friends, and a God who molder her design by setting the beginning of her story at the end of a long dirt driveway in the middle of nowhere--exactly where he could see her, protect her and build the experiences that would become the foundation of his plan for her life.

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Stay tuned. . .Next week, When She Started Running, Story No. 3

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Photo credit: Abby & Brandon
Event: Go & See Retreat Spring 2019 
Location: Lake Darling Resort, Alexandria, MN
Caption: Jaclyn doing one of the many things she loves: inspiring, instructing, and encouraging women to live out of who God made them to be, no matter their season, location or vocation. ​