The End of the Story

Standing in a dark space filled with deep grief and uncontrollable despair, Ann Voskamp looked at her brother-in-law whose five month old son had just died and blurted out that she would have written this story in a different way.  It was a word spoken in the presence of the grieving father, but one really directed angrily toward God.  The man who listened spoke out of his broken heart, "Just that maybe...maybe you don't want to change the story, because you don't know what a different ending holds."

 

When I read the words, I took my pen and underlined them.  Actually, there was no need to mark it on the pages of the book as the words have become marked with indelible ink in my heart.  How many times have we blurted out such a word to God?  How many have been the times when we would have changed the ending to some part of the story of our life if we could have only been given the opportunity?  There are hard things which come to us, things we would erase if possible, things we would want done over if possible.  Hard things like the too early death of a father, the loss of a job, divorce, and some life threatening illness.  Hard things have come to all of us and most of us would write different endings if only we could.

 

But, writing different endings is not an option for any of us because God is the One who is ultimately writing the story.  He knows all the possible scenarios and is surely leading us toward one where He can extricate some good all the while keeping us in a safe place.  Trust is about knowing that no part of our story is beyond the control of the Master Writer.  He saw our beginning and sees our end and everything in the middle.  In the midst of all our dark uncertainty, we can live with the certainty that He knows and has full control of the ending.