But God…

How God Rewrites Stories

There are two words I find incredibly powerful throughout the Bible: they are the words "But God."

I was reminded of these two words as I was reading in Acts 26 today. In this chapter, Paul is making his defense to king Agrippa and explaining the reason as to why he began following Jesus. And he was explaining why the Jews wanted to seize and kill him.

He says:

"I preached that they should repent and turn to God and demonstrate their repentance by their deeds. That is why some Jews seized me in the temple courts and tried to kill me."

And then he says those two words, "BUT GOD has helped me to this very day; so I stand here and testify to small and great alike."

I personally love Paul’s story.

You see, Paul started off murdering and persecuting Christians. BUT GOD interrupted his plans, stopped him in his tracks (literally), opened his eyes to the truth, and rerouted his story.

Paul then was beaten, thrown in prison, and experienced a lot of suffering for following Jesus.

BUT GOD...sustained him and gave him strength to make it through and used his life and words as a path for others to follow.

In my course Aligned + Renewed, I teach on how to rewrite your story through the lens of these two powerful words:

BUT GOD.

I teach on this because I believe realizing the power of these two words stops us in our tracks and awakens us to an incredible truth: in this world, we will never escape suffering. BUT GOD promises to be with us along the way and give us strength to continue along the journey and gives our pain purpose. He often reroutes our story, and although painful at times, we begin to see a new purpose to our lives.

That purpose includes, yes, acknowledging our pain and healing from the past, but also acknowledging the ways in which God works through pain and redeems our story.

When we walk in this God given purpose, our lives, like Paul's become a path for others to find their way to Jesus.

We have so many examples of the work of God and the hope we have through Him. Here are just a few:

Psalm 73:26

My flesh and my heart may fail, BUT GOD is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

Matthew 19:26

Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, BUT WITH GOD all things are possible.

Acts 7:9

And the patriarchs, jealous of Joseph, sold him into Egypt; BUT GOD was with him

Romans 5:8

BUT GOD demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Galatians 1:15-16

You also heard how I was far ahead of other Jews in my age group in following the Jewish religion. I had become that fanatical for the traditions of my ancestors. BUT GOD, who appointed me before I was born and who called me by his kindness, was pleased to show me his Son.

We are not promised a life full of ease and peace and sunshine and rainbows. But we are promised that God will always be with us. And realizing the power of that truth, changes everything.

Do you realize the power of these two words? I hope you pause and think on them today

And if you are interested in learning more about rewriting your story in light of these two words, check out my course, Aligned + Renewed.