SHELL YEAH! GOD is REAL!
September 2024. We gathered at the Jerzey Shore to celebrate turning sixty, childhood friends, sisters, decades of memories waiting to be relived. But celebration turned to grief when Alice, one of my dearest friend's sister, suddenly passed away. Alice was pure light, the kind of person who could make a whole room laugh, who made you feel alive just being near her.
We sat around that table, hearts heavy and somehow the conversation drifted to our fathers. That's when it hit me: every single one of our dads was a World War II veteran. These were men who worked with their hands, loved fiercely, provided faithfully and never, ever talked about the war. We all felt it, that collective ache of not knowing what they endured. The true cost of our freedom remained locked in their silence and now grave.
Then my friend Pat looked at me and said something that changed everything: "Nor, you should write down your stories of how God showed up in your life. Don't let them die with you."
Don't let them die with you.
Those words grabbed hold of my soul and wouldn't let go.
As my plane lifted off from Jersey, I watched New York City shrink below me and thought about my grandparents seeing the Statue of Liberty for the first time. What must that have felt like? The gift of American citizenship was given to me from them and I am forever grateful. Then my mind went to my dad, a Navy diver in World War II, cutting mines, fixing ships, using those clever hands that could repair anything. He was one of the happiest men I've ever known, armed with an incredible sense of humor.
That conversation about our fathers kept circling back in my mind. I realize now what a gift I was given. When you have a great relationship with your earthly father, it's easy to relate to a Heavenly Father. But when you don't, when that earthly relationship is broken or absent, it's so hard to believe in, let alone trust, a Heavenly Father. My dad showed me what a father's love looks like and it opened a door to understanding God's love.
I left pieces of my heart in New York and Jersey that weekend.
Somewhere over the clouds on that flight back to Chicago, I did what I always do, I prayed. I have this beautiful, ongoing conversation with God. Fireside chats throughout my day, I call them. So, I asked Him straight out: "What do You think about what Pat said?"
His answer came clear and immediate: I think it's a good idea.
Then He went deeper: There will be moments when it's hard to write. When that happens, stop and pray. I will heal the wounds you've been carrying deep in your heart and soul.
I'll be honest, gulp.
But He wasn't finished: I want you to write them down and put them in a new Bible next to the scriptures that carried you through. Give this to your children on their wedding day. This is a legacy of faith and a new heritage of hope, passing down to the next generation that will change the bloodline for a thousand generations.
It took me a year. Forty short stories of God's incredible impact on my life. We wrote them together, Him and me and some friends who love to edit!
Then my son got married. At the rehearsal dinner, I stood up and read one of these stories, about a dream I had, a dream about his future wife, the one I’d been praying for, the one who was coming into our lives. And there she was, sitting right there. The dream had come true. God’s faithfulness on full display.
And I discovered something profound while writing these stories: a pattern emerged across every single one. Two emotions kept appearing, two forces that spread through lives like wildfire, HOPE and HOPELESSNESS. We get to choose which one we feed.
My heart's desire as you read these stories is simple: I want you to see and feel that Jesus, the God of Hope, loves you. Completely. Radically. Without reservation.
Let this truth sink deep into your soul: He doesn't have one negative thought about you. Not one harsh word. Ever.
God loves to pull out the gold in your life, the treasure buried deep within you that maybe you can't even see yet. Yes, my God is a gold digger, and He's taught me to dig for gold in other people too. That's what these stories are really about, watching Him unearth the precious things in my life, even in the darkest soil, even in the places I thought were worthless.
He sees gold in you. He's been mining for it your whole life. May you be deeply, powerfully encouraged.
