Stories for Healing

OK, so here's where I'm really headed and what this whole space thing has been driving toward.

Some months ago, I felt called to build a web site that would be a compilation of stories... my story as well as the stories of other men and women who, otherwise, might not get their stories "out there." From the process of telling, re-telling, and writing these stories, I believed there would be other people in the artistic community who would "echo" the stories through their craft - be it visual art, performance art, or whatever. All of this would be posted. That's the Lydia Mosaic and I am still committed to that project.

In the meantime, I discovered Dan Allender who was writing the book, "To Be Told" (recently released) and who was offering workshops on personal stories for healing. I was amazed at the similarities and decided to attend his workshop last August. The workshop was very insightful and although there were clear differences of vision, there was fruit there that I wanted to incorporate into the Lydia Mosaic.

One of the keys to Allender's point of view on personal stories is that each one of us is really God's story... we are an expressions of who God is... our stories, full of pain and joy, are all about God in this world. And, we are actually co-authors with God in the telling (and walking out) of our stories (whether we are conscious of this truth or not).

Tonight, as I was driving home from choir rehearsal, I realized that I have been telling my story for many years (in the form of 'testimony') and thinking I was being too self-absorbed. But, I believe I see now that I was already moving in this arena of story as an expression of God. The next step is to discover the patterns of my story... for these are the clues to the story that hasn't been written yet.

This space... this sacred space that I am trying to grow inside my chaotic home environment is the place I have wanted to truly birth the Lydia Mosaic and to continue my unraveling of personal truth ... to continue my heart's journey.

But the physical space is moving more slowly than the driving in my heart to begin, to work. So, I understand, I think, that I must build my inner space with more determination. For, in the end, the work is going to happen there first anyway. The physical space is the cocoon, yes, but I think I am being forced to work from inside out.

Like my thumb, which, on the outside, is healed after the surgery, and yet the nerves are still firing and giving me much pain. The interior structure is operating on a different schedule... a different plane. I cannot rush it. I must acknowledge it.... walk it. Live it. It's all going to happen.

It's and/both... I must nurture my inner space and build my outer space... whether they appear to be "together" or not. They will converge along the way.