Free Falling

I had a little pony wreck the other day and fractured my left leg. I know. Bummer. Right? This is my favorite time of year to ride—well, actually, it’s my favorite time of year period. The only upside is that I have much more time for reading as I’m pretty limited in my physical activity.

So, I’ve finished some Steinbeck works that I haven’t read in years. A new—to me—Beuchner book, “Son of Laughter”. Some work by J.D. Salinger, and I’ve enjoyed them all. But yesterday, I started a book by Louie Giglio called, “Comeback”. I’m only a hundred pages into it, but it has really knocked my socks off.

I’ll be honest, I haven’t been a huge Giglio fan in the past, but this book is extraordinary in a faith-challenging, call-to-surrender sort of way.

I tend to be really hard on myself when I think I’ve heard from God to move in a certain direction and take steps to fulfilling a dream I thought he gave me when things go awry and the whole dream falls flat. I feel like a failure, like “Who the heck do you think you are? God gave you a dream?”

Giglio has written just the exact reminder that I needed. In these “failures”, it is important to remember this is not just my story. I am simply being a part of God’s Big Story, and sometimes that may feel like complete failure—like the disciples feared the cross was. When, in fact, even Jesus—the Son of God’—story was a part of the bigger story of the Father’s plan of showing us just how far love will go.

The resurrection was certainly the coup de grace of comebacks but comebacks are literally sprinkled throughout the Bible. Take Joseph. His youthful dreams. His naivete in telling them to his brothers. His being thrown into a pit. Sold into slavery. Elevated to head of Potipher’s household. Being imprisoned for an attack he didn’t commit. Locked into a prison dungeon. Elevated to the head of Pharoh’s storehouses. Ultimately reunited with his father and a restored relationship with the very brothers who sold him into slavery.

My word! Even my life doesn’t have as many twists and turns, promises and bleak lack of fulfillment, and triumphant starts littered with miserable losses and failures.

If you find yourself in need of an emotional, spiritual, physical, or relational comeback—but find the free fall of faith a bit daunting—I  encourage you to pick up a copy of Giglio’s book. It just might give you a whole new frame of reference for your own story as you read these ancient stories of faith, frustration, disappointment, losses, and comebacks.

I’m here for you. You can PM me or email me at
Kimberly@KimberlyHighland.com.

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