My story is going To Be Told

For years, I have been trying to write my story. That story is not the story I have lived. It is the story I wanted to escape into. The place I wanted to hide from the pain. But how can I write my true story without pain?

In his book To Be Told, Dan Allender writes that a true story has four parts: shalom, shalom shattered, shalom sought, and denouement. I didn't know what the word denouement meant until I read Dan's book. My American College Dictionary, 1970 defines it as "the final disentangling of the intricacies of a plot, as of a drama or novel." I define it as redemption. Really, the process of moving from shalom to denouement is redemption. I have come to the conclusion that there is no way to move through this process without feeling pain.

While saying that I am going to embrace my story, and its pain, is a beautiful sentiment, it doesn't seem to fit. For me, that statement implies that my story exists outside me. Or that it is separate from me. I long to live in my story and have my story live in me. And so I begin.....

reading Dan Allender's book (again), completing the Emotions Anonymous writing exercises, and creating my story through art. The photo pictured in this post is of Dan Allender's book and the beginning of my story in art. The word "story" was found in a magazine, so the art will be part collage. If you look closely at the picture to the left of the word story, you will see part of a castle. This will have significance later in my story.