Marisa Highsmith
My whole life people have told me that I should write a book. I think it is because my life can sometimes sound a little like fiction. My love of people paired with my natural flair for the dramatic and unfortunate tendency to fill the holes of the “unknown or unsure” with details “best I can recall”, lines me up perfectly to tell a good story.
You can imagine it is a surprise to absolutely no one that knows me, my star word is Story. I, however, have spent the better part of the year wondering what God is saying to me in that word. At first, I felt a nudge to dig in the holes of the “unknown or unsure” to fill in some of the gaps with facts from my childhood. Goodness, I have learned a lot. Next, I deeply meditated on whether it is time to write that novel I have in the back of my head and drafted on napkins. That only led me to feel certain now is not the time.
Then, driving down the road pondering, meditating and praying over my star word Story, it suddenly occurred to me it was not a word prompting me to action, but rather to observe. Since starting work here at FBC, I have been compiling short stories of when I have seen Jesus at work through the people around me. It has been an exercise for me to be reminded of, and so grateful for, the beautiful impact humans can have in this world in the day to day. Humans that are themselves full of challenge and have differing views become the collective hands and feet of Jesus, right here.
The word Story isn’t about me you see. It is a reminder to stop and observe the story of you, of God, of us. The Story unfolds all around us. Our Story is a reminder that we get to be a very small part of the legacy of love and service this place, First Baptist Church of Wilmington, sends into the world. What a Story indeed.
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