One thing I love about writing historical fiction is the research. Some people might think research is daunting, and I’ll admit that sometimes I don’t know when I have done enough, but I think it is fascinating. I love reading the stories of people who did great feats, like the first Black female doctor in New York. I also love reading stories of what would be mundane in modern culture but had powerful significance in the past. Like the Freedman’s Bureau’s records of Black couples making their marriages official because it was illegal before the Civil War. I once found my great-grandfather’s listing in a census. There are stories of great pain but great triumph.
Looking back through the history books will give you amazing stories, but what if you “researched” your personal history? Yes, there were people in the past with inspiring lives, but what about you? If you took a minute and reviewed your life, you would find the incredible acts that God has done in your life. Things you overcame that at the time you thought would kill you. Challenges that became testimonies.
I think we tend to overlook our history because it’s ours. We discount the things that God has done for us because it’s just us. We can easily celebrate others’ victories and triumphs, but not our own. God has been just as good to you as He has been to others and sometimes we need a glimpse into our pasts to acknowledge that. God has established a track record of goodness in your life.
This is a technique I often use when providing pastoral care to believers. I gently remind them that God has brought them through other difficult situations. It is very easy for our present troubles to overshadow our past victories. We tend to forget all of the impossible situations God brought us through. The jaw-dropping doors He’s opened. We need that reminder. It’s a little like the Children of Israel building memorials to what God did for them. It is a reminder that God is still the same God. If He made a way before, He can do it again.
Someday someone might read your history and think, “That’s amazing.” You don’t however, have to wait until some researcher reads about you hundreds of years from now. You can look at your history and praise God for your own story.
Terri J. Haynes