Creating Your Life Map - Part Four: Processing Your Story

Since you now have your life map completed, this blog entry will attempt to help you process it. I hope the other steps have been helpful and perhaps they have caused you to think a bit deeper about your life events, the people who have surrounded you, and who you have become and are becoming.

I pray that God will lead you as you look deeper at your life map. You can do this anyway you’d like. I think it’s best to let God guide you. You can look down the columns to discern if you see any patterns. You can look down the columns to see what really sticks out to you. How do these post-its help to tell the story that God has been writing with your life? How has He shown up? How have you responded to Him? How is He pursuing you? Where are the areas that cause strong emotion in you? Do you still need to process some of those areas? Are there areas that you wish were different but they’re not? Talk with God about those areas. Does this life map bring you hope? Can you see how all the little parts of your life are fitting together to make the masterpiece that God is working to create?

Often life maps are brought into spiritual direction sessions for a few sessions in order to talk through some of the spots that are grabbing your attention. I am available for spiritual direction if you think that would be helpful in your life. You can also journal through some of these spots with God or even talk with a close friend.

As you look at your life map, what do you see?
Do you see things that you’ve never seen before?
Do you see things that you’ve never admitted to anyone before?
Do you see unhealthy patterns that you’d like to change?
Do you see that life is a process and God uses trials to grow us?
Do you see areas that your faith has been strengthened?
Do you see how the people you have been around have perhaps helped to shape and form you?
Do you see how God has fathered you?
Do you see His provision?
Do you see His love?
Do you see areas of pain that still need some attention so you can heal and move forward in life? If so, I recommend that you seek some professional help and guidance for the purpose of your all around health.
Do you see areas that deserve celebration?
What are your growth patterns?
Who have you become?
Who do you want to become?

All of these processing questions are worth taking time to do some reflecting. God is at work. If you’ve come this far, He is definitely bringing about some movement in your deeper self. Perhaps you seek a deeper freedom. Maybe you are stuck and don’t know why but now you see it. There’s a chance that you need to have important conversations with people in your life who have harmed you in some way. You are your own person and sometimes you need to claim that.

Because this life map is chronologically ordered, it is a helpful tool to use in telling your story or presenting a testimony. Your story is a powerful representation of God’s handiwork and love. One important part of your spiritual development will be to fully own your story—all of it. Another important part of spiritual development is maturing. This will come as you make decisions to own your whole story and begin to share it with knowledge and understanding of what exactly God has been doing. Faith is grown as you fully accept yourself and what God has done. Faith is grown when you see everything in front of you and you choose how you want to move forward. Faith is grown when you acknowledge what God has already done in your life. Hope stems from watching God’s hand in your life ever since you were born. People find God in places they never knew they could/would. He’s waiting to show you all that He is if you let Him. This might require you journeying into some heart territory that you’ve left covered up or untouched. I pray for you as God leads you closer to His heart.

If you have any questions about your life map process or you’d like to set up a spiritual direction session, feel free to email me at: charitymbolden@gmail. I’m happy to help!