There's a point in every story where the world of the protagonist changes. A moment when their life is spun around and they cannot go back to the way things were before. This is called the inciting incident. You can also think of it as the conflict of the story that send the character into a new direction.
Inciting incidents can come in all kinds of forms. They can be tragic moments of loss, surprising circumstances, or profound experiences of love. What is common to them all is that they have an undeniable and irrevocable effect on us. They not only propel the story of our lives forward, they shape us into who we are becoming.
Not only is the Bible full of inciting incidents, we are also caught up in the story God is telling, so our spiritual lives are riddled with them as well. If you take a moment and look back on your life, can you name them? What events have most profoundly shaped your motivations and relationships with God, yourself, and others? What events drive the story in your life?
Being able to name and recognize those moments that have had an indelible effect on your story can help us befriend even the most difficult times of our lives, because we can start to see how God is present in those moments, using them to shape us, grow us, and keep us close to Him.
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