No one else can write your stories the way you can

You and I have different stories to tell.

You and I have our own unique writing styles.

We have different audiences. Different timelines for finishing our manuscripts. Different publishing goals.

And that’s good!

“It is not the Lord’s intention that we be carbon copies of one another,” says Marlene Bagnull in Write His Answer: A Bible Study for Christian Writers. 

She cites Ephesians 4:7, “Christ has given each of us special abilities—whatever he wants us to have out of his rich storehouse of gifts.”

Marlene points out “Although … few of us will ever write a best-seller, we do have the responsibility to use our own special gift to its fullest potential.”

I want to paraphrase that for memoirists: You and I have the responsibility to write our families’ unique stories so God can use them to their fullest potential.

Marlene says that when she meets Christ fact to face, “It is my prayer that I’ll be able to show him that I have used [my writing talents]—that I have not allowed my tendency to compare myself with others … to limit what he wanted to do through me. I want ‘the words of my mouth [and my pen] and the meditations of my heart [to] be pleasing in [his] sight’ (Psalm 19:14, NIV).”

What an honorable goal! She prays that her words and meditations might be pleasing in the Lord’s sight. That’s a worthy goal for each of us in writing our memoirs.

Keep in mind why you are writing your memoir:

Your stories can help shape the lives of your children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and anyone else you choose. Not everyone has children, but all of us have “spiritual children” who look up to us.

Telling our children, grandchildren, and “spiritual children” what God has done in our lives (Deuteronomy 4:9) is one of God’s one-of-a-kind purposes for each of us.

God can and will use what you write to bless those who come after you.

You probably have no idea just how your stories will impact your future generations.

No one else can write your stories the way you can.

Remember Richard Stearns’ challenge:

The same God behind the power of Moses’ staff,

David’s sling,

and Paul’s pen

is alive and active inside you.

Are you allowing him to work?

Write your stories!