“We need honest, true-to-life stories to show us how”

Courage. Joy. Integrity.

We all want to possess those attributes.

We want to teach our children and grandchildren to live with courage, joy, and integrity—and your memoir can help do that.

“If we are going to live with courage

and joy

and integrity,

we need honest,

true-to-life stories

to show us how.…

What excites me are stories

with all the grit

and beauty

and squalor

of human beings

attempting to live in service to God

and loving their neighbor.”

Peter Mommsen, author of Homage to a Broken Man:

The Life of Heinrich Arnold—

A True Story of Faith, Forgiveness, Sacrifice,

and Community

Your memoir can do that! Your stories can offer others courage, joy, and integrity—and so much more.

Sure, your stories might include grit and squalor, but beauty can blossom in them, too:

Dig deep and peel back layers—because when you do, you’ll discover the ways that common people living everyday lives serve God and love their families and their neighbors, because the Good Book says:

“The most important [commandment] is this,” said Jesus.

“‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart

and with all your soul

and with all your mind

and with all your strength.’

The second is this:

‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’

There is no commandment greater than these.”

(Mark 12:29-31, Matthew 22:37-39)

Your stories can inspire readers to live like that.

Do you doubt the power of your stories? If so, think again:

“For such a long time, I felt my story wasn’t important,” wrote Mick Silva.

“I didn’t know who my story had made me. It’d been too buried. But exhuming it, the healing had been profound, pulling from the ashes of charred memories.… And the things I’ve discovered have been treasures.…”

Mick continues, “[T]hrough writing I’ve discovered that…protecting and preserving our stories is about discovering God’s story.  What he did through us, with us, in spite of us, continually pursuing that story is a matter of faithfulness and obedience, to become aware and invest in this life he’s given. To speak its life-affirming power in proper words and context, it can be the delight of our lives, an endless source of inspiration.”

Read that paragraph again, and maybe even again.

Take it in. Ponder that message.

And then, write your stories!

Write your stories as a celebratory offering to God.