Showing posts with label the power of story. Show all posts
Showing posts with label the power of story. Show all posts

Tuesday, October 9, 2018

Tuesday Tidbit: What are you doing with those stories that are so much a part of you?


What are you doing with those stories that are so much a part of you?

Adventures you had,
lessons you learned,
truths you discovered—maybe the hard way,
dreams you pursued,
causes you joined,
heartbreaks you survived,
leaps of faith you took,
hard decisions you made,
the people you love and those who love you.

OR
maybe you know stories about other people
living with courage and integrity.

What are you doing to share those stories with others?

If you haven’t yet started writing your memoir, or if you haven’t yet finished writing it, let these words inspire you:

“. . . Story has immense power,” writes Katie Ganshert. “All of us are living our own. But when we open up a book, we get to live another. We get to put on someone else’s skin—see the world through new eyes. Experience their struggles, their triumphs, their beauty. And where there is struggle and beauty and triumph, there is always hope.”

Katie has experienced those words she wrote—they’re not just good-sounding but empty words. She knows struggles, triumph, beauty, and hope. And she knows the power of story. Click here to read more about her.

Your stories matter.

Why?

For many reasons, but here are a couple of the biggest motivators:

Always remember what you’ve seen God do,
and be sure to tell your children and grandchildren!
Deuteronomy 4:9

Jesus said,
“Go tell your family everything God has done for you.”
Luke 8:39

That means writing a memoir is a holy work. It is a ministry.

As a memoirist, you have the privilege of working with sacred stories—stories which are for the most part stories of day by day events and average people—but nevertheless it’s a holy calling to tell the next generations about God’s involvement in their lives and their families’ lives (Psalm 145:4).

Such stories need not be dry and boring.
They can and should include charm
and humor and adventure and intrigue.
Write stories that are winsome and fascinating to read.

Write your stories and let God use them to touch others.

There you have it, your Tuesday Tidbit.


Thursday, February 26, 2015

You? Write a memoir?


Chip MacGregor made my day. If you read on to find out why, you’ll know what a memoir-geek I am.

Chip sensed God wanted him to write about what He had done for him—but he felt unqualified:

“All I saw was a very tattered, frayed thread,
broken and retied in a number of places.”

You know the feeling?

Maybe you hear those hissing little whispers: You? Write a memoir? Wait a minute! What makes you think you’re so special?

You might be asking, “Who am I that I should write my stories? I’ve made more than a few mistakes, and besides, I’m a nobody: I’m not a Billy Graham or a Chuck Swindoll or an Elisabeth Elliot or a minister or a best-selling author. What could I be thinking?”

But Chip, bless his heart—even though he was all too aware of the shortcomings in his life, he also recognized that the “tattered, frayed thread, broken and retied in a number of places” actually “wrapped around the entire story. It was the thread of redemption.

Yessss! That’s what I’ve been saying, in my own words, of course: Write your God-and-you stories not because you are so great, but because God is so great.

Chip continues, “…[W]hat qualifies you to tell your story is your experience of redemption.”

Chip and you and I can, and must, write our stories of redemption!

Write about everyday events and relationships,

about babies and teenagers and grandparents,

Boy Scouts and Home Ec and your most embarrassing date,

best friends and bullies and bigots.

Write about learning to drive, or swim, or cook, or kiss.

Write about funerals and weddings and heartbreak,

about honesty and lies, about money and taxes,

about mowing the lawn and making beds and cleaning toilets.

Within them all, dig deep and find the threads of redemption!

Peel off layers, one by one, until you find glorious, sobbing, humbling, joy-filled, life-saving redemption.

Listen: The stories of people like Billy Graham, Chuck Swindoll, Elisabeth Elliot, and other modern-day heroes of the faith are important—but not because those people are so great. Each of them admit to being deeply flawed. Their stories matter because God is so great.

Hear this: It’s not what they did—it’s what God did.

God called us with a holy calling,
not according to our works
but according to his own purposes and grace.
2 Timothy 1:9

Don’t miss this:

your story of redemption is
the journey your readers want to take.
And if we can whittle down our lives
to reveal how God has brought redemption to us,
readers will be inspired to believe it may happen to them.”

That’s it! Our hearts long to inspire others to hang in there, to be assured that God is for them, He loves them, and He has His own stories of redemption for them!

Don’t underestimate the power of your story
Just one story can change lives—
one life, or a hundred thousand lives—
maybe for eternity. 

Write your God-and-you stories, your stories of redemptionnot because of who you are—but because of who God is.