Very grateful to Cheryl Weber and 100 Huntley Street for taking a moment to talk beauty – just a piece of “The Bigger Story.” 
I’m trusting that the message would reach the hearts of those who need to hear it, that it would be a stepping stone to freedom from many women. We all have beauty stories. I’m taking a guess here, but they probably contain brokenness, hurt or confusion. Let God transform your story and find healing.
I’m not the only one who feels we should be telling our stories. Here’s an article that inspires us to tell our story well: http://churchm.ag/telling-a-story-well-video/.
A few years ago I was chatting with my friend about the idea that every believer has a story to tell. We all have a “before,” our life without Jesus; a “middle,” or crossroads, where we receive him; and an “after,” our life with Jesus. Even if our “after” isn’t yet “complete,” we can still attest to the power of Jesus in our lives.
My friend nodded emphatically, “Yes, everyone has a story!”
“So what’s yours?” I asked her.
“Oh, I don’t have one!” she answered.
I laughed at the time, but in my recently acquired position writing stories for the Free Methodist Church in Canada website, I realize that many believers have the same response. When asked to tell their story of Jesus working in their lives, they are reluctant. Few people tell their story easily, many people don’t tell it at all.
There are different reasons for this. Here are some:
But most Christians would agree that if God is doing a redeeming, transformative work in our lives, this is something wonderful, which ought to be shared.
One of my favourite verses is Philemon 1:6:
I pray that you may be active in sharing your faith, so that you will have a full understanding of every good thing we have in Christ. (NIV)
When we “share our faith” with each other, we become partners in the gospel. It increases our awareness of the good things we have in Christ. And so, to keep our stories to ourselves would be a disservice to the Christian community.
What actually happens when we tell our stories?
Recently I tuned in to Focus on the Family, where the host, Jim Daly, told the listening audience that day, after a particularly moving interview,
We don’t own our testimonies; they are bought at a price, the blood of Jesus Christ.
Perhaps if we believed that our stories, along with our lives, belong to Christ, we would be open to sharing them freely. In doing so, we would enrich the body of believers and refresh the saints.
So what’s your story?
Remember Mister Men?
In the hands of the right person, Mr. Funny can be toe-pointingly hilarious.
Love this picture of my Dad in his element with my Little Misses. Dad is known for his story-telling, whether he makes up his own or adds his unique flourish to someone else’s. When he tells his stories, he has the ability to capture your imagination, stimulate your conscience, inspire you to action, bring you to tears… or laughter.
Dad’s favourite stories to tell are from the Bible, written by those who were called to use words, document truth, build memory, inspire change, and offer life for all who read it.
The legacy Dad is leaving our family is invaluable.
I have been blogging for over six years. I jumped on the bandwagon in September ’05 with an apologetic first entry, sorry that I hadn’t adopted the trend earlier, not unlike Baby Boomers and The Facebook.
I was an almost-daily blogger for the years 2006-2008 when my husband and I, with our two daughters, moved to Ghana, West Africa to establish a mission partnership with our sister church there. After realizing that cross-cultural work is much harder than those triumphant missionary biographies would have you believe (see Jackie Pullinger for details), I found it cathartic to tell my story of day-to-day living in Africa to the internet.
The Silent Years were when we returned to Canada to change my husband’s job description from “Missionary” to “Pastor.” As faithful a listener as the internet had been, I didn’t feel up to processing my intense reverse culture shock so publicly. You would have enjoyed some of the stories, though. Like the time, at the peak of it, at a girly get-together, I listened to my friends’ oh-so-dogmatic opinions about whether one should find out the sex of their baby before he/she is born. I might have thought “Blah… blah… blah…” OUT LOUD. And we had at least 12 seconds of uninterrupted, awkward silence. Sitcom Gold.
I kept trying to write, even got a nudge in that direction when I was published in a small Christian magazine. I tried opening a new blog (right here), but I was uninspired and my posts sporadic.
Instead, I started a Fair-Trade business. For 3 1/2 years, I built a business importing beads, baskets and batik from my friends back in Ghana. A large part of my job was marketing the products by talking about the resourcefulness and ingenuity of the Ghanaian people, which inevitably opened a way for me to speak of my experiences. I may have gained friends of customers by over-disclosing.
As of last week, I have sold the business and have an itch to fire up the old blog. I’ve gained some new experiences in my recent roles as a business owner, (reluctant) Pastor’s Wife, (enthusiastic) Women’s Ministry Leader, (reluctant and enthusiastic) mother of two girls entering their teens.
As I approach middle age–I’ve been trying out this term since I recently had to move a product away from my face to read the fine print. Horrifying.–I’m reflecting on my life experiences: the different jobs I’ve had, the places I’ve been, where God has led my husband and I in ministry and our relationships… They seem so varied it’s hard to see where or how they might be channeled for use in the future.
The way I see it, there are two things that link my past experiences and my new adventures. The first is an absolute peace that God is working out the details, just as he promises. The second is that I can write about them.
Based on a True Story 