Everyone has a story. I say.
But what if my story isn’t important? You say.
What if it’s small and stitched together with load after load of laundry or hours spent trapped in the commute to work or nights spent wiping the hot heads of sick kids.
What if my story is ordinary?
What if I haven’t traveled, I’m not a human rights advocate, I don’t understand the nuances of free trade, and my subject matter is small people, tiny humans I’m trying to raise without losing my mind.
I say – that, right there, is your story.
And if you’re stuck between jobs and it hurts – that’s your story.
And if you love to bake and live in the kitchen and breathe in recipes – that is your story.
And if your children have left the nest long ago and you’ve got all this time and you’re not sure how to fill it – that is your story.
And if you watch someone else’s kids from 9 to 5 and go home to an empty apartment wondering when you’ll have your own kids – that is your story.
And if you run some days and other days forget to run. But if you want to keep running because you’re changing and you want to keep changing – that is your story.
And if you love design and decorating your home and making it a welcome place for others, that is your story.
And if you write for a living, or drive a minivan, or substitute teach, or homeschool, or lead corporate strategic planning meetings, or pray for change from a country that very few have heard about – right there, you are living your story.
Write the story you know.
Write the story you live.
How you see and breathe and shape and understand this glorious, broken, beautiful, redeemed world that Christ has given us. We need that.
We need your story.
So go ahead, take a deep breath and tell me: what is the story that you have to tell?
I’ll go first: I tell the story of a woman who never thought she’d want to be a mom. And it turns out that Jesus had saved the best till last all along.
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I tell the story of a woman who grew up going to church on major holidays only. One that for years has lived off the fruits of dumb luck and self-reliance which she realizes now aren’t that great. Now this woman wants more for her life and the lives of her children. She seeks out the true purpose in her life–the one that only God can help her find–so she can glorify Him in all that she does.
I tell the story of our adventurous family. We lived a life for the last 18 years that was not our own, but God in His infinite grace led us out, and opened new doors. He revealed a new path. We took a leap of faith, and left it all behind. It’s the tale of our journey, our faith, and our life that was meant to be lived for Him. {Thanks so much for the encouragement and strength I find on your blog!}
I tell the story of an “average Christian Girl” who went to church on Sundays, GEMS on Wednesday and was the Bible Drill Champion of all the youth, yet wasn’t happy. I tell the story of a girl who thought she knew what love and friends was, but discovered that their love was only “what can you do for me?” and that they were not friends in any sense of the word.
I tell the story of a girl whom Jesus spun around until everything was upside down. The story of girl who now sings and dances and leads devotions every month at her local homeschool preforming arts group. The story of a girl who thrives in a large family and who takes great delight in babies. The story of a girl who is overwhelmed by love and all the people who show it to her. The story of a girl who love Jesus more, and who has taken Him as her Big Brother and Best Friend.
This is the story that I tell.
I tell the story of a young women with an abusive past, fear of men, fear of love who experiences the true love of God and reaches out to forgive her father… the struggles of becoming close to a step father… the struggles to embrace the love of her husband… the struggles of persevering to follow Christ in a fallen world. This is my story.
Sometimes its hard for me to write my story and I have been holding back. But I write the story of a former teen mom who had support to get a degree. Who loves helping the broken even if she doesn’t always know how. Who loves her family and thanks Jesus for turning her brokenness into beauty for His sake. I write the story of a mom who started out too young but some how has made it all work.
This is so encouraging.
So often my goal is not so much pursuing the dream of writing but just staying faithful to the little blog God helped me create. It has been a journey. I have been challenged and broken within the boundaries and content of that blog. It has opened me up and removed the walls of vulnerable sharing.
It is stretching me. It is in the telling that we ‘hear’ the story sometimes for the first time. Just like the others who read it.
I’m working on telling my story. It is slow, painful, and repetitive, but so is life.
Read more here: http://musingsandmeanderings-mlp.blogspot.com/2012/10/day-3-of-31.html
“….you are living your story.” Yes, yes I am. My story is, wait. What is my story? Hmmm. My story is a story of graceful growing in every part of my life. Choosing to step out of fear and into confidence and excitement in who I am, how He created me and learning to really live this life that He has blessed me with. I’m learning that there are times I am stretched past the “stay-at-home-homeschool-mama” life that I get to live everyday and into this new adventure of trying new things that are way beyond my comfort zone. Then I get to go back to them, my soft place to land.
So encouraging Lisa Jo. I tell the story of a woman who begged God for my children and received them open handed through miracle conception. Now, I’m learning to steward those gifts well and most days I fall short. Mine is a story of extra-ordinary grace.
Yes, yes, yes. Loving and living my story. Since I have been dealing with cancer, I have been writing both poetry and prose about it, but I try not to make “it” my only topic, like my son’s autism isn’t all he is or all I write about… it is a part of a bigger story.
Love, Love, Love to all!
The story I tell is “WYSIWYG” (what you see is what you get) – sharing my life honestly, hopefully with a little grace and humor & desiring to point back to God at the end of it all. He has created beauty from ashes.
My story is too long to fit in this box! I want to write a book. I really don’t know how to get started. I have started just writing, writing, writing, but not sure if it is any good and where to get help. God has seen me and my family through SO much and I just want others to know that God is STILL on His Throne and is STILL in control no matter what is going on!
The story I am living is of a woman who for years and years has planned life to the detail and is just now realizing how incapable I am of planning a good story. God has sent me off my own trajectory more times than I can count and I am now in a place of such blessing and learning and growth. And yes, that’s all while being a mom and wife, so now I’m stumbling through learning what it really means to love God, then love others. The more I mature, the more I realize how immature I still am and how limited my self-defined, manageable life would be. I’m learning how to truly ask what He wants instead of first considering what I want. (I just realized how scattered my story is!)
LisaJo, I love this. Because of you, I am participating also. I am writing 31 days of hope. It has been a hard year for me and I stopped writing about 7 months ago. I am finally at a place where I can begin again. What greater message can I share than one of hope. No matter what happens in our life, if we choose hope, we choose to get through, to endure, to find peace. You are amazing.
I am loving the connections that “31 Days” is making – somehow leading me to stumble on exactly the right words I need to hear! My story is about finding joy. It is about the painfully unlearning the lessons I learned growing up in a broken family – that seeking out happiness is selfish, that we need to suffer to have worth. My story is both the brokenness and the path to wholeness.
I write the story of an empty nester / church secretary who is called to be an encourager.
I write because I have too. It’s the story of my little girls, my love for them and how they have stretched me thin and long and shown me beauty I didn’t know existed. It’s a story of finding beauty everywhere. It’s a story of dreams, and reality, and our life. I tell it for me, so I will remember these days and for others, because we can all use the beauty somedays.
My story is the most ordinary of stories……..and maybe that’s what makes it great……finding the great romance in a lasting marriage, finding adventure at home with my little ones, walking out my front door and experiencing a mission field. Counting each day, each breathe as extraordinary because of Who authored it. I love this story I have been blessed with…..
I know it’s only day 3, but I am tremendously enjoying your “31 days” series! I tell the story of an accountant on her way to being an English teacher, who thought she wanted to move to a Russian-speaking country in 2013. A cautious, idealistic planner who chose the word “undaunted” for 2012 and then saw the details of her plans transform into God’s plans, which evidently include falling in love and staying in Kansas.
You’re encouraging me! (I guess that’s kind of the point, eh?) I almost wussed out of trying 31 days ’til I saw your topic, then thought I’d at least try. So thanks!
I love this. I often get caught up in a way too big story when I think of “my story.” But I love how simply you put the prompt into the here and now. God is doing something now and it should be told…outcome to be determined. Love it.
I have a “big” story that is so big and complicated, I wouldn’t even know where to begin.
But my daily story is of a stay-at-home, mini-van drivin’ mama who’s rarely home. Of a collection of small stories that make up who I am.
I’m also a story listener…I listen to others’ stories. Because theirs are just as important as mine.
I tell a story of a mama who wants to find a balance between being mama and being herself, too. Right now, that story looks like a woman who wants to make things, have a creative outlet, and try to inspire others while loving her family and making a home.
I tell the story of a young woman who got married at 18 and had her first baby at 19. I tell of frustration, regrets, renewal and enjoying motherhood. I tell the story of thankfulness; everything from my amazing upbringing down to my struggle with conceiving our second child, due in April. I know that trusting God is what brings me through and my biggest passion is to bring Jesus to others through my actions.
My story is…. complicated. It’s one I’m learning to tell through general blogging, through my own 31 Days Series “Letting It Go,” and through time as life doesn’t stop and God is always bringing something new along. I find this post and this series incredibly encouraging on my own journey of how to tell my story.
I tell the story of a woman who wants an ordinary story! A simple story instead of the life of a woman always asking forgiveness and needing grace. I long not to be the mother who ruined the school play or the wife who passed out & didn’t make dinner… I tell the story of a woman who is now 45 days sober by His Mercy……
Thank you for sharing that. Congratulations on 45 days. One day at a time.
Amen
My crazy quilt life today~ When Your Salt Show Through
“And if you’re stuck between jobs and it hurts”
Today it seems to hurt more than usual.
My story is the Christian girl who struggled with sin as a teen, and carried shame around in her heart, even while living out a call to full time ministry. A woman who made it her job to tell teens how much God loves them, accepts them, wants them, but who never really believed it for herself. She believed that she was an exception… a woman who one day was led by the Holy Spirit to read the passage about the woman who washed Jesus feet with her tears and dried them with her tears… who began to sob when she read “You are forgiven”….
I tell the story of a woman who *only* wanted to be a mom and is now waiting to see what Jesus has saved for her.
I tell my story, the one that God is writing, of a 52 year old wife and mother of three who has lived some incredibily difficult and glorious years. And I tell the story of others.
Loved this post!
I tell the story of a woman who swore she never wanted kids, the woman who battled depression and wished to end her life… who now writes on Finding Joy in Motherhood. God’s transformative power is amazing.
I tell the story of a mother full of regrets, what if’s and why’s. I tell the story of a mom who wants so much for her three girls. Of a mother so afraid they’ll make big mistakes before they give their hearts completely and wholly to their Lord; because this mom knows the consequences of doing it too late. This is the story of a mother who wakes every night of the week to pray and agonize and beg mercy for her beautiful and amazing daughters. This is my story.
My story is the one of the girl next door. It’s me with an ordinary exterior with extraordinary thoughts and experiences to share.
Oh I love this! :-) I guess I’m still figuring out my story . . . because we are inner-city missionaries in Atlanta and we live in a dangerous neighborhood surrounded by a community that I LOVE – and that is for sure my story . . . but I’m also a mom to a special heart-baby, and a precocious 4-year-old, and that’s my story too.
I finally realized this week that my story, with all of its imperfections, is still my story. Thank you for saying this in such a sweet way.
Love this. <3
my story… a girl who is stumbling along on a journey to know God and love Jesus with all my heart, as broken and weak as it is, who spends her days with 5 little boys and living as a missionary in california. and yes, i am also a runner. :)
my recent post: i am a runner
My story? Brought up in a cult, called out by the love of God, now raising 4 blessings with my husband on a lifestyle block and realising that God’s plans for my life are still in process… getting a glimpse of what might be around the next corner. I think I need to start writing a blog!
well, you inspired me to write today: http://ramblingsonasojourn.wordpress.com/2012/10/09/writing/
thanks.
I tell the story of a new mom, overwhelmed with the depth of love she has for her little one and already dreading her return to work in 14 weeks. A woman who knows she must work to pay the bills but would give up almost anything to stay home and watch her little one grow.
I tell the story of a woman who thought she would be in a completely different place in her life by now but is learning to trust Him in the waiting and believing that His plans are perfect and perfectly timed.