What’s your story?

“Come and listen, all you who fear God,
and I will tell you what He did for me.
For I cried out to Him for help,
praising Him as I spoke.
If I had not confessed the sin in my heart,
the Lord would not have listened.
But God did listen!
He paid attention to my prayer.
Praise God, who did not ignore my prayer
or withdraw His unfailing love from me.”
(emphasis mine) Psalm 66:16-20 New Living Translation, Tyndale House Publishers, copyright 2007

“May Your ways be known throughout the earth,
Your saving power among people everywhere.”
Psalm 67:2 New Living Translation, Tyndale House Publishers, copyright 2007

But, if God’s people – we, who know His “ways” and have experienced His “saving power” – don’t tell the stories, how will “people everywhere” know what He has done, and is doing?

Folks can share their stories verbally within their circle of relatives, friends, and acquaintances, and some do. But what about the wider audience?

What about all the stories of God’s comfort, power, healing, and the every day sustaining and upholding to get a person through one day at a time when their world is crumbling all about them? What about when God steps in and goes to bat for us?

Some people are too shy or embarrassed to tell the stories of what God has done for them. Others just don’t see it until they look back on their life. Others need friends and objective onlookers to tell them how they see God working.

On the whole writers and editors are very observant people. They notice things. And often they imagine the story around it.

♦  The loud, flamboyant person at work who always seems to be the centre of attention.

♦  An attendee who always keeps to himself and sits in the seat closest to the door at church.

♦  The house in your area that goes up for sale every two or three years.

Is your imagination churning yet?

We have been given this gift from God for a purpose. We have a responsibility to use that gift. For some of us we need to use our gift to tell stories of what God has done. Some of us need to tell our own stories. Some of us need to tell the stories of others. And maybe not just one story, but many.

Let me tell you a story.

Did that get your attention? Are you interested? Do you want to listen?

Whether the story is an article, a poem, a short story, a memoir, a novel, a play, or whatever, it can tell a tale of God, a tale of what He is doing – in a life, a family, a community – in our world.

What’s your story?

We’re all in this together.

© 2010 Denise Rumble