Thursday, March 03, 2016

Writing Your God Story by Rose McCormick Brandon

I’m teaching Writing Your God Story at my church, the second go-around for this six-night workshop. No one gets more out of these classes than I. As prophets of doom condemn the world and one is tempted to believe that nothing good is happening, stories of redemption pour forth from my students and fill my soul with hope. Their stories remind me that God is always working in human hearts.

One tells his story of a life of addiction to food and alcohol. Until three and a half years ago. That’s when he met Jesus and His life began to change. Today, he’s one hundred pounds thinner and sober. And eager to tell his story.

A young woman born in a refugee camp in Rwanda to a praying mother tells how God saved her life more than once. As a child she stood on the bridge over the river as thousands of bodies floated by. I recall this image as it appeared on the news. She was there, present, viewing this horrific scene. Today, she’s the founder of an organization that supports Rwandan children.

A man writes of his healing from cancer. Another writes in creative non-fiction style about the darkness of his past. The big stories of forgiving abusers and God’s intervention in hopeless cases should be told. But so should the small stories, those everyday miracles of finding a lost item, obeying a nudge from God to call a friend, a check appearing in the mail box on the day the rent is due – this is where people live and they want to know that God cares.

It’s important to tell our stories. Tell where we came from, where we’re headed and what has happened along the way.

Personal stories remind us of God’s goodness. They inspire faith. 

Keep all God’s salvation stories fresh and present. Micah 6:5 (The Message)

Our stories are important because they intersect with God’s story. View your life story as one page in God’s massive book.  God is still writing His story, and He’s writing it in our lives. C. H. Spurgeon wrote, “On a small scale, we have repeated a portion of early church history in our own personal stories. The life of the believer is the life of Christ in miniature.”
If we only speak our stories, they will be forgotten. But, if we write them, they will remain.

Our God stories are our best witnessing tools. Let’s keep telling them.
***

Rose McCormick Brandon is the author of four books, including, Promises of Home - Stories of Canada's British Home Children. Visit her blogs, Listening to my Hair Grow and Promises of Home. Her books are available at http://writingfromtheheart.webs.com







2 comments:

Peter Black said...

Thanks Rose, for this inspiring post. I agree, those God and salvation stories are important; they're worthy of the telling and of being preserved by being written down. ~~+~~

Glynis said...

Rose - You are the best at keeping story alive! And what an encouraging post. I often speak on hope so your line -
"Personal stories remind us of God’s goodness. They inspire faith." I love it. It gives me hope! Thanks, again, Rose.

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