1. TELL YOUR STORY FOR YOURSELF
To tell your story, especially God’s role in your story, requires a life review . . . remembering and considering the seasons you’ve enjoyed or endured. As you walked through those seasons, events and relationships were up close and personal . . . much like a macro lens. In those moments, one could describe the emotion, swirl in the chaos, and feel the hurt or the joy intensely. Looking back, however, we often experience a whole new perspective—more like that of a wide angle lens. We may now identify how we set ourselves up to be disappointed or to fail; realize anew the support we received from others, or perhaps recognize how God did protect, support and comfort us . . . even use evil for good (Genesis 50:20). Perspective opens our hearts to see God’s purposeful artistry in our own lives.
During such a life review, you may very well uncover new insights and a fresh awareness of God’s purposes in your difficulties. One pastor, Ron Frost, asked his congregation, How many of you have lived long enough to see Romans 8:28 played out in your lives? Sitting in the Mezzanine, I looked out over the congregation of about 1500 people to see many hands raised up. Pastor Ron then observed that most of those who raised their hands had grey hair! His point was that the wide angle lens, the long view, is one of the sweet benefits of longevity (Proverbs 3:16). You may or may not have grandchildren asking for your memoirs. Reviewing your timeline with your heavenly Father, asking Him to give you new understanding of the message He is illustrating in your particular life, is a growth producing, faith building experience worth the time and effort—with or without a prospective audience. Do it for yourself.
2. TELL YOUR STORY FOR YOUR PEOPLE
As the oldest and the one who loves to write, it naturally fell to me to collect our family’s stories. Later, I traced our roots back as far as the documentation goes within the United States. I am my family’s historian. Even so, many questions remain. Facts do not tell me why our Southern ancestors fought for the Union army! Was it a matter of belief in the equality of all people or economic prejudice against large plantation owners? It was an expensive decision—no adult males in that part of our family survived the Civil War. What was it was like for the surviving widows to collect a Union pension from a post office in the hills of Alabama? I will not know this side of heaven. How I would treasure the life story of one of these ancestors . . . especially that of a believer pointing out God’s hand of blessing. God promises to bless our descendants to a thousand generations (Exodus 20:6) . . . imagine being able to read such a faith heritage about your own family! You and I can re-start this faith tradition by chronicling what God has done in our lives. Do it for your people.
3. TELL YOUR STORY FOR GOD
Beyond personal revelation and growth, beyond gifting those who love and care about you, sharing what God has done—honors Him and extends his impact, perhaps infinitely. Relating God’s role in your story is actually an act of obedience, giving credit where credit is due. How can we pray and ask for God’s help today when we do not credit Him for what He has done just yesterday? If you are considering chronicling your life in a way that honors God, reading Infinite Impact by Stu Weber would be an excellent starting point. One benefit of writing out your story is that we are preserving it for the teachable moment, the time when our descendants are no longer bored with us, disinterested, or “parent/grandparent deaf.” We are not being egotistical but realistic in assuming we will not always be here. Some families enjoy inter-generational fellowship all along the way. Others endure seasons of estrangement and minimal communication. Writing out your story is not only obedient to God, it exhibits our faith in His promises that prodigals will find their way back home to Him and someday be interested in their heritage. Writing your story honors God for what He has done in your past, who you know Him to be now, and it is also an act of faith that you will have hungry readers in the future. Let us all ZACHAR (remember) and write our stories for God and His purposes.
Give ear, O my people, to my teaching; incline your ears to the words of my mouth! I will open my mouth in a parable; I will utter dark sayings from of old, things that we have heard and known, that our fathers have told us. We will not hide them from their children, but tell to the coming generation the glorious deeds of the Lord, and his might, and the wonders that he has done. He established a testimony in Jacob and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers to teach to their children, that the next generation might know them, the children yet unborn, and arise and tell them to their children, so that they should set their hope in God and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments; and that they should not be like their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation whose heart was not steadfast, whose spirit was not faithful to God. ESV Psalm 78:1-8
