A few weeks ago while sitting and eating lunch, a guy asked me a question that caught me completely off guard. It was a simple question. He asked, “What’s your story?”
His question caught me off guard for a few reasons. One, was due to the fact that, I had just met him a few moments earlier. Two, he asked the question in a way which suggested he wasn’t looking for a quick surface-level answer. I was hesitant to engage at first if I’m being honest. I had just started eating and wasn’t really looking to dive into deep conversation. The introvert in me was looking forward to turning my brain off for a bit after a long morning of class. But mostly, I was uncomfortable due to the fact that I hadn’t had much experience telling “my story”.
Where do I start? What do I tell? How much do I tell? How do I sum up 31 years in a few minutes?
These are all questions that scurried through my mind as I hesitantly agreed to his request. The guy was a fairly new seminary student who was in the process of discerning where he felt God leading him to serve in ministry. Having been through that process myself (and still in it to some degree), I empathized with the feeling of trying to figure it out and wanting to draw from the wisdom of those who’ve walked a similar path. I wanted to help. I just wasn’t sure how.
But after a few seconds of gathering my thoughts, I began to piece together the in and outs of my journey up to this point in my life. I talked for about 10-15 minutes trying my best to summarize my 31 years of life as succinctly as possible. When I was done, two things happened.
First, he said he was helped and deeply encouraged by my story. I’m not sure if he was just being nice or if he was truly helped by it. Only he and God knows the answer to that. We just plant seeds. It’s up to God to make it fruitful. I’m ok with that.
The other thing that sticks out most about that day is how much telling my story encouraged ME. The retelling of my own story lifted my spirit in a way I hadn’t experienced in a while. I was forced to recall things in my mind that I hadn’t revisited in a while. Some of those I had simply forgotten and others I had purposely tried to forget. But when they came to my mind, it was a much needed reminder of God’s faithfulness through the ups and downs of my life.
This seemingly routine encounter over lunch that day taught me a valuable lesson, that simply telling your story can help others but it can also help you. It can help you remember where you’ve been and how the seemingly minor details of your life have led you to where you are today. It can help you see the ways God has weaved together both the good and bad parts of your journey. It can help you see how God is always at work even when you don’t notice in the moment.
So, I would encourage you to do just that. TELL YOUR STORY. If you can’t tell it to anybody else, write it down or record it on your phone. It may be uncomfortable at first because it’s not something we often do. We live our lives day to day but we seldom stop and reflect on how we got to where we are. But I promise you, it will help. Whether you’re satisfied with where you are in life right now or even if you’re in a difficult season, reflecting on where you’ve been can help you move forward.
Over the next couple of weeks, I plan to share more of my story here on the blog. The past few years have been extremely difficult in some ways and extremely glorious in others. So, my hope in sharing is to encourage those who read it and to remind myself of God’s faithfulness in my life. I’m living it, but He’s the one writing it. My story, His Glory. More to come....
The heart of man plans his way, but the LORD establishes his steps. - Proverbs 16:9 ESV
Be encouraged.
Comments