“What story will you tell?”
I heard this phrase over and over again at a student missions conference that I attended back in 2015. The theme centered around how to tell our own stories and how that intertwines with stories that God tells us through Scripture. The conference really emphasized the importance our stories, and that the way in which we share them can have a lasting impact on not only ourselves, but the people that hear them.
I hadn’t really given that a lot of thought prior to the conference, but it was from that moment on that I realized the significance of storytelling. There have been countless situations where I, or someone I know, has shared some type of experience from their lives, whether positive or negative, and someone who was listening was deeply impacted by it. Honestly, sometimes we don’t even realize how powerful our stories are to someone else.
So I know I’ve mentioned storytelling a few times now, but what actually is that? And why do we even tell stories? Now I will admit, when I tried to look up an official definition, much of what came up had to do with people who are fibbers, liars; basically people who are fabricators of truth. And while there is some truth to that, I don’t think that is always the case. When I looked up the definition of storyteller, Merriam-Webster Dictionary defined it as, a writer or teller of stories. And the definition of a story is, an account of incidences or events, or a statement regarding the facts pertinent to a situation in question. These are people who are giving an account of something whether in real life events, or fabricated ones. That person has a lot of power and could leave a lasting impact! I mean, if you think about it, most of ancient history was communicated and passed down to each generation through storytelling.
Even today, our history, culture, traditions, values, and the way we develop and deepen relationships with people are most often done through telling stories. Stories remind us of where we came from. They have to power to heal us, encourage us,edify, and inspire us. But they also have to power to harm us, which is why it’s so important to be aware of what we share and how we share it. The power of life and death is literally in the tongue (Proverbs 18:21)! But the thing I love is that we ALL have the capability of being story tellers. We each have something in our lives to share, no matter how large or how small it may be. Each person brings important perspectives and experiences that deserve to be heard. And what’s amazing is that there’s no one way to tell a story! You can do so through writing, composing music, poetry, singing, dancing, painting, speaking, signing and so many more. All of these are beautiful ways of communicating our stories through our creativity.
So this is what Storytellers is about. Because I love to hear people’s stories and fully believe that they can be used to encourage, and uplift people, this is a space where I will feature individuals who want for their story to be heard. The method of sharing could be in the form of art, poetry, a song, or giving a personal account of something meaningful and impactful that has happened in their lives. Every single person on this earth has a story that the world needs to hear. And every story is valuable, it is valid, and it is needed.
So now I’ll ask you …
“What story will you tell?”
