STORY IS WHERE HOPE BEGINS.
Chronic illness, mental illness, and chronic pain can be isolating and lonely, but sharing our stories can open a door, extend hope, and sometimes spark a life-giving, life-changing conversation with someone else along the way.
YOUR STORY MATTERS
Stories are vital to community. They are how we connect and learn about who we are, why we’re here, and how we belong. Stories preserve history and elicit laughter. They plunge us into the depths of ourselves and set us soaring across the skies.
Yet writing our stories can be challenging.
Where do we start? What do we write? Will anyone care? Does it even matter?
Storytelling has become a lost art in an age of sound bites, but have you ever considered that those of us with chronic illness are blessed to move more slowly, to have the gift of time to rekindle this lost art?
Through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, there are many ways to share our stories — in writing, through music and art, in drama and photography, by talking one-on-one, or in audio and podcast formats.
Story is where hope begins.
Stories connect us to one another, shattering isolation. As we express them, our perspective shifts and we begin to see from a distance what we were unable to see in the moment.
Share your story. We’ve created thoughtful questions and helpful tips to get you started, but remember, these are only a place to begin.
This is your story and how you tell it, in whatever format you choose, is entirely up to you, but the world is waiting. Your story is a vital chapter in God’s story. And it matters.
Free Printables
Story Matters
Creatively Express Your Story
We can feel isolated and powerless when living with chronic illness, but what if your story begins to bridge the gaps? What if your story offers a glimmer of hope to someone standing at the edge of hopelessness?
The Story Told Through Our Scars
Where we’ve been fractured, we can offer empathy and compassion. Where we’ve been wounded, we can speak of hope. And where we have been ground into dust, God’s light shines bright.
Sharing Your Story
We all have a story to tell, and each one is a vital part of the mosaic, an integral piece of the whole. Incomplete, insufficient, and disconnected on its own, our story connects with others to create an exquisite, complete masterpiece.
Stories, Jesus & Trees
When our roots are grafted to God’s, we are linked to believers around the world and across time. Do you feel disconnected today? Reach out and share the love of Jesus. It’ll strengthen your faith and renew your spirit.
Telling Your Medical Story
What is a Medical Story? In order for our healthcare teams to build the best possible treatment plans for us, we need to learn to keep well-maintained logs with the symptoms and severity, medications, treatments, dates, and brief notes. Keep track with our Medical Story Log.
Medical Story Log
Using a Medical Story Log to track the frequency and severity of your symptoms, the effects of medications and foods, and your energy levels from day to day can help you and your healthcare team spot patterns and build the best possible treatment plan for you.
Allegory • UNLOCKING THE DEEPER STORY
Allegory is a beautiful, artistic form of storytelling. Explore your story's difficult, painful, or vulnerable parts from a safer distance and a different perspective.
Poetry • MINISTRY OF VERSE
Poetry invites us to notice and explore our world. We might echo the symptoms, confusion, loss, grief, and uncertainty of chronic pain and illness. We could collect and delight in special moments and small victories. Perhaps we will discover God’s still small voice in brand new ways.
Metaphor • A Bridge Between Pain and Understanding
Describing pain to someone who hasn’t experienced it is often challenging. Using metaphors can bridge the chasm, reframe our thoughts, and invite deeper understanding.
BLOG POSTS
A Church for Broken People
We sometimes build a narrative of having to be useful to God. Oh, how the “God-using” language can exacerbate the uneasiness deep within us! The problem is that we stay bowed under this load, even in places where we should be free to express the truth.
People Watching in God’s Waiting Room
Can I encourage you to print out Holy Attention – People Watching? Tuck it in your pocket or purse the next time you go to an appointment. See how God can use that waiting room for some holy work – in your life and the life of others.
50 Women Every Christian Should Know: Learning from Heroines of the Faith
Michelle DeRusha
Throughout history, countless women have boldly stepped out in faith and courage, leaving their indelible mark on those around them and on the kingdom of God. In lively prose Michelle DeRusha tells their stories, bringing into focus fifty incredible heroines of the faith.
Living Sacrifice
Helen Roseveare
What place does ‘sacrifice’ have in the modern world? The Bible says it is central – and that sacrifice is not only a vital key to the future, it is the essence of a Christian’s life, today. Dr. Helen Roseveare skillfully weaves stories of sacrifice together with Christian teaching on the subject to show you how sacrifice is the key to joy.
The Ministry of Ordinary Places: Waking Up to God’s Goodness Around You
Shannan Martin
For Christ-followers living in an increasingly complicated world, it can be easy to feel overwhelmed and unsure of how to live a life of intention and meaning. Where do we even begin? Discover a surprisingly simple answer: uncover the hidden corners of our cities and neighborhoods and invest deeply in the lives of people around us.
When God Doesn't Fix It: Lessons You Never Wanted to Learn, Truths You Can't Live Without
Laura Story
Laura’s life took an unexpected turn when her husband was diagnosed with a brain tumor. The fairy-tale life Laura had dreamed of was no longer possible. Yet in struggling with God about how to live with broken dreams, Laura has found joy and a deeper intimacy with Jesus. She examines the brokenness of some of the heroes of our faith, and shows how God was able to use them in extraordinary ways, not because of their faith, but because of the His faithfulness.
Roots and Sky: A Journey Home in Four Seasons
Christie Purifoy
Christie slowly unveils the small trials and triumphs of that first year at Maplehurst–from summer’s intense heat and autumn’s glorious canopy through winter’s still whispers and spring’s gentle mercies. Through stories of planting and preserving, of opening the gates wide to neighbors, and of learning to speak the language of a place, Christie invites readers into the joy of small beginnings and the knowledge that the kingdom of God is with us here and now.
Still Waiting: Hope for When God Doesn’t Give You What You Want
Ann Swindell
What if God wants you to wait?Most of us know what it’s like to wait for God to change our circumstances. But, whether we’re waiting for physical healing, emotional breakthrough, or better relationships, waiting is something we usually try to avoid. Why? Because waiting is painful and hard.
To Be Told: God Invites You to Coauthor Your Future
Dan B. Allender
Would you willingly overlook clear direction from God that speaks directly to you and where you are in life right now? God’s guidance is near at hand. He is not only your Authority, he is also your Author. As God writes the stories of your life, he uses your past to open up your future. It is your privilege to listen to your own story so you can live boldly for the sake of the Greatest Story.
Undone: A Story of Making Peace With an Unexpected Life
Michele Cushatt
Follow a quest to make peace with a complicated life. It is an honest confession of a diagnosis of cancer and the joys and disappointments of motherhood and marriage, ripe with regret over what is and, yet, still hopeful for what could be. Follow a roller coaster two-year journey through the unexpectedness of life with enough humor to ease the rawness of the story.
Walking Through Fire: A Memoir of Loss and Redemption
Vaneetha Rendall Risner
The astonishing, Job-like story of how an existence filled with loss, suffering, questioning, and anger became a life filled with shocking and incomprehensible peace and joy. Vaneetha contracted polio as an infant, was misdiagnosed, and lived with widespread paralysis. She lived in and out of the hospital for ten years. When she became a Christian, though, she thought things would get easier, and they did: carefree college days, a dream job in Boston, and an MBA from Stanford where she met and married a classmate.
But life unraveled. Again.
You Gotta Keep Dancin': In the Midst of Life's Hurts, You Can Choose Joy!
Tim Hansel
Life can be tough. Stress, disappointment, heartache, and hurt are all part of the human condition. While pain is unavoidable, misery is optional! No matter what your circumstances, you can choose to be joyful. In Hansel’s powerful account of God’s working in one man’s physical and emotional suffering, he and we discover the real meaning of joy.
Your Story Matters: Finding, Writing, and Living the Truth of Your Life
Leslie Leyland Fields
The Scars that have Shaped Me
Vaneetha Rendall Risner
Twenty-one surgeries by age thirteen. Years in the hospital. Verbal and physical bullying from schoolmates. Multiple miscarriages as a young wife. The death of a child. A debilitating progressive disease. Riveting pain. Abandonment. Unwanted divorce. Vaneetha begged God for the grace that would deliver her, but God offered something better: His sustaining grace.
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EVEN MORE
We “serve one another humbly in love,” (Galatians 5:13b) when we courageously and authentically share our stories.
We “serve one another humbly in love,” (Galatians 5:13b) when we courageously and authentically share our stories.
Each of us has a story- a unique, valuable integral part of the whole story of God. Your story is important. It matters.
“Each of us has a story- a unique, valuable integral part of the whole story of God. Your story is important. It matters.” Cindee Snider Re
The shortest distance between strangers and friends is a shared story about our broken places.
“The shortest distance between strangers and friends is a shared story about our broken places.” Lisa Jo Baker
We endure hours of waiting, difficult days. and seasons of joy and grief – all of which contribute to the stories of our lives.
We endure hours of waiting, difficult days. and seasons of joy and grief – all of which contribute to the stories of our lives.
The scars you carry from the past are telling the story of how God has saved you, carried you, and changed you.
“The scars you carry from the past are telling the story of how God has saved you, carried you, and changed you.” Christina Fox
What if your story offers a glimmer of hope to someone standing on the edge of hopelessness?
“What if your story offers a glimmer of hope to someone standing on the edge of hopelessness?” Cindee Snider Re
Storytelling and personal narrative have the ability to reach…the ones shoved out, marginalized, and made to feel “other” or “less than.”
Storytelling and personal narrative have the ability to reach…the ones shoved out, marginalized, and made to feel “other” or “less than.” When you’re the one on the fringes, one of most powerful things someone can say to you is, “Me too.” ~ Nish Weiseth
Our story, like the story of all mankind, is steeped in hope and nourished in love.
“Our story, like the story of all mankind, is steeped in hope and nourished in love.” Cindee Snider Re
Your broken story does not need to be fully resolved before God can begin using it to inspire and encourage others.
“Your broken story does not need to be fully resolved before God can begin using it to inspire and encourage others.” Laura Story
As I share my story, I realize that I am not alone.
“As I share my story, I realize that I am not alone.” Cheryl Luke
Stories are radical acts of hospitality.
“Stories are radical acts of hospitality.” Eugene Peterson