A Story is Not Just a Story

We all love stories of life experiences. We love to sit around the table with family and friends, or even those we’ve just met, and listen to events from their past. As a teenager, I remember sitting at a small table for the very German “coffee and cake” time at an elderly lady’s house. The Germans I knew rarely spoke about their memories from the war, but on this day, this precious woman was telling us about her childhood in the first half of the 1940s. I just sat there fascinated, asking questions and mostly listening. Stories take us to times and places we’ve never been, and in the telling of them, we are drawn in. We get a glimpse of the person sitting across from us, what has made them the person they are, and sometimes the stories inspire us in the way we live our lives as well. There are various types of life stories – the ones that make us laugh until we cry, the sad stories that grieve our hearts, and the tales of events gone incredibly right, where things turn out beautifully in the end.

Back in the fall, my middle school English students read the autobiography of Booker T. Washington. His book was full of tales of his past, unique experiences that shaped the man he became. He would often tell a story and then go on to say what he learned as a result of that experience. Following this book, I gave my students the assignment to interview a relative about an event in his or her life that in some way changed him or her. It could be a joyful event like the adoption of a child, something difficult like a wartime experience, or something sad like the loss of a loved one. But the interview was not just supposed to cover questions about the event itself, but also what life lesson had been learned from this event. When I read my students’ papers, some of them brought tears to my eyes as I encountered the joys, the challenges, and the heartaches of these precious relatives, but above all, as I saw how God had carried them through the events and what they learned as a result. It was clear to me that my students were impacted by these tales. Perhaps they’d heard the stories before, but so often, that’s where the stories stop – with the story itself; however, to hear what God did and how He changed the person involved is where the true gold of the story lies.

There was the story of the dad who battles debilitating migraines who has learned that earth does not hold all joy and whose longing for heaven has increased dramatically. I read about a mom who was diagnosed with cancer at age 16 and who learned to trust God through chemotherapy, fears, and missing out on all the typical teenage experiences. Tears came to my eyes as I read about a grandfather who was going to have to leave college due to lack of funds, when someone anonymously paid for his tuition. It was the next year at college that the grandfather gave his life to ministry and is still in the pastorate today as a result of the anonymous donor. One day he called up a former college friend who was dying, only to find out from that man’s wife that this friend had been the anonymous donor and had taken extra jobs to pay for this man’s tuition. The grandfather learned about generosity and God’s sovereignty. Another of my student’s wrote about his father who as a teenager got into an argument with his stepdad before school one day. His stepfather was tragically killed in a car accident that very day before he ever had a chance to make it right.  That dad told his son, my student, that he learned that you never know what a day holds and so you need to make things right quickly while you have the chance. These are just four of the thirty-five stories I read, but they all held stories and lessons in which God’s fingerprints were seen. I was encouraged and challenged in the reading of them.

We are quick sometimes to tell our stories, but are we also quick to point out what God taught us and how He changed us? These are the truths that the next generations need to hear. Tell your stories, moms and grandmothers. Let your children and grandchildren know how God has cared for your family. Tell your stories, Sunday School teachers, Awana, and youth group leaders. Many of the children in your groups will remember them and be encouraged by them for years to come. Tell your stories, women of all ages, one to another. May we hear how God has been faithful in your life so that we too can trust that He will be faithful in ours when we’re going through a difficult testing. After all, your story is not just a story; it is a display of God’s faithfulness in keeping His promise to “cause all things to work together for good, to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28).

So come on over. I’ll have coffee brewing and hot water for tea in the kettle. Tell me your story.

--Amy O'Rear