As I share my course and help people write their Life Stories, I often hear that people don’t think they have anything important to write or share. Let me expand the thought – doing your Life Story, writing your stories and memories that go into it, is a two-way benefit street. Not only is it a blessing for those who come after you, you will find yourself experiencing so many good benefits as well. And yes, I am talking about even telling about the “hard stuff”.
I had the privilege of reviewing a draft of a friend who is writing a “how to” and “why” book on leaving your legacy in a life story photobook. I loved her sharing how her grandmother quoted Scripture to her as a child, told her Bible stories, played her tambourine and prayed over her beside her bed when she spent the night with her. My friend still remembers the words of the prayers – and they are important in her life story.
And then today I read Isabel D. Price’s blog bringing up this same point. She wrote a book titled A New Life Promise: How to Heal Your Body, Find Joy and Bring Glory to God. If you read it, you will know she spent some time tackling and healing some of her own serious health issues, most of which were digestion related.
Isabel said that so many times, during those years of health struggles, people would say to her, “Isabel, God can and will use these struggles for something good.” She says she knew they were right but she just didn’t want to hear it, go through it or deal with it. She just wanted to be better. She didn’t want the lesson and didn’t want to continue to go through it. She just wanted it over. I can so relate to that!
But, as Isabel shared, she is on the other side of it now and she sees things a bit differently. She said:
You see, that period of my life grew me in ways no book, sermon, coach, pastor, or teacher could have ever taught me. The one who needed to do the teaching and the molding was our Lord Jesus Christ and He sure did.
Her book shares much more but she also says that one of the other incredible blessings that has come from that time is how she is now able to be a blessing to others in similar situations, not just because of her nutrition experience but because of her firsthand experience in her own body.
She saw firsthand that the journey would not be an easy straight line. The journey would have hills and valleys, and part of her job has been to help people through those hills and valleys.
Just her sharing of that thought helps me, today, right now, in working through health issues.
What are the challenges and milestones you have encountered in your life? What beliefs and principles guided you through those situations? Pause for a moment and think back to events, situations, experiences that have impacted you or your life trajectory — call at least one up and consider how you react to getting that written down and saved for future generations.
If your response is, “oh, I don’t have anything important or big to share”, go back and think about the times through which you have lived, world events, local happenings, personal faith situations. Then ask yourself if you would like to know how your grandmother’s grandfather weathered the Civil War?
I have shared before how my grandmother’s grandfather was only a stick figure in one photo passed down to me through my mom. She didn’t know much about him other than a funny story of his sitting on his front porch soaking his feet watching a 1920’s vehicle motor by, maybe multiple over a day’s time, and he would ask “where are they all going?” We chuckled and that was all I knew.
Until…I did some genealogy work at the Family History Library and stumbled upon an article which had 3 photos of these great-great-grandparents at different times in their lives and a half-page sketch of their life events. He joined the US Army in 1850 at age 19 to fight Indians and assist pioneers moving west spending 5 years as a Cavalry soldier out of Ft. Leavenworth. He then ended up in north Texas marrying and immediately going off to fight in the Civil War (another 5 years ending with the last year in a prison). He returned home, had many children who lived to adulthood and his obituary I found recited how he had become an itinerant preacher as he farmed his land.
Oh my! The questions I have for both of them! I read up on how Confederate soldiers in Texas were treated upon their return home – stripped of guns, could not vote, could not hold local office, etc. And I ruminated on where he was in prison at the end of the Civil War – what was it like, how did he handle it, so many questions running through my mind. From an Indian fighter to an itinerant preacher – who also helped establish a church in their little Texas town.
He probably didn’t think he was much different from any other man in his time – same for his wife and their children. But they would have rich lessons for all of us who came after them. How I long to have some personal insights from them.
Back to you…have you, as I, lived through the assassination of John Kennedy, the forced integration of my little Texas town school, the Vietnam war, a college experience or two, divorce, near death experience, connecting with spiritually mature friends who impacted hugely my walk with the Lord, raising children and frolicking with grandchildren, tumultuous political times, 9-11, just living a daily life in the decades of change from the 1950’s to the 2020’s.
I hang on every word of my grandfather’s audio which I luckily recorded when he was in his 80’s and still lucid – just describing where he was born, the surroundings, his daily life, how he and his family handled tough things.
You know where I am going here – my passion for helping people capture and preserve their life stories drives me to challenge you. Just start today – one story – one common everyday telling of what your daily life is like, or a major struggle you have faced, it may be hard to imagine, but trust me on this. Your children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren and beyond will benefit hugely from what you share!
And yes, the bonus is that you, too, I pray, will recognize how the Lord has been working in your life and be enriched by the telling.
