Be Genuine share and your story.
This is a great time to share your story.
WHAT? You have got to be kidding, Sandi. With all pain and chaos literally screaming from every direction, you want me to be genuine and share my story? Give Me A Break.
Yes, I am serious. What you are experiencing right now is very real, deep, and true. As a creative, your words and art are truly needed for a hurting world.
“Everyone has a purpose because God is a purposeful God.”
― Iyanla Vanzant
“You own everything that happened to you. Tell your stories. If people wanted you to write warmly about them, they should have behaved better.”
― Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life
I appreciate what these ladies have shared because they state those things from the heart. No matter what is happening (or has happened) to you, it is no one else’s story. Also, if you are willing to be genuine, no one can share it the same way as you. God put in you creativity and art that belong to you alone. Be Genuine and share your story. This will give you freedom to breathe
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It is daring to open yourself to the story inside and start to write. Even if you are the only one who sees it, it is freeing.
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Saying yes and Being Honest is not always easy.
As you say YES and share your story, the next steps will not simply flow. In fact, life may take different turns as your story unfolds. Read the change that took place in Bryan Stevenson:
“My years of struggling against inequality, abusive power, poverty and injustice had finally revealed something to me about myself. Being close to suffering, death, executions, and cruel punishments didn’t just illuminate the brokenness of others; in a moment of anguish and heartbreak, it also exposed my own brokenness. You can’t effectively fight abusive power, poverty, inequality, illness, oppression, or injustice and not be broken by it”
Bryan Stevenson, Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption
Writing your story does not allow you to simply retell a tale. To create in truth may actually require reliving, it because as scary as that sounds, the benefits far outweigh the fear. Mr. Stevenson did not tell just facts to the world. A door opened where he was able to discover the man God created him to be.
You have words pleading to express pain from your life experiences. You feel the world’s pain and want to paint an expression of that truth. First hand encounters are familiar dealings whether it is with a family member struck with Covid or your own personal financial strains. You know the emotional attacks first hand, but a tormenting little imp jumps back and forth on top of your creativity, denying it’s need.– “Don’t Bother. Your Creativity Is Just Useless Lies.”
Share your Story, (well maybe not everything.)
Keeping silent out for fear of ridicule of your pain is not being obedient. The first responsibility as a creator, I believe, is to Honor and Worship God. I don’t believe everything I feel needs to be shared publicly, but does God want me to create it because I am a creator?
Saying Yes to sharing your story means being honest and offering it to God. Are you willing to trust Him with the results? Bryan Stevenson, in his book Just Mercy, was very honest. He did rock the boat knowing past systems needed to be torn down, but the main value of his book was for construction.
In a previous post, Don’t Panic I Am With You, there are multiple questions and answers, not only about my writing, but about my story and life in general. Granted, we were experiencing neither a virus nor racial tension during that season, but many of the personal questions asked then are still relevant today. The basic answers will never change.
16 “You didn’t choose me, remember; I chose you, and put you in the world to bear fruit, fruit that won’t spoil. As fruit bearers, whatever you ask the Father in relation to me, he gives you. 17 ‘But remember the root command: LOVE ONE ANOTHER..”
John 15:16 MSG
God knows the story you have experienced. Be genuine and share your story. We are all on this journey together. Your story, told in honest love, will help another on their path.
What are the stories you were given? What is the art only YOU can create?
Be free to worship as you were created. Be genuine and share the story only you are able to share. Take God’s Hand and release the story for healing, even if it is only for yourself.
[…] C.S. Lewis, we all have our own personal stories to share. In my last post, Be Genuine and Share Your Story, I encouraged you to sit and think about your present story. How different is this story than the […]