When I was a kid, I loved to write. By the time I graduated high school, I was planning on becoming a journalist. I just wanted to write!

The first week of college, I remember sitting there so excited, being in college, living on my own for the first time. The head of the Journalism Department stood at the front of the class and told us that if we ever wanted to get a job at a daily newspaper, we would need to get a Master’s Degree. I was wondering why she was telling us this – to discourage us, limit our expectations? I wasn’t sure. It is very challenging and time consuming to get a Master’s with just a college diploma. It is very different now than it was almost 25 years ago. At the end of the first semester, I dropped out of school.

It took me a while to start writing again. It took a serious event in my life to have me start just journaling.

The problem I have with my writing is it is very simple. You will notice I don’t use large, complicated, $5 words – well occasionally I do, but not often. Instead when I write, I write from the heart. Sometimes when I write a new blog post, I will have the first draft written in my notebook within 20 minutes.

When I was in elementary school, maybe Grade 3, I wrote a story with my best friend, Donald. It was about this group of hikers finding a whole city within a mountain. It was a very different world they kept hidden. As he wrote, Donald’s words were very descriptive and mine were more factual, less flowery. Sometimes it is hard for me to do descriptive writing. It seems too fake and does not flow. This is why I could never write a book.

All of my blog posts start with a simple idea and I expand on it as I write. Even as I write this, I am sitting in the dark, with only a light coming from the other side of the room. I can’t tell if I am on the lines or not (don’t think I am) but I don’t need to really see what I am doing. It comes from within. Often times, I don’t think it is me writing. The words are coming directly from God.

I remember being at a women’s retreat a few years ago. We had the opportunity to spend time with God any way we wanted. We could listen to music, we could journal, walk in His creations, etc.

A friend of mine is not the type to journal or write things out. At that point, she felt the need to write. Within an hour she any many pages completed. The words were flowing right out of her heart and God was using that to help her heal.

When I write this blog, as you can guess, it is very much based on my thoughts, opinions, experiences and observations. Sometimes I don’t even think about it how will relate to God, His teachings or anything in the Bible. The reference usually comes as I near the end of my post and I pause to think about it. Sometimes it will come to me easily and other times I need to do a topic search. And sometimes, I get a story from the Bible in my head and I just need to find the reference. I am no where near having the Bible memorized but I remember stories I can relate to.

I love to read and I grew up listening to Country music. It is a good Country song that tells a story. Maybe that is why I like it so much.

One of the reasons I like talking to people is I like hearing their stories. I like to know how people got to be where they are in life.

When you read the Bible, some people stories are written from beginning to end. Others have large gaps in their storyline.

Jesus’ life story is the perfect example of that. We are introduced to Him before He was ever born. Centuries before He was born even! We read the riveting story of His birth and the people who wanted Him dead (again, even before He was born). Then He disappears. We meet Him again when He is about 12 years old and He gets left behind in the temple. He disappears again until the point where He is preparing to die for us. We are then witness to the false trial and death sentence.

But we wonder about His childhood and how He spent His youth and young adult years. I once watched a documentary where they believe He spent time travelling and ended up in England at some point. If that is true, we will never really know.

The Bible is full of stories of love, grace, forgiveness and relationships, hatred, deceit and murder. We hear stories of miracles, conversions, healings, leaders, kings, followers and servants.

Every character we hear about, and many more, was touched by God in some way, positive or negative. Scripture tells is the Bible is God-breathed. He wrote it using the hands and minds of those he favoured. They wrote history and His story.

¹⁶ All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, ¹⁷ so that the servant of God^[a] may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

II Timothy 3:16-17

I believe my writing and my stories, just like my life, are God-breathed. I am alive because of Him. I write because of Him and for Him.

I know my writing will never be popular, and I am okay with that. But I do hope that me sharing my stories will bring comfort and support to even one person.

We all have a story to tell. It is up to us as to how we tell it, or who will tell it for us.

Share how you tell your stories. Do you give your testimony? Do you write about your life? Are you writing a book? I would love to hear all about it!