“Listen. Listen deeply.”
“This is the word You want me to focus on this year, Lord? I thought I was listening. After all, it’s the first word in my mission statement! You want me to go even deeper? Deeper than studying hard to teach the ladies at church? I try to understand the biblical characters’ cultures, emotions, needs, desires, and sins and apply them to myself and to the ladies. What more is there to listen to?”
In March, I received the path that God wants me to take to listen deeply.
Your Story Matters: Finding, Writing, and Living the Truth of Your Life, by Leslie Leyland Fields, provides the winding, sometimes circling, uphill, downhill path God is taking me on as I listen more deeply than I ever have.
“We know some of the truth of our story, but not all of it”
(Fields, p. 4).
“Wait! I have memorials throughout my house that remind me of You working in my life. “
This book showed me that I’ve only addressed the outer story. Fields prompts the reader to go deeper to understand her fuller story, to understand it, and to share it with her children, grandchildren, and perhaps the world.
I have so many questions about my family’s history, and I know that you do, too. I wish my grandpa would have told me more about his journey to Oklahoma in a covered wagon, his checker games with Geronimo, and his church planting ministry.
God told the Israelites to remember how He worked in the nation’s life and to tell their children and grandchildren the stories of His works in their lives.
“Only take care, and keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things that your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life. Make them known to your children and your children’s children–” Deuteronomy 4:9
I haven’t done this well. Your Story Matters has shown me how to listen to the story God has given me. I will begin to listen to that story and write it, so that I can listen deeply to the story God is writing. I’ll then share God’s story with others.
"We're still naming the word-spoken world; we're writing the story of our life. We're answering back. Not just to ourselves and to God, but also to one another." Leslie Leyland Fields, p. 79 Click To TweetThis book will take small groups to a deeper level, as they study the Bible, relate the Scriptures to their lives, and remember how God worked in their outer and inner life stories.
Fields has given writers, those who journal, small groups, and support groups an in-depth guide to discovering the depth of their stories.
You will want to pre-order Your Story Matters, so that you can get started on your path to listen deeply to God’s story of your life and pass it on to others.
My Prayer
All-knowing Father, thank You for Leslie Leyland Fields and her generosity in sharing Your story of her life and ministry with all who would read, hear, and act. Bless the readers of Your Story Matters and empower them to listen deeply to the story that You are writing in their lives and to share that story with others. We look forward to watching You work through this book. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
I received an Advanced Reader Copy for my honest review from the author.
What is God revealing to you about your story? Please share your story in the comment section below.
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