Does the World Really Need Our Stories? 

Your story matters.

I Googled this phrase recently and got 627 million results. It’s so common, it’s almost cliché.

It’s also true, though.

Our stories do matter—to us, of course, but also to other people.

We read or hear what others have experienced—the pains, the struggles, the grief, the deliverance—and while all that doesn’t necessarily show us what to do in our specific situation, it somehow reminds us that if they can get through it, we can too.

Sometimes we’re the pioneers (or so we think), and sometimes we’re the ones who come later. Sometimes we need other people’s stories, and sometimes they need ours.

That’s one of the reasons the tagline of my blog is “Strength for Today • Hope for Tomorrow.” I don’t tell my stories simply for the fun of sharing them (although I have to admit, I do enjoy the process).

I tell them because I hope (and pray, too) that the people who read them, no matter how many or few, find in them some nugget of encouragement that helps them deal with today’s concerns and trust God with tomorrow’s.

I wholeheartedly believe that our stories matter. I’m a little less convinced, though, when I hear people say that “the world needs our stories.”

I don’t know about you, but for me, that phrase sets up unrealistic expectations about how God might enable us to use our experiences to help others. It puts undo pressure on us to expand our reach and grow our audience so that the right people will notice us and think our work worthy of promoting.

I’m all for blogging and posting encouraging personal anecdotes on social media. If doing this in an authentic way enables someone to build a large platform of followers, I think that’s great. I especially love it when blogger friends who share their from their lives with integrity and excellence are able to land book contracts that will enable them to reach even more people.

Still, in my mind, few things are more powerful than authentic, life-on-life interaction. This can happen in the comments section of a blog, for sure, but especially when one person sits across from another and says, “This is how it was for me, and this is how I see it now.”

We worry so much about what other people will think of us and our issues. As if nobody else ever yells at their kids, leaves dirty dishes in their sinks overnight, battles anxiety, only washes their sheets once a year, wonders if the sadness will ever go away, eats too much sugar, gets irritated at their spouse or feels conflicted about how to parent young adult children.

We don’t know that others have struggled in similar ways unless they tell us, and often, they don’t tell us unless we actually talk to them.

Do our stories matter? Yes, absolutely. The things that happen to us don’t happen by chance; they are ordained and allowed by a loving, sovereign God who does nothing without purpose.

Does the world need our stories? Honestly, I don’t know.

What I do know is that someone needs our stories—at least certain parts of them.

Sisters, neighbors, coworkers, friends from college or church, Facebook friends, blog readers—maybe even complete strangers in the produce department—they’re all craving encouragement, and because of our unique experiences and perspectives, we might be just the ones to offer it.

In which case, perhaps it’s time to set aside “the world” for now and just focus on the person right in front of us.

♥ Lois

P.S. I’m linking up this week with #tellhisstory, InstaEncouragements, Recharge Wednesday, Let’s Have Coffee, Inspire Me Monday, #HeartEncouragement and Grace & Truth.