How sharing your story changes lives and yours!

“I am a writer!”

“I am a writer!”

I sat upright in the back of this large chapel with men and women of all different ages and stages of life chanting, “I am a writer!” I had a clip board in my hand for notes, it was my first writer’s conference and I was eager. I wrote in cursive and with full gusto at the top of my clipboard paper I AM A WRITER.

God had paved a  miraculous way for me to be at this event and it was the very first time in 30 plus years of journalling, scribbling in notebooks, blogging, etc… that I publicly declared that I was a writer!

I stood up from the meeting feeling pumped and my first thought was – HMMM…Now… WHAT TO WRITE?!

A few Days Later:

As I was soaking in everything around me, discovering how to write, where to write and who to write for I had never felt so at home in all my life! These men and women were just as intense as I was, as passionate and as strange and as deep! They totally got me!!! 

I sat down at lunch on one of the last days at this conference. I sat at table 13 to be exact. I was honoured to sit with one of the publishers and as we began to chat about the industry with the other table guests, an odd question blurted out of my mouth.

“Have you ever had a book come across your desk that you initially and logically needed to pass on only to have God tell you to go back?”  The publisher looked surprised at my deep question. “I’ve never been asked that before, what a great question” 

AND this ladies and gentlemen is where I sat and cried publicly at a table full of ‘I am a writers’, a publisher and a peach salad. This is where I knew without a shadow of a doubt that God had me here at this exact moment for this exact reason.  

“I once had a book come across my desk that I knew wasn’t a fit for our publishing company but I felt such a nudging in my spirit I had to go back. I took the manuscript and I did everything in my power to see that it was published. The book was By Francine Rivers called Redeeming Love.”

15 Years Prior to this Table 13 moment

I was sitting on a hospital bed, a single mother, on welfare with a 2 month old baby who was dying of a serious lung infection. A friend of mine stopped by to visit and handed me the book Redeeming Love By Francine Rivers. In my darkest moment of fear, isolation, abandonment and brokenness this book changed my life. Yes, it was fiction but God used this to speak redemption over my life. It taught me that I was redeemable and loved and worthy.  We have all had a life changing book and this one was mine.

Stories change lives.  And at Table 13 that day I realized that God has a hand in all of our stories, gifts and talents and uses them to change people’s lives and our own!

I attended several writer’s conferences after this first one and soon the whole ‘write what you know’ mantra became a very terrifying reality to me. I knew anxiety, I new OCD, I new mental illness and suicidal depression. I knew Jesus’s faith, his healing power and his grace…. “Will you write about that?” a magazine editor asked me? 

“NO WAY!” I screamed on the inside.  I want to write about what I was good at and what made me shine and what gave me prestige! I don’t want to write about my mental illness!! 

Many of you know what God spoke to me as I wrestled with this writing assignment. “Your Story is not yours to keep” God whispered in my heart. 

Several Years Later (Nowish to be exact) 

  I receive several emails a day like these:  

“I live in Regina and I just came across your blog and I wanted to thank you for posting! God is bringing me out of years of anxiety and depression and it is wonderful to see how He has done so in your life ad well.”

“I’m 14 years old. I’ve been really struggling with anxiety, my thoughts, and fear very intensely. Your emails and blog posts have encouraged and inspired me in Jesus! It was so good to know that I wasn’t a crazy person, and I’m not alone in this anxiety battle. Thank you for sharing your story!! It helped me so much!”

“I can’t thank you enough for sharing your story because I felt like it was just me dealing with these thoughts and feel like I’m going crazy. You are truly a blessing and helping so many people including me with the tools you shared in the book.”

Now It’s Your Turn… 

We all have A Story. A powerful story of God’s Redeeming Love. A Story that has the ability to change a life and create a ripple effect of change and healing. What is your testimony and what can you begin to do to share it with the world? 

Launching soon, I am creating a 4 week mentorship course to help you launch your story into this broken world. God has given us amazing tools such as social media, blogging and writing to helps us reach people further than we ever had before but it can be too overwhelming when we are just stepping out. I want to coach you in how to get started sharing your story with the world so you can change your live and the world around you!

Sign up for upcoming details! 

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