Your story matters because it's a vital source of gaining wisdom and understanding.

I resisted writing true stories from my life for many years and for many reasons. One may sound familiar to you: How can I write the story of my life? I don’t even KNOW the story of my life! I thought writers already knew their story and they simply wrote down what they knew. 

The truth, I soon discovered, is quite the opposite. We write not because we have a grip on our own lives and know Important Things but because we don’t. We write to find out Important Things. We write to excavate, to discover, to learn. We write to find wisdom among the pages and stories of our lives.

God’s all about this. He urges us again and again to get wisdom: “Though it cost all you have, get understanding. Cherish her, and she will exalt you; embrace her, and she will honor you.” (Pro. 4:5-9) Jesus commends us to “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.”

We can “ask, seek and knock” through our writing. When you write, throw out perfectionism, worries about grammar, sentence structure, punctuation. Write beneath the surface to the deeper story within. Write freely, following thoughts, asking questions. Every story is a quest of sorts, and that quest often begins with a question. Here is my favorite writing prompt that always yields rich treasure: “For once I want to write the truth about ______________.” You might explore a relationship, a difficult event in your past, your childhood. When you find that new understanding, you can go back and edit your story after to reflect this new truth. 

Through reflective writing, I realized my getting-married-and-moving-to-Alaska life story was about finding and making home in a strange land. The words and understanding I found in writing those pages did indeed create a home. I live there still. Your words can do the same.  

PROMPT: Write for as short or as long as you desire into this question: “For once I want to write the truth about ______________.” Choose an actual event, person, turning point moment rather than writing about something vague like, “Love” or “Faith.” Before you write, ask God to give you wisdom. 

PRAYER: Dear Lord, you charge us with pursuing wisdom. I come asking, seeking, knocking, that you would lead me, through writing, to see the events of my life in new ways. I ask that you would grant your wisdom to me through it. For your honor and glory. Amen.