We’ve A Story to Tell All the Nations

This is the first in a series of devotionals for writers which was originally created for a writer’s retreat I hosted.

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;
his love endures forever.
Let the redeemed of the Lord tell their story—
those he redeemed from the hand of the foe,
those he gathered from the lands,
from east and west, from north and south.
Some wandered in desert wastelands,
finding no way to a city where they could settle.
They were hungry and thirsty,
and their lives ebbed away.
Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble,
and he delivered them from their distress.
He led them by a straight way
to a city where they could settle.
Let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love
and his wonderful deeds for mankind,
for he satisfies the thirsty
and fills the hungry with good things.
-Psalm 107:1-9

Each of us has been given a story filled with wanderings, hunger, trouble, and despair. It is also a story of redemption and triumph. It is a story we are asked to share with the world for His glory, to bring hope and love to others.

Our stories are unique to us. God has given no one else our lives, our talents, or our hearts. He gathered us from where we wandered and brought us to His arms so that we may know our story has a purpose. It is a purpose which rests in the knowledge that He loves us and has called us to love Him and others by sharing our stories and our lives.

Sometimes we may feel that our story is inadequate or not as compelling as someone else’s testimony, but we are the only ones with our lives and experiences. We have this one life, one story for God and it has value because He has given it to us. “Let the redeemed of of the Lord tell their story.”

For You:

• What are the pieces of your own walk with God that are essential to your story with Him?
• What parts of your journey are hard to share? Why?
• How often do you feel led to share your story with others? Do you ever ignore the Holy Spirit’s nudge to share? Why?
• Is it easier to tell fictional stories than your own? Explain.

For Your Characters:

• Does your character feel their story is important to others? Why or why not?
• Do they feel comfortable sharing themselves with others? Why or why not?
• Most of us have a turning point in our past where we made a different decision, took a different path, or made a change so big nothing was ever the same. What thing in your character’s past changed the way their future unfolded? Would they say this event was a positive or negative change?

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Leeeegzzzz!

We like to play games at our house. Ries and I have always liked games, but some friends of ours introduced us to the world of Euro and Indie games a few years ago (Thanks, Robin and Philip!). If you are stuck on Monopoly and Life, you need to do some searching around.

We started building our game collection. It is nothing fancy, but we have some great games: Munchkin, Rukus, Ticket to Ride, Lords of Waterdeep, Odin’s Ravens, and Cards Against Humanity are favorites. If you want to watch some of these games in action, I suggest watching some episodes of TableTop. With some birthday money, I added The Resistance and Zombie Dice to our collection.

I bought Zombie Dice because I thought it would be a game the boys could play and I love zombies (who doesn’t?). I was gone last night to a women’s dinner at church and the boys played with the Zombie Dice.

After the game, Zombie Wash caught Gideon and the following happened:

Wash, chewing on his brother’s leg: I am a zombie, I am eating your braaaaaains.

Gideon: That’s my leg, not my brain.

Just another night at our house folks, where dice games degenerate into the flesh eating zombie horde.

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