“How strange a body would be if it had only one part! Yes, there are many parts, but only one body.”
1 Corinthians 12:19-20 NLT

Every person lives their story. Sometimes, it’s a story filled with anxiety, pain, and suffering interwoven between tales of love, romance, and the gushy stuff of romantic comedies. But no matter whose story it is, some give us insight, others motivate, move, and inspire. Then, some stories just make you wonder why.

This line of thinking makes me wonder about every human being on Earth, a precise role explicitly given to them, designed for that person and that person only. You have a particular skill set that sets you apart from everyone else. Your gift looks like no one else’s. All that makes me wonder about storytellers. What kind of skills would you need to be good at that?

More importantly, why would God design storytellers to soak up data and let them creatively articulate a narrative with so much information? Is it so others are motivated to take action? Is their role to provide a moral message cutting through generations and cultures? Is it all so we would be motivated to take action? That we would do something? Or is it to sell a product or service?

If you have committed yourself to reading this far, it means you, too, are captivated by words, the telling of a story, and the idea that someone could turn all that raw information into a creative work of art. Like it or not, you’ve read this because you want to get something out of the story. Then I wonder, what if you aren’t a storyteller? What if you struggle with English and articulating what you want to say isn’t easy for you?

If that’s true, you need to find someone who can help you tell your story because God continues to put unique people in your life who can help you articulate exactly what you want to say. What if your answered prayers are meant for someone else to hear? And if you can’t do it because you know you are an ear, not a hand, would you try to write? Or would you find a hand and let the hand write for you? The right ‘body part’ must be used to tell your story.

How does a storyteller tell a story?

I don’t have a qualified answer, even though I myself am a storyteller. Here’s what I do know: practice is the key to getting better. Practice anything. Ask a musician. Ask the young people who qualified for the Olympic teams. How do you suppose they were selected? Two things: discipline and practice.

Storytellers will spend hours writing, rewriting, editing, and crafting events through their eyes, with their vision. And the cool thing about all these edits and variations? The conclusion comes out the same. The hero is the hero. The bad guy is the bad guy. But the drafting is nothing compared to writing and editing raw emotions.

Businesses, churches, mission organizations. Even families are looking for a viable way to tell their stories. Business owners think they tell their story best. Same with churches and mission organizations. Even those working for nonprofit organizations believe their story is good enough.

But what if . . .

What if their story could be told just a little better? What if that nonprofit could bring in a few more donations? What if that church could find more people who wanted to join? Think of the change one story could, no, not could. One story WOULD bring the change needed to alter the future of persons, churches, mission organizations and even that nonprofit struggling to get enough donations to keep the lights on. A story can do that – if done well.

What about you? Do you have a powerful story to tell? Do you have something to say to the world that you don’t want to lose to the noise of social media and other motivational speakers? If so, let me know in the comments below. I’d love to hear from you and hear your story.

Who knows? Perhaps you will have the story someone needs to hear because only you can share it with the world!