Share Your Story
this christmas season

It never fails: you take a big bite of food when your uncle looks at you across the table and asks, “How has your year been?” You quickly nod to acknowledge that you heard him as you try to swallow the food in your mouth. What comes out next is generic and automatic—“It’s been a good year; what about you?”

But what if this Christmas season, your answer to that question was different? Less shallow and more truthful. Less automatic and more inviting. What if, when asked, you could confidently say, “This year, God has…”

What would it be like if you weren’t the only one prepared to talk about how you watched God work in your life this year? What if everyone from Christ’s Church saw themselves as being sent on mission to tell their family and friends about what God has done this year?

This Christmas season, the dining room table might become a place of genuine connection and transformation, all because you were determined to talk about how God has worked in your life this year.

Here’s How to
Write Your Story

Telling your story can be hard, especially around family members. They might have seen you at your best, but more than likely, they have seen you at your worst. To make matters even more complicated, your relationships may be strained because of past actions or circumstances. Nobody is perfect, and nobody has a perfect family. We don’t hide that fact or try to make ourselves look better than we are. Only one person lived a perfect life: Jesus. Because of that, the brokenness and sin in our lives point to our need for Jesus.

The best way to tell your story is to tell what is going on in your heart and life. Not what you want people to think is going on, but what is actually happening. An easy way to get to the heart of things is to think about your story in four movements—Creation, Fall, Redemption, and New Creation.
To assist in writing your story, use the form below.

Creation

As you get started, it may be helpful to think about what has happened this past year. Write down things you did or places you went. Look through pictures or read through a prayer journal if you keep one. As you think about the past year, look for moments that shaped your sense of identity, purpose, or significance. While we should strive to find our identity and purpose in Jesus alone, the reality is that we still also find them in worldly things.

We look to our jobs, accomplishments, or possessions to define our identity and sense of purpose. We look to our spouse, boss, or parent to validate and approve of our lives. Sometimes we recognize those misplaced identities easily; other times, we don't.  That is why faith in Jesus is a journey with Him—learning to surrender more and more of our lives to Him. We were created to follow Jesus and walk with Him throughout our lifetime. Our story should reflect that.

As you think about this first movement of your story, focus on areas of your life that provided a sense of identity or purpose this past year. If time permits, reflect on your childhood and upbringing and how those years shaped who you are today. Is there a particular moment or person that shaped how you developed your identity, purpose, worth?

Fall

Because we all sin, we all have brokenness in our lives. While we were created to follow and serve God, our hearts are easily led astray by the things of this world. Sometimes our sin has widespread consequences and is evident from the outside, but other times it stays hidden and festers inside us.

We all have sin, and we all have problems in our lives. We all try to blame something or someone else for our problems. Sometimes it is their fault, and sometimes it is ours. But the reality is that sin affects all of us. It pulls and pushes our hearts and deceives us into putting our identity, purpose, and sense of worth in worldly things instead of in Jesus alone.

As you think about this part of your story, don’t make this a laundry list of every sin you have ever committed. While it is good to confess your sins, it is best to confess sensitive details to a trusted Christian who is relationally close to you. When you tell your story, share enough details to highlight the brokenness in your life. Take ownership of your sin. If time permits, think about how the sin, whether in your life or someone else's, shaped you. You can’t go back in time to change it, but you can come to accept it and find healing from past sin through Jesus.
 
Is there a particular moment or series of moments this past year that revealed things weren't the way God designed them to be? Where were your relationships strained? Where was your heart deceived?

Redemption

It is good news that Jesus came to free us from sin, not leave us in our brokenness. He could have looked at our sin and left us to deal with it on our own. But He didn’t. He took on a human form and walked this earth with us. He brought healing and compassion to a lost and broken world. Ultimately, He died for us because He knew that sin ran deeper than our actions. He came to give us a new heart and to put His Spirit inside of us.

The good news of Jesus is that because of Jesus, our stories don’t stay the same. He transforms our stories as He transforms us into His image. If we are following Jesus, our lives should look different this year than last year. It may look very different, or it may be a little, but we should all grow in our faith as we mature.

Jesus is and should be the hero of our story. If it were within our reach to save ourselves or to deliver us from our problems, then we wouldn’t need Jesus. But we do need Jesus. We need Him every day. We need Him to save us, forgive us, give us a new identity, and give us a new purpose. That is what this section of the story is all about.
As you think about how Jesus has worked in your life this year, make sure to keep him the focus. We all try to solve our problems ourselves, by someone else, or with worldly things; but ultimately, those things will always fall short. Jesus is the only one who can save and deliver us.

This section is directly related to the previous section. What moments this past year did you try to fix your sin with someone or something besides Jesus? How did Jesus prove to be the only one with the power to save and deliver you? How did He reveal who He is and what He does? What ways, big or small, did you see Him work this year? If time permits, think about how He has worked throughout your lifetime. Have there been seasons in your life when you've been more attentive to Jesus working in your life? How have those moments shaped your present life?

New Creation

Whether we realize it or not, each one of us is moving towards eternity. Each day we live is one day closer to seeing God’s promise of new creation (the new heavens and the new earth promised in Revelation 21-22). As followers of Jesus, we will join Jesus in celebrating His victory over Satan and death. But that won’t be the case for people who reject Jesus in this lifetime. We have an urgent need to tell others about the life found in Jesus so they can come to know Him and His salvation.

Knowing that we are moving towards a new creation, we have hope for a future in Jesus. He continually works to cleanse us so he can present us as holy and blameless (Ephesians 5:26-27). Our stories should reflect Jesus' ongoing work in our lives through His Spirit.

This section focuses on how Jesus continues to work in your life this year. How has He given you hope and purpose for the future? What are you looking forward to seeing Him do in your life? What other areas of your life might He want to redeem and transform? If time permits, think about what areas in your life He still needs to transform. How can you surrender those areas to Him and prayerfully seek His transformative power in your life?
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