Please Share Your Corona Virus Story (That We Might Not Pilgrim Alone)
Dear Friends, here we are all of us living a new story. Unless——
you’re a fan of post-apocalyptic movies. If so, maybe it feels creepily familiar? (For some reason, my son and I watched a Korean zombie apocalypse movie this week. Which actually made us feel better! Yes, everything is closing, and we all feel trapped and maybe even sad, but there are no herds of the living dead on the prowl for fresh human blood! Yay! . . .. It’s all about perspective!
But honestly, we are struggling, yes? For so many reasons. I want to hear from you in just a minute.
Many of you know I have a book releasing April 7:
Your Story Matters: Finding, Writing and Living the Truth of Your Life.
But All my launch events around the country have been cancelled. It’s not just a book for me: it’s the fruit of 30 years of teaching and writing stories. I am deeply passionate about moving people to write and share their stories because I have seen 1,000 times and ways how the writing and sharing of our stories changes lives:
We find God in our stories where we never saw him before. We find healing. We express doubts, fears and anger. We wrestle with God. And somehow, mysteriously, God shows up in all of it. Lives are changed. And we are no longer alone.
“Every day we are different; the world awakens new and the memories of what was and what we’ve been, and the discovery of who we are now, could all be lost. But we have this chance now to stop. We’re stopping to ask the questions we did not know to ask. We’re stopping to find the difficult and beautiful truths of our lives. And what a gift it will be, to send this awakening, these crafted and compelling words on to others, that they—and we—may not pilgrim alone.”
In the midst of my own lament for this loss, I realized——-Don’t we need this MORE than ever right now? So—-maybe we can begin now? Sharing our stories? watching God at work among us?
Dearest Friends, Would you bring language, which is bringing light—-to your own life—-and ours?
*What losses are you lamenting right now? (Don’t be afraid to tell the truth of your experience.)
*In the midst of the losses, what might you be gaining?
(Thank you. Let us all pray for one another. Let this be a holy space. )