How to tell my story?

I missed the first two "Just walk across the room" sessions for different reasons, but I was really glad I went to this one. The theme of this past session was "The Power of Story" or how to share my story with others. The following verse was used as an introduction:

"Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope you have" 1 Peter 3:15B

I am always glad to share my story of hope, but I think it is sometimes hard for people to relate to some of the things I have experienced. I am never sure of where to start, or how to turn my kind of sad story into a story of hope. I am not a big fan of the "Oh! You poor thing..." or the "Oh! Get over it already!" looks on people's faces.

We watched a video which listed the common mistakes people make when sharing their stories:

• long stories ("It all started when I was about 4 years old...")
• fuzzy stories ("I knew I was looking for something, I found that something...")
• superiority stories ("I have always led a righteous life, and I will pray for you to do the same..")
• religionese stories (lengthy discussions on the Kingdom, the rapture, the Tribulation...)
• weird God stories (dreams, visions, prophetic words, healing stories...)

We were invited to share our stories in groups of two and three BEFORE and AFTER watching the video. My story was closer to the weird God story. There are some experiences that I still can't explain, but using a weird God story might be a little unsettling for some people and might actually freak them out... My partner had a long story, which was really fascinating, but I probably would have tuned him out if he was trying to share his story in a different setting.

The point of the exercise was to learn to share my story by following these three simple steps: life before Christ- Christ- and life after Christ. Well, in my case, it is more about a reconnection story, than a conversion story, but the principle is the same. My story needs to brief, but interesting enough to catch the listener's attention, and invite questions.

Still working on it....

EED