Story Suicide Part 1: Tell Your Story, Let’s Make It Matter!

By: For Generations.

Thousands of years ago, the art and science of making an impact were carried on the back of Story.

It was the method of broadcasting breakthroughs for the generations to come.

And It was an instrument and an illustration that could be shared with all of humanity.

Story changed things. Story started things. 

But then it happened…  

Something terrible happened to our most influential tool.

I cannot pinpoint where or when,

but somewhere in the moments of history in between then and now,

there was an influence that came on the scene that caused us to believe that our Story didn’t matter anymore.

We began to believe that only some have the right, or the privilege, or the authority to share.

What’s even more detrimental is that we believed that no one would listen even if we tried. 

This infiltrating influence came like an epidemic, creeping in quietly and now rules as it wishes. 

It steals, Also, it kills, and it destroys. What is this worldwide epidemic?  

It is known as Story Suicide.

Story Suicide Part 1: Tell Your Story, Let’s Make It Matter!

Thousands of years ago, the art and science of making an impact were carried on the back of Story.

It was the method of broadcasting breakthrough for the generations to come. it was an instrument and an illustration that could be shared with all of humanity.

Story changed things….. Story started things.

TELL YOUR STORY.

Sometime after Story Suicide came on the scene, there was a man who found himself in a winepress,

a place he had run to hide in a time of great personal and national crisis.

He was threshing wheat in a winepress.

Did you know that to effectively thresh wheat you need a cross-breeze?

But there was no breeze to be found in the hole where he was hiding on that day.

At the moment, he did not care about effectiveness,

because he was so riddled by his fear that he could not see where he was (in the winepress) was not where he was meant to be.

In Judges chapter 6, we find a man named Gideon. 

His Story is well known today, but on, that day, all he wanted was to live to see tomorrow. 

He could not and would not consider himself a worthy subject of any story told.

So, God sent Himself in the form of an angel to interrupt. 

Even more so, God called out something that Gideon couldn’t see.  God called out VALUE.

If you’re like me, you can call to mind situations and circumstances that may have happened yesterday,

or years ago when you found yourself hiding in your own functional ‘winepress’.  

For me, it was my walk-in closet. 

A place where I went to escape looking for solace and peace, but all I found was stress, struggles, and a near-suicidal experience.

It could be that all you need on this day is an opportunity to release your story.

That’s what I needed, and when I released my story, I found freedom.  

So right now, I want to invite you to look up from your ‘winepress’ and release your Story. 

I promise freedom is on the other side;

it is still a process, but freedom is found for those who share their Story,

and your Story will, no doubt, bring freedom to others.

Story Suicide Part 1: Tell Your Story, Let’s Make It Matter!

Proverbs 3:1-6 KJV

[1] My son, forget not my law; But let thine heart keep my commandments:

[2] For length of days, and long life, And peace, shall they add to thee.

[3] Let not mercy and truth forsake thee: Bind them about thy neck; Write them upon the table of thine heart:

[4] So shalt thou find favour and good understanding In the sight of God and man.

[5] Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; And lean not unto thine own understanding.

[6] In all thy ways acknowledge him, And he shall direct thy paths.

https://bible.com/bible/1/pro.3.1-6.KJV

Story Suicide Part 1: Tell Your Story, Let’s Make It Matter!

When I started to write my book, Story Suicide, I called my friend, Darlene Mayo. 

Darlene is a neuroscientist and a neurosurgeon. 

I asked her to help me understand all that was going on in my mind when I went with suicidal thoughts into my walk-in closet. 

Have you ever been in a ‘winepress’ kind of moment? 

I could hear my children playing in the other room and I could hear my beautiful wife clanging dishes in the kitchen preparing dinner,

and still, I put my belt around my neck with the intention in my mind to end it.

Telling my Story released me from the inside out. 

Read these words from my friend Darlene: 

“From a neuroscience standpoint, simply sharing your story helps you to break free from patterns in your brain that were developed in times that you suffered a tragedy.

When you keep your story to yourself, your brain has a tendency to replay, over and over again, events in your life that sent you into a spiral.

Then, you are more likely to stay in that tragic mindset – it colors your decisions and your future.

On the other hand, once you share your story with someone, your brain releases chemicals that cause your brain to form new pathways, healthy pathways,

that allow you to see your story from a different perspective that allows you to view life and your experiences through a lens of hope, rather than a lens of despair.

The deeper you go into sharing your story with others, and sharing the lessons you learned from your experiences, the faster and more powerfully these new connections develop.

Your brain is designed to share your story.”

Story Suicide Part 1: Tell Your Story, Let’s Make It Matter!

God’s interruption of Gideon in his ‘winepress’ moment was so timely. 

Our FATHER in heaven is always on time, even when it doesn’t feel like it.

Listen to Leeland’s hit song, “Way Maker”:

Even when I don’t see it, You’re working.

(And) Even when I don’t feel it, You’re working.

{And} You never stop, You never stop working

-..-You never stop, …You never stop working

At the moment when Gideon needed someone the most,

the angel of the Lord appears on the rim of the winepress to speak into him a VALUE that Gideon could not see himself.

Stop right now and hear our FATHER say to you: YOU ARE VALUABLE.

You are WORTH IT.

(Yes) You are ENOUGH.

Your Story Matters.

Story Suicide Part 1: Tell Your Story, Let’s Make It Matter!

judges 6:12-14 KJV

[12] And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him, and said unto him, The LORD is with thee, thou mighty man of valour.

[13] And Gideon said unto him, Oh my Lord, if the LORD be with us, why then is all this befallen us?

and where be all his miracles which our fathers told us of, saying, Did not the LORD bring us up from Egypt?

but now the LORD hath forsaken us, and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites.

[14] And the LORD looked upon him, and said, Go in this thy might, and thou shalt save Israel from the hand of the Midianites: have not I sent thee?

https://bible.com/bible/1/jdg.6.12-14.KJV

Story Suicide Part 1: Tell Your Story, Let’s Make It Matter!

If you look back into history,

you’ll see that before the Corona, the Swine Flu, or even the Black Plague, there was yet another epidemic that wreaked havoc upon all mankind.

It worked covertly to kill your influence, steal your potential impact, and destroy your unique breakthrough.

It was called Story Suicide.  

There are two things that happen when you decide to share your Story. 

Initially, you will experience a freedom that you didn’t know you would receive, even though it is exactly what you needed.

Secondarily,

there will be a doubt that comes knocking at the door of your mind that will try to convince you that you shouldn’t have shared in the first place.

I have been there.

My encouragement to you is to listen to the voice of freedom and remind the voice of doubt that it has already been beaten.

Think about it. 

When the enemy came to Adam and Woman in the garden, his words killed, stole, and destroyed the potential of their Story.

In so aligning with the darkness, they functionally committed Story Suicide.

It didn’t kill them physically, but Story Suicide silenced them from the inside out.

Then Jesus came. Shared His Story.

Operating as the second Adam, He brought the truest reformation ever made available to mankind.

And He gave His Kingdom authority, just as God had given His to the first Adam,

“to be fruitful, multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it and have dominion …” (Genesis 1:28).

Then He commissioned us to carry His Story that could become our Story.

It isn’t purely a retelling of Him, but a commission to share our own Story as an illustration of Him.

“. . . because as He is, so are we in this world.” (1 John 4:17)

When Gideon exited the winepress, he was at once free. 

And When FATHER called him a “mighty man of valor”,

He identified Gideon by the highlight reel of his life that he had not completely lived yet.

Gideon heard the voice of doubt and might have stopped short,

but FATHER saw the potential in the man that would lead the 300 to defeat the undefeatable enemy.

Story Suicide Part 1: Tell Your Story, Let’s Make It Matter!

You have VALUE.  You CAN …and…. You WILL … Your STORY (both now AND its untold highlight reel) was meant to be shared!  

Tell Your Story.  Let’s make it Matter!

Are you Ready to tell your Story too? Join this family of God here: https://mailchi.mp/63245651a2df/thediadem-family

Story Suicide Part 1: Tell Your Story, Let’s Make It Matter!

Also Read: Scars: Beauty from Ashes. – Diademng (thediademng.org)