Friends, ever since this book landed serendipitously in my hands a couple of months ago, I could hardly wait to share it with you. I’m so excited about this one. Read on to learn why as chat with the author, Leslie Leyland Fields.

Leslie, welcome! First things first: Thank you for writing this book! I loved it. With Your Story Matters: Finding, Writing, and Living the Truth of Your Life, you have written the nonfiction book of my heart. Your words—crafted into story and instruction within these pages—offer encouragement and guidance for one of the most important endeavors we can undertake: to tell our life stories in a way that is meaningful to others and honoring to God. I believe this, and I am so grateful to now have a book I can press into people’s hands and say: “Read this! And then do exactly what it says.”

1. In Your Story Matters, you make it a point to say that writing our stories is not a task limited to writers. Every believer is called by God to remember his acts, to “teach them to your children and to their children after them” (Deuteronomy 4:9), and to “declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous deeds among all peoples” (Psalm 96:3). How can we do this even if we’re not a particularly good communicator or writer?

That’s what this book is all about! It shows you how to start and how to work through a process that’s pretty comprehensive but also very easy to follow. No one needs any prior writing experience. And most of all, I shift the focus away from “writing”—which often awakens our fears and needs for perfection—to “remembering.” Simply to enter into moments of the past—moments of joy and goodness, and moments of pain and struggle. This shifted focus makes all the difference!

2. Tell us about how writing into the past often leads to healing and reconciliation.

I have seen it a thousand times in my own life and in my students’ lives: When we write into our lives, God shows up. He really does. He shows up on the page in such startling and wondrous ways. And one of the things He does when He shows up is—He leads us to fuller truths. He opens our eyes not only to the truth of our own stories but to the truths of others’. The truths of our own lives and hurts are enlarged by the truths and hurts of others’ lives. This happened for me with my father. So we’re given the gift of empathy through our writing. And that often leads to our own healing, and sometimes even to the healing of relationships.

3. Why does memoir-writing help Christians see their own complex lives as part of God’s grander narrative of hope, beauty, and redemption?

We’re all about our story, right? Finding the truth of our own story. But our lives are not lived in isolation. We’re all a part of God’s huge story of redemption. Writing into our own story helps place us into this vast incredible story that God is still unfolding, still writing. And we’re all part of that story line. I have to share a passage with you. (It still blows my mind!) Here it is:

We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. We write this to make our joy complete. (1 John 1:3-4)

So for John the apostle, who spent so much time with Jesus, that wasn’t enough. His joy wasn’t complete until he passed it all on. All he had seen, touched, witnessed. AND by sharing those words, that brought him into fellowship with all other believers, and it brought them all into deeper fellowship with God Himself. This is a glimpse of the scope of what happens when we write!

4. Finally, I said at the outset that you’ve written a book I intend to share. I hope to do more than that, actually, and form a LifeStory writing group using Your Story Matters as its curriculum. What tips do you have for me as I do so?

Ahh, that’s wonderful! And here’s the good news about doing that. There is an 8-session DVD that RightNow Media filmed with Ann Voskamp and me with this material. (It’s available through RightNow, and also can be bought as a DVD online.) So—yes, use the book, and then use the DVD for the actual teaching. That’s what’s so cool about this. You don’t have to be a writer or teacher to make this happen. Just facilitate. Be yourself. Welcome each person who joins your LifeStory circle. Create a space of trust and warmth. You’ll be amazed at all God does among you!

Thank you so much for joining me here today, Leslie. It’s been my joy to have you.

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More about Your Story Matters: Finding, Writing, and Living the Truth of Your Life

Your Story Matters presents a dynamic and spiritually formative process for understanding and redeeming the past in order to live well in the present and into the future. Leslie Leyland Fields has used and taught this practical and inspiring writing process for decades, helping people from all walks of life to access memory and sift through the truth of their stories.

This is not just a book for writers. Each one of us has a story, and understanding God’s work in our stories is a vital part of our faith. Through the spiritual practice of writing, we can “remember” his acts among us, “declare his glory among the nations,” and pass on to others what we have witnessed of God in this life: the mysterious, the tragic, the miraculous, the ordinary.

With a companion video curriculum from RightNow Media, this is a “why not” book as opposed to a “how to” book. Leslie asks each of us an important question: “Why not learn to tell your story, in the context of the grander story of God?”

More about Leslie

Leslie Leyland Fields is a multi-award winning writer, editor, and international speaker who lives on two islands in Alaska. She has written/edited 10 nonfiction books of memoir and essays on a variety of subjects, including the spirituality of food, forgiveness, wilderness, discipleship and parenting. Her books have been translated into 8 languages. Leslie has traveled all over the world, both as a seeker and as a Christian speaker, including treks across the Sahara, through Asia, Europe and Central America.

Leslie and her husband, Duncan, have 6 children, a daughter and 5 sons ranging from ages 30 – 15. She blogs at leslieleylandfields.com. You can reach her at leslieleylandfields@gmail.com

Buy the book here.

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Thanks to NavPress for providing me a copy of this book free of charge. All opinions are mine.