This is Day 22 of the 31 Days of Five Minute Free Writes Challenge, as well as my own personal series, 31 Days to Telling Your Story.

Today’s writing prompt is: HELP

Find links to the other posts in this series here.

Before I start my own five minute free write, I have a Story that relates to today’s topic. During this past week’s FMF Twitter party, I had the following interaction with Anita Ojeda, one of our FMF Community Members:

I just wanted to share this testimony as one example of how God used Anita’s faithfulness in telling her story. Because she followed His lead, her obedience has proven to be an immense help for one of her readers.

See what God can do? You never know how your story might help someone else. I hope this is an encouragement to you as you step out in faith with your own story.

***

When it comes to telling our stories, some of us will choose to convey the message verbally. Maybe you’re more comfortable speaking aloud rather than Writing. 

But whether you choose to focus on speaking or writing, taking some time to write out the key elements to your story can really help you to narrow down your focus and make sure you highlight the most powerful elements. 

Over the course of the next few days in this series, I’ll be offering some specific prompts to help you get started. 

These prompts can be applied to any writing venture — not just for those intending to write a full-length book. 

Writing your story doesn’t only mean committing to a full-length, traditionally published memoir. Far from it! 

Writing your story could include writing a letter to a friend or family member, sharing a blog post, submitting an article to an online or print publication, crafting a short devotional, or maybe even self-publishing an e-book. 

I’m sure you could come up with more ideas of your own. How else could you share your story through writing?

Maybe you’ll get creative and use social media, like microblogging on Instagram or Facebook. Maybe you’ll participate in the #Storytweeting hashtag once a week on Twitter. 

Whatever you decide, writing elements of your story will only help you to pinpoint the highlights and identify the aspects that might have the most impact on your hearer or reader. 

As you write, ask yourself, “How might this story help someone else?”

As Christian writers in particular, we have an incredible opportunity to speak truth and minister to those who are hurting through our experience of God’s grace in our lives.

So, are you ready? Get your pen or keyboard ready and stay tuned for the upcoming posts in the next few days, when we’ll be trying out some prompts! 

Click here for the Table of Contents to read more posts in this series.

RECOMMENDED RESOURCE:

On Writing Well: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction
by William Zinsser

{BUY NOW}

Affiliate links to Amazon have been used in this post. 

The post How Writing Your Story Can Help Others {Day 22: Help} appeared first on Five Minute Friday.