God Made Me a Storyteller

I used to be an awful writer. Ask my grade two teacher. I couldn’t write a coherent story like my other classmates within a couple of hours that only spread out over two double-spaced pages. Finally, my teacher told my mother, “You should get her to practice at home.”

My mom sat me down and encouraged me to write stories. She gave me prompts and ideas, and read so many poorly written, scattered stories over the years. She perched herself on my bed and read novel after novel to me (many Nancy Drew mysteries), and pointed out things the authors did. “Notice how the author described the scenery,” or, “Did you see how real the dialogue was in this chapter?” 

These were the drops of ink that filled the inkwell inside me. 

After that year, I grew up writing and weaving stories—stories of chasing wild horses, children with mystical powers, and worlds unlike ours. As a little girl (and even through junior high), I walked the paths in my backyard along ponds and creeks, imagining stories and talking out loud to my characters. I picked up crooked sticks and pretended they were wands, and I leapt across streams as if they were rivers while dragons chased me. I followed my (real) horses through the trails they had made in the woods and pretended they were unicorns leading me to new worlds. Then when I came inside, I sat down behind our chunky, dated computer to write them out.

But then as I grew up, I thought I had to outgrow fairytales. I left those stories behind, stuffed in a blue tote bin where light could not stain or shed its rays on them. In grade 12, I started a blog and found I loved writing about God’s truth; I wrote only inspirational articles and how-tos for biblical literacy. I thought this was the only mature answer for a girl who loved to write.

Let me tell you: Those stories never left me. Though I didn’t walk along those paths anymore (or talk to the characters out loud), the storyteller in me still imagined them. Before my first born and my twins, I worked for my pastor’s wife who had just had twins (I know, the irony, right? God truly is the greatest storyteller). Every morning as I walked to her house and walked home again, an Elven girl walked along with me. One day, she faced a cruel elf who had some kind of power over her fate. Another day, she conversed with a human who had figured out her true identity. 

Her story intrigued me. I wanted to write her story, but first I had to learn it. But where’s the time? I scoffed. Besides, article writing is better—how can God be glorified through fiction, anyway? Especially not fantasy.

Intense suffering came into my life a few years later, and during that season, articles felt trite and too hard to write. I sat behind my computer frozen. As I wrestled through doubt, anger, and despair, I didn’t know how to give hope to other people, because it felt so distant from my own heart. Every word I typed out sounded simplistic and, honestly, fake. 

I stood at a crossroad: Writing had become my life and joy over the years—how could I stop? Yet articles felt impossible. 

Then the Elven girl came to mind again. One morning, I opened up a Word document and decided to write the story of an Elven girl who had lived in my mind for the past five years. 

As I wrote this story, I decided I wanted to read other fantasy novels too. With each page I turned, God rekindled a love that he had started years ago in my heart: A love for storytelling. I noticed something else as well—my weary heart found courage through stories. I learned that God is not only glorified through stories but can work in my heart through them. So maybe, just maybe, he could do the same through my own stories.

I haven’t given up writing articles. Instead, I want to combine both my love for theology in ordinary life with my passion for storytelling. That means you can expect to see Christian living content along with my thoughts on the novels I’m reading (particularly fantasy) and glimpses of the novel I’m working on. And maybe I’ll try to combine both somehow. Through it all, I want to help you rekindle that child-like heart that loves fairytales and stories and show you how they can impact your faith as well.