Author: True Story

[et_pb_section bb_built=”1″ fullwidth=”on” _builder_version=”3.0.47″][et_pb_fullwidth_header title=”Over and Out!” subhead=”Dec 30, 2018 | Our Story” background_layout=”dark” background_overlay_color=”rgba(38,38,38,0.32)” _builder_version=”3.0.92″ background_image=”https://truestoryproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/OverandOutC.jpg” custom_padding=”200px||200px|” text_orientation=”left” header_fullscreen=”off” header_scroll_down=”off” image_orientation=”center” content_orientation=”center” custom_button_two=”off” button_two_icon_placement=”right” custom_button_one=”off” button_one_icon_placement=”right” /][/et_pb_section][et_pb_section bb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”3.0.47″][et_pb_row _builder_version=”3.0.47″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.0.92″ background_layout=”light”]

Dear reader,

[dropcap]I[/dropcap] want to start by asking perhaps a personal question – how have you felt when someone has been honest, real and true with you in sharing their life story?

Awkward? Encouraged? Hopeful?

Maybe none of the above?

True Story Project was like an oasis to me at a time where insecurity, doubt and fear filled my life and I felt like the only one in the world going through a period of struggle. It was so easy to become isolated in my own little bubble and I didn’t know how to break free from it.

As I began to read the stories, one in particular, I realised that ‘struggles’ are a part of everyone’s lives at some point or another. Not only did this give me peace, it also gave me hope; hope that there was light at the end of a dark tunnel.

You see, your life, your testimony and your story could be someone’s hope. Don’t be shy to share and talk about your journey or perhaps think that what you might share is “insignificant”. Believe me, it’s not.

It has been a privilege to be part of the True Story Project team. It’s deep in my heart to carry on this amazing blog that started as a one year project. So I would like to let you know that, even though the website won’t be active for a period of time, the stories will go on via Instagram! #yaaasqueen.

If you want to share your story, perhaps some tips on certain topics, don’t be shy and fly them across to us either via email or Instagram.

Thank you for all your support throughout this year.

Yours truly,

Director of Social

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[et_pb_section bb_built=”1″ fullwidth=”on” _builder_version=”3.0.47″][et_pb_fullwidth_header title=”The story behind the stories” subhead=”Dec 18, 2018 | Our Story” background_layout=”dark” background_overlay_color=”rgba(38,38,38,0.32)” _builder_version=”3.0.92″ background_image=”https://truestoryproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/TheStoryBehindtheStories.jpg” custom_padding=”200px||200px|” text_orientation=”left” header_fullscreen=”off” header_scroll_down=”off” image_orientation=”center” content_orientation=”center” custom_button_two=”off” button_two_icon_placement=”right” custom_button_one=”off” button_one_icon_placement=”right” /][/et_pb_section][et_pb_section bb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”3.0.47″][et_pb_row _builder_version=”3.0.47″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.0.92″ background_layout=”light”]

[dropcap]I[/dropcap]’ve always loved stories. I remember as a child reading about the missionary Jim Elliot in the jungles of Ecuador and being utterly captivated. His story has been so important for me as I’ve navigated my way through my teens and tried to work out what I should do with my life! I think there is much to learn through watching and hearing about the lives of others. This is what the True Story Project has been all about — enabling real-life stories from young Christians about life and faith, with all the highs and lows, to be heard. Our prayer has been that through reading these stories, you might be motivated, encouraged and excited to follow Jesus! 

I’ll put it to you that one of the most amazing stories of all time is the story of the Apostle Paul. Paul hated Christians. Yet one day, on his way to Damascus (to imprison Christians) he met with Jesus in the most remarkable way (Acts 9). As a result of this, he became totally sold on the good news of Jesus — a radical change! In a letter to a church in Galatia, Paul describes his experience as a transformation from death to life (Galatians 2:20). Paul’s story is amazing, not only because of his missionary journeys or shipwrecks or multiple imprisonments, but rather because his story is one which shows the result of a life totally transformed by Jesus.

While I might not have had a dramatic experience like Paul’s (I’m pretty ordinary), my story is in many ways similar. Like Paul’s, mine is a story of ‘death to life’ in which I was totally dead in my sin, and yet, through the life-giving, saving power of Jesus’ death and resurrection I have been radically transformed. Through Jesus I have been restored from this point of nothingness and death, and recreated into someone who is alive and fully able to embrace the meaning, depth and vibrance of life. 

My story is one of privilege and grace. I’ve been raised by parents who have encouraged me to get to know God. Yet, I’ve so often lived in a way which has been in direct opposition to God’s character and holiness. So often I’ve blatantly rejected his calling over my life and lived in a way contrary to the one I have been designed for. But God is so generous and good. Regardless of my mistakes and disrespect towards him, he loves me. Utterly loves me. Through his grace, he has used the stories in my life — those of Jim Elliot, the apostle Paul, and my parents — to show me what a life sold out for Jesus looks like, and then inspired me to live it! 

The True Story Project has given me the opportunity to place some of my own stories alongside those of others — to be a part of this small and beautiful tapestry of God’s work in the lives of real people. Stories and people with different experiences and perspectives, yet all woven together by the story of Christ and the life his death and resurrection brings.

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[et_pb_section bb_built=”1″ fullwidth=”on” _builder_version=”3.0.47″][et_pb_fullwidth_header title=”Putting off Procrastination” subhead=”Dec 12, 2018 | Our Story” background_layout=”dark” background_overlay_color=”rgba(38,38,38,0.32)” _builder_version=”3.0.92″ background_image=”https://truestoryproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Putting-off-Procrastination.jpg” custom_padding=”200px||200px|” text_orientation=”left” header_fullscreen=”off” header_scroll_down=”off” image_orientation=”center” content_orientation=”center” custom_button_two=”off” button_two_icon_placement=”right” custom_button_one=”off” button_one_icon_placement=”right” /][/et_pb_section][et_pb_section bb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”3.0.47″][et_pb_row _builder_version=”3.0.47″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.0.92″ background_layout=”light”]

[dropcap]D[/dropcap]eadlines are looming, time is slipping away and I find myself unable to tear my gaze from my smartphone screen. Sound familiar?

The dopamine drip humans get from consuming short snippets of YouTube, Instagram, Facebook and other medias is highly addictive and extremely subtle. I couldn’t work out why the things I either needed or wanted to do, like my work, my creative writing and even picking up my Bible seemed so impossible. As I was sat with my work in front of me – and my smartphone in front of my work – I realised I was a slave to the trivial reward systems of my brain. I knew it, and yet I still did everything I could to avoid those things that were good for me to do.

So, what did I do?

I started three daily habits (though far from perfectly), to DO the things I WANTED to do, and not to do the things I knew I shouldn’t.

1) I watched

To watch, is to be alert of what you know you should and want to do and realize why you are not achieving. Self-analysis is the key for a conviction to change.

2) I prayed

Praying and bringing every detail to the Father. I was not just accountable to myself, but also to the one who gave me the talents I was wasting.

3) I ‘stood’

Using a pen and paper, I wrote myself a short list of achievable goals for that day. Writing a short to-do-list turned out to be a pivotal part to my standing. It was not just a list, it was a realistic challenge and a commitment before me and the LORD.

(Luke 21:34-36)

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[et_pb_section bb_built=”1″ fullwidth=”on” _builder_version=”3.0.47″][et_pb_fullwidth_header title=”Our Story – Part 1″ subhead=”Dec 6, 2018 | Our Story” background_layout=”dark” background_overlay_color=”rgba(38,38,38,0.32)” _builder_version=”3.0.92″ background_image=”https://truestoryproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/OurStory1.jpg” custom_padding=”200px||200px|” text_orientation=”left” header_fullscreen=”off” header_scroll_down=”off” image_orientation=”center” content_orientation=”center” custom_button_two=”off” button_two_icon_placement=”right” custom_button_one=”off” button_one_icon_placement=”right” /][/et_pb_section][et_pb_section bb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”3.0.47″][et_pb_row _builder_version=”3.0.47″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.0.92″ background_layout=”light”]

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he True Story Project comes to an end this month. Rather than bring you a boring topic about something irrelevant to your life, we thought we would share with you the stories we know best: our own.

The True Story Project was born from the vision of two friends. I had been to visit someone in hospital. They were admitted due to mental health challenges that meant it was unsafe for them to be outside of full-time care and observation. 

I left that hospital shaken up and very sad. Their family was a Christian family, some of the most lovely people I had ever met. How do such good people cope with such terrible circumstances? What help can I offer them?

The next day, I was driving in my car and heard part of a church service on the radio. There was a point in the transmission when the minister prayed for those who were ‘sick in mind or in body.’ I realised then that Christians had been dealing with ‘current’ issues like mental health for a very long time. Surely, if people were still becoming Christians, there must be something to their coping mechanisms? Either that, or I was wasting my time on a religion that had no purpose. Was there any point in believing in a ‘good’ God without any evidence to show for it?

I had been fortunate. In my life, I had lived through a number of event . These stories were what kept me going. The ‘blood of the Lamb’ (trusting in Jesus for salvation) and the words of the saints’ testimonies (stories Christians would tell of how God had pulled through for them and ‘showed up’) – these kept me going. Knowing that my faith was something solid meant that I was doing more than just waste my time. I knew that my faith was real. 

But did everyone else? What about the other people – particularly young ones – who maybe weren’t quite so sure? They knew their own experiences of faith. They could recount times when God had answered their prayers, introduced them to relationships they needed or led them through experiences that shaped who they are. But they didn’t see anyone else doing it.

I was fortunate, because I had a number of good friends who were in the same position as me. I spoke to one of those friends the day after I had visited the hospital. It turned out that he had been thinking along very similar lines. I had wanted to write something (because writing was something I could do) to help families of those struggling with mental health. My good friend pieced everything else together and we realised that we could do something useful together.  

Mental health is an issue very close to my heart. This is partly because it is something I have struggled with in my own life. (I have struggled with it hugely, in fact.) 

The True Story Project gave me the opportunity to share some of my own struggles – and victories – in a non-judgemental way. There are members of my family who don’t know what I’ve gone through. There’s no way I could have shared what I have been able to write about unless it was in an anonymous format, like this. 

I hope it has been helpful to some people. We said right from the beginning that if the True Story Project was helpful for one person then it would be worth doing at all. Maybe there have been people that have read the stories over the last twelve months who haven’t been touched by it, but perhaps there is one person for whom that one story made all the difference, and literally changed a life. To that one person: we love you, and we did it for you, friend.  

Yours truly,
Director of Content

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