Using Our Story to Connect with Others

When Lyn became ill, it changed our lives, and it also changed how we were going to approach every day. Lyn was immediately faced with stage-four metastatic lung to brain melanoma cancer, and the future and time that Lyn had remaining on this earth was uncertain. We hoped for healing, and that we would use her story of healing to inspire others. We had planned on using her healing to speak to groups, or to be used however God would lead, but obviously this plan changed.

However, with Lyn’s passing, I have chosen to bring a new kind of hope and message through writing this blog. I want to carry on her legacy of hope to as many as possible. It was Lyn’s desire to live and have her life be a message of hope and encouragement.

Lyn had a message she wanted to communicate, not only through the spoken word, but moreover through her actions. Lyn’s mission in life was to impact her world with a message of hope and positivity. Her mission became my mission, and I start my day with her in mind.

Since Lyn’s passing last year, I began to start my new normal with selfcare. I start my morning the exact same way each day. I begin with exercise, and as I exercise it is a great time for me to connect with God. I pray for my children, my friends, for spiritual guidance, and that I would experience the peace of God as I walk through this chapter of life, and work through grief. I also pray for opportunities to connect with people that I can learn from, or that I can perhaps encourage with a message of hope and positivity.

Today’s prayer was no different—I prayed, and ended it with a prayer of, “God I pray that I can have an amazing conversation with one person today. I would like to tell someone about the blog, hear their story, and bring a positive message to them.”

My morning prayer was quickly answered. This week I am at a professional conference. After exercising I ran into a colleague from a different office. My colleague asked how I was doing since Lyn’s passing, and invited me to sit down and talk. I began telling her that I was doing well, and moving forward in life professionally, spiritually, and relationally. I told her about some of the amazing things that have transpired, and she was pleased that I was doing well. I explained how I want to continue to live, love and enjoy life—and I am.

As I unpacked my life, Lyn’s life, and the process of my moving forward, she began to talk about her appreciation for life, and started to share a bit of her life and heartache. I could see the emotion in her eyes, and it opened the door for hearing part of her story.

What ensued was an amazing conversation of sharing our stories. I shared about our life, our hope, and the things that Lyn and I talked about. I talked about conversations we had during her illness, and never took a day for granted. We learned to say what we needed to say immediately to each other, and not wait for a future conversation, because her future was uncertain.

Lyn and I recognized how special life was, and things we wanted to say needed to be said now! Lyn and I did not hold things back, and we talked very honestly about her illness, what she liked, the type of celebration of life service she would want, and most important, that I needed to continue to move forward in life.

As I talked to my colleague, she told me about her life, and described the grief she experienced through loss. We talked about her life, tragic deaths, the life of her parents, personal details about her health, and her future. She also shared how she recognized many years ago the importance of expressing how much she loved her family, and not wait for some later time. She echoed the fact that tomorrow is not guaranteed, just as I had talked about earlier in our conversation.

I felt honored to hear her story. It was beautiful to hear her story. It was moving to hear and see the love she had for her children and spouse.

So often we do not want to ponder that our time on this earth may be limited by a sudden lifechanging event. In speaking to my colleague, it was a reminder to love life, enjoy life, and invest in the lives of others, because tomorrow is never promised.

I seek out opportunities to share with people. I do not see encounters with friends, colleagues, or total strangers I meet and talk with as mere random events. I understand others may see these events as chance encounters, however, I see these as opportunities that God has delivered to me.

I love to sit and listen to the stories of people, with the hope of being able to connect, if even only for a few minutes. Since I have started to pay attention to the world around me, I have dozens of conversations per week in which I have the opportunity to share my story, my hope, my blog, my compassion, and my love.

My life has been enriched as I have taken the time to get to know others and hear their stories. I am continually moved that while my family has had to work through the grief process, there are so many others I encounter that have stories that are much more heart wrenching than my story. When I hear these people share their stories, sit in amazement of how they have worked through grief, I am strengthened, and they give a dose of hope! While I take the opportunity to talk with people to bring hope and positivity to them, in reality I am the one that walks away blessed as I learn about their life.

As you walk through your days here on this earth, remember, you have been placed in the lives of others for a reason. Take the time to listen to the stories of others. Make space for people. Go to coffee and just listen. As I have started to do this over the past few years, I have been amazed how many lives are touched by my story, Lyn’s story, and the hope and positivity we maintained throughout her journey. However, I am also impacted and touched by their story, and as a result, I have grown emotionally, intellectually, spiritually, socially, and relationally. I have realized that our lives are meant to connect, and the impact is a very beautiful and powerful encounter, which the effect is seen far into the future. If you choose to use your story to connect with others, you may be surprised what happens.