by Angela Ruth Strong, @AngelaRStrong

Years back, I was writing a piece for a local magazine on Christian ministries for 20-somethings. I scheduled interviews with various leaders, but there’s one story I’ll never forget.

The leader worked near Boise State, and he was invited to debate the existence of God on campus. During the debate, both he and an atheist were asked, “What would you tell someone contemplating suicide?” The atheist responded, “I’d tell them to seek a psychiatrist.” The Christian leader responded, “I’d tell them they are here for a purpose. They are not an accident. The God who created them wants to help them through this dark time because He has big plans for them.”

Well, the judges named the atheist the winner, but that night the Christian received an email from a girl who attended the debate. She wrote, “I’m suicidal, and I want to know more.” He led her to the Lord.

After that, she opened a booth in the middle of BSU where she would pay students a dollar to tell her their stories. They’d share about their lives, she’d pay them, then she’d ask, “Would you like to know mine?” They all listened to her story of overcoming suicide.

The Christian leader lost his debate, but he didn’t participate to win. He participated because he knows hope in Christ changes lives. His loss is for God’s glory. As for the impact of this story, it’s far from over.

Our local IDAhope writing group is relaunching in October, and the board asked me to keynote on why your story matters. I’m going to open with this illustration, but before that I’m going to stand in my own booth by the event’s registration table and offer a dollar to anyone who tells me their story. I can’t wait for all the inspiring things I’m going to hear. The dollar I pay might be the first “royalty check” for many storytellers, but more importantly, it’s a symbol of worth.

You have hope to share my friend. Hope that comes from your experience alone. Only you can tell your story, and there are people only your story will reach. Like the suicidal student whose story I’ll never forget, your story matters in ways you’ll never know.

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Hero Debut

Gemma Bennett is the leading lady of her own life, and her true love is writing screenplays. With her trusty pink notebook in hand, she signs up for the Citizen’s Safety Academy to research her newest blockbuster hope, a rom-com with a police officer as the hero. And the fact that the handsome and heroic Lieutenant Karson Zellner is the one leading the training? Well, who can blame her for wanting to spend evenings with the man she swooned over months ago when he responded to a call at her apartment?

Karson already has his fair share of problems before Gemma shows up, and he’s not exactly a fan of the ditzy blonde who can’t seem to stay out of trouble. The last thing he needs is a damsel in distress to rescue; there are plenty of people in real need of his help. The fact that she seems to think his job makes him a superhero is just one more strike against her. This isn’t a movie, and he feels like the furthest thing from a leading man.

Gemma can’t seem to stop doing the worst, most embarrassing things at just the wrong time. And as time goes on, Gemma begins to realize that the scripts for a perfect screenplay and a real-life happily-ever-after are two very different things. Can she step out of her own way to find the hero her story needs?

Angela Ruth Strong sold her first Christian romance novel in 2009 then quit writing romance when her husband left her. Ten years later, God has shown her the true meaning of love, and there’s nothing else she’d rather write about. Her books have since earned TOP PICK in Romantic Times, been optioned for film, won the Cascade Award, and been Amazon best-sellers. She also writes non-fiction for SpiritLed Woman. To help aspiring authors, she started IDAhope Writers where she lives in Idaho, and she teaches as an expert online at WRITE THAT BOOK.