Last Sunday at Metro Life we sang one of my favorite songs: “O Church, Arise.” One line in particular always pierces my heart:

As saints of old still line the way
Retelling triumphs of His grace
We hear their calls and hunger for the day
When, with Christ, we stand in glory.

There’s a lot to be excited about in those lyrics. What jumps out at me is the part about “retelling triumphs of His grace.” I’m an avid reader, so I like retellings in general, especially victorious stories of God’s grace.

I suspect you like stories, too.

Stories are powerful. They grab our attention, touch our emotions—maybe even our souls—and spur us to action. I think this is by design.

The Creator wired us to connect with stories because He has a grand story He wants us to know and respond to. The Bible, which he inspired and led men to write, is the epic true story of God revealing Himself to us. It’s the ultimate story. Jesus also used the power of story by telling many parables about living as God’s children.

The stories of God moving in our daily lives are also powerful. Our stories of God guiding and helping us—if we remember them—can give us hope for the challenges we face today and can encourage others.

After that service in which we sang “O Church, Arise,” I lingered in my seat listing in my notebook the triumphs of God’s grace in my life. At first, the memories came quickly: my salvation; the years praying for my brother’s salvation and the day he prayed with me by phone to give his life to Christ; the years facing infertility, praying for a child and then receiving our precious baby girl.

The common thread in all of my stories is the abundant, sustaining grace God gave me as I cried out to Him and leaned on Him day after day.

As the ushers came near, stacking the chairs around me, I hit writer’s block. I reached a point in the chronology of my life where I couldn’t come up with as many examples.

Was God less gracious to me during those years? No. Instead, in that season of my life I wasn’t putting forth the effort to capture those triumphs of grace.

Stories have to be captured. If I rely on my memory alone, there’s a good chance I’ll forget—or at least forget some of the best details. I have to write a story down somewhere, like in a journal or a computer file. Or I have to tell the story verbally, preferably multiple times, so that I truly remember.

How about you?

What are some of the triumphs of God’s grace in your life? How will you capture those stories so that you can recount them to others?