Story. We all have people we look up to. Connecting with them seems unlikely. We believe they have it all together – everything is perfect. Until we know their background – where and how they grew up, we read or hear their stories. And find that they are regular people, too. – Just like us. They fight (or fought) the same battles we have – the same fears, same anxieties, and same hang-ups.
The Stories We Tell
I learned this about JoAnna Gaines from the Fixer Upper TV Show on The Magnolia Channel. She has her struggles, too. She had events in her life that caused fear and anxiety. Some things still raise their ugly heads from time to time.
In her story, she is learning how to overcome. She is willing to be open and honest with us through her book. Through her story, I am learning that the stories she tells us connect with me. Her courage gives me the courage to tell my own stories.
I picked up the e-book version recently, and could not put it down. I immediately went to Facebook and shared, “You have to get this book.” Perhaps you need to read it too!
The Stories We Tell: Every Piece of Your Story Matters
Imagine if all the worn-out, untrue, painful chapters of our lives started to quiet, and the beautiful, unique pieces of who we are were to rise. Imagine if the stories we tell brought us back to our true selves, back to one another. Imagine if they spoke of how we loved and lost and tried our best. How we saw it all, even the parts that hurt.
Joanna Gaines’ new book, The Stories We Tell, invites us on an authentic and deeply vulnerable journey into her story—and helps shine a light on the beauty of our own—guiding us to release the weights that hold us back so we may live and share our story in truth.
We’ve all dropped anchor in places that suited us for a time: a city, a perspective, a lie we mistook as truth. This book is an invitation to a kind of life where you know how to hold what you believe—about yourself and the quiet worlds behind the people you pass—with gracious and open hands. To see your story as greater than any past or future thing, but for all the beauty and joy and hope it holds today.
It’s an invitation to take stock of the chapters you’ve lived—the good and the bad, the beautiful and the ugly—glean what’s gold, and carry only that forward. Let it slow your feet and steady your life-in-motion so you can see where you stand today from a new point of view. No longer through weary or uncertain eyes, but a lens brimming with hope.
“The only way to break free was to rewrite my story. Because something would happen every time my pen stopped: It was like my soul was coming back to my body. The deepest parts of me that got knocked around and drowned out by all the crap. I let the world convince me about who I was come back to the surface. And what was left was only what was real and true. I was, finally, standing in the fullness of my story, feeling hopeful. I felt full. Our story may crack us open, but it also pieces us back together.
We all have a story to tell. This happens to be mine—every chapter is a window into who I am, the journey I’m on, and the season I’m in right now. Because this is my story, maybe you won’t always relate. Or maybe, it will feel like you’re looking in a mirror. Whatever we have in common and what differences lie between us, I only hope my story can help shine a light on the beauty of your story – That my soul work will stir something of your own. And that by the time you get to the end of my story, you’re also holding the beautiful beginnings of your own.
A story only you can tell. And I hope that you will.”
-Joanna
About the Author
Joanna Gaines is the co-founder of Magnolia, a New York Times bestselling author, editor-in-chief of Magnolia Journal, and creator and co-owner of Magnolia Network.
Born in Kansas and raised in the Lone Star State, Jo graduated from Baylor University with a degree in Communications. An internship in New York City prompted her desire to discover how she could create beauty for people. In a big city unknown to her, Jo always fel at home. Especially, when she stepped inside the cozy and thoughtfully curated boutique shops, which inspired her to open a shop in Waco, Texas.
Alongside her passion for design and food, nothing inspires Jo more than time spent at home with Chip and their five kids–whether they’re messing with recipes in the kitchen or planting something new in the garden.
Other Book Reviews
Book Review: Wounded By God’s People
Legacy of Motherhood: The Life of Susanna Wesley
Pastor’s Wife (retired) & Chronic Pain Warrior blogs about how to make it through anything by relating her own life experiences to her writing. She is passionate about her love for the Lord and desires to spread that passion to others. She has a great desire to encourage women who are following behind her.
