Stories of Life
In 2021, the members of St Peter’s, Port Macquarie, were encouraged to consider telling their personal stories of faith as part of the annual Stories of Life writing project. Five members of the congregation were among the fifty authors included in this year’s anthology: The Labyrinth and Other Stories of Life in which ‘ordinary’ people share their extraordinary experiences of God’s grace.
The contributions from St Peters include a miraculous rescue at sea, surviving cancer, praying for rain in a time of drought, a story of adoption, and a story of a young man who decided to focus life on service to God after missing a commercial flight that crashed into Sydney Harbour in 1961.
‘When I wrote, ‘Lord, help me be a mother’, I was asked to share ‘my’ story with a group of ladies during a fellowship day 15 years ago as part of the inspiration message for that day. I prayed for guidance from the Lord to help me show everyone what an awesome God we have and hoped that by the end of my talk, they would see how God had touched and still touches my life in a very special way and how blessed I am because of it!
‘I have always been encouraged to write my story down so it could reach others facing that unknown direction in their lives. Stories of Life gave me the opportunity to share that one glimpse of God’s beautiful plan for me.’
– Sherry Thompson, contributor to Stories of Life
LCA pastor Dr Mark Worthing, who is one of the editors of Stories of Life, attended a special Port Macquarie launch of the book on 9 January 2022. Anyone interested in submitting a story for next year’s Stories of Life collection is encouraged to visit the group’s website.
‘The reason I wanted to share my story, The Mt Morgan Prayer Meeting, in The Labyrinth book is God’s goodness and mercy to the people of Mt Morgan. If ever there was a town that needed help, it was Mt Morgan!
‘By God’s grace, it was a miracle happening, and believe as a result, many lives were changed! Praise God.’
– Tony Koch, contributor to Stories of Life
Pictured from left to right: Sherry Thompson, Toy Koch, Jenelle Franci, Mark Worthing (editor) and Aileen Huf.
