A Story Worth Telling: Your Field Guide to Living an Authentic Life

by Bill Blankschaen

Your life is a story. And your faith will write it. But will it be worth telling?

Jeff Goins ,  Brad Lomenick ,  Mark Sanborn , and John Stonestreet agree this latest book from   Bill Blankschaen is a must-read for those who want a life of lasting significance.
What if you could live an authentic life of such lasting significance that your story can be celebrated in places and times you can't even imagine? 
This hands-on field guide packs in true stories and practical tips for living a life of authentic faith in God, the kind that gets out of the boat and leaves a lasting legacy. Author Bill Blankschaen's winsome voice meets you where you are in your life journey and calls you to something more, to a grander, more meaningful life grounded on unshakeable truth. 

Blankschaen shows you how authentic  
Life is short. Take control of your story. Start now.  Experience A  Story Worth Telling for a faith that changes everything.

192 pages, Paperback

First published May 19, 2015

Reviews

[Leah]

In A Story Worth Telling, FaithWalkers founder Bill Blankschaen brings us "Your Field Guide to Living an Authentic Life," in terms of making a difference in people and situations we meet along the way, and especially in terms of discerning how God might be calling us to serve with our particular gifts and interests.

Regarding the book's Christian orientation, I feel it started off much too slowly, since the first three chapters could have been almost any generic self-help book. But A Story Worth Telling is not about self-help, or about saving yourself (which we know is not possible)--it's about prayerfully trusting God's leading so God can change us and help us change people and institutions around us.

Bill, a writer, educator, and one-time pastor, offers scripturally sage counsel such as standing still and letting the Lord fight this battle/skirmish for us yet at the same time moving on by putting one foot in front of another. He cautions us not to slap a "god label" on everything seemingly good that just happens to occur in our lives, such as finally getting some job, renting or buying that nice house or apartment, etc. Not that everything in all creation does not belong to God and come from Heaven...

Living by trust ("faith" that's not the simple intellectual agreement too many peeps in the pews imagine) in the living God means taking a lot of risks, but Bill cautions us to make them "righteous risks" (page 62) rather than stupid ones. He gives his own example of quitting a very good job not knowing what would be next, yet knowing he already had many marketable skills some individual or organization might find useful.

(page 95) "a calling requires a caller." (pages 100-101) Remember, God generally calls us to live our story [worth telling] in our areas of strength, there we excel, where passions and talents unite in ways we can make a unique contribution.

In this Field Guide we get counseling and questions to respond to in highlighted sections that include Prepare Your Gear; Explore the Trail Ahead; Check Your Coordinates. The author provides narratives of human and divine faithfulness from Old and New Testaments; like most current books of this general genre, he mentions stories worth telling that have been told countless times of Mother Teresa of Calcutta (happily quoting her reminder each of us can do "small things with great love") and world-changing, church-transforming reformer Martin Luther. Bill Blankschaen also shares stories from his own and other "regular people's" lives that demonstrate living faithfully and trusting God with the outcomes, which may not always be what we thought we wanted. But God's not finished with us yet! We can live trusting God in ways that will make a difference to others, maybe even lives that will be remembered?

[Debbie]

"A Story Worth Telling" is a Christian living book that could pass as a Bible study on faith. He started by explaining why it matters in what/who you place your faith. Then it's an experienced FaithWalker passing on what he's learned about our Journey of Faith from the Bible. He illustrated the principles with stories from his own life and the lives of others. He's easy to follow and understand, and he stayed focused on topic so there's little filler. Throughout the book, he asked questions that help you to focus on how the principles he's just discussed apply to your life (and they're good questions).

I was concerned the book might be about doing something splashy so you can brag about it on the news as you receive a reward for your humble service to humanity. It's not: it's about living a life of ever-deepening faith and following where God leads you, even if no one this side of heaven ever hears about it. It's a fulfilling life full of adventure! Overall, I'd highly recommend this book to those who want advice on how to deepen your faith and FaithWalk with God.

I received this book as a review copy from the publisher through Amazon Vine.

[Michelle]

I bought this book for preparation on a sermon series on telling our faith stories but found it quite bland and predictable