202: The Best Stories

Most of us like a good story. I have found that the best stories are those that draw us in with emotion. They’re usually about relationships and often contain a story within a story. I’ve got one of those for you today that I’m pretty sure you’re going to like.

 Welcome to You Were Made for This

If you find yourself wanting more from your relationships, you’ve come to the right place. Here you’ll discover practical principles you can use to experience the life-giving relationships you were made for.

I’m your host, John Certalic, award-winning author and relationship coach, here to help you find more joy in the relationships God designed for you.

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Today's relationship story

The story I want to tell you today comes from a listener response to my recent August 8th email to those on our email list. The email was about that line I love from the PBS TV show, Call the Midwife, 

“We learn most when we listen to others”

Linda Crouch, a retired missionary now living in North Carolina, wrote to tell me how she’s come to appreciate the great value of people listening to one another. I was so fascinated by what she had to say and the story she told that illustrated the value of listening, that I thought it would make a great podcast episode if I interviewed her.

Linda graciously agreed to the interview that you’ll hear in just a minute. As you listen, I’d like you to see if you can identify the predominant emotion in the story. The relationships you’ll hear about are pretty obvious. But see if you can pick up on the emotion that makes hers a great story.

And then also, what do you hear as the story within her story? See if you can pick that out. So let’s get into it right now.

[I know some of you prefer to read rather than listen to what comes next, but I’m sorry there is no transcript of this best stories episode.]

Why today's story is one of the best stories I’ve heard in a while

I don’t know about you, but what Linda just shared is one of the best stories I’ve heard in a while.  What an amazing thing she did in organizing a trip for her children and grandchildren to go back to a place where she and her husband spent almost 4 decades of their lives. It’s where her kids grew up and where it formed such an important piece of her identity, and there’s as well. 

She could have gone by herself, but she wanted her children to go back with her to experience the joy she experienced. I’m not going to do this, but it would be oh-so interesting to interview 1 or 2 of her adult children, and the same with a couple of the grandkids. To hear how this trip impacted them.

Another thing that made this one of the best stories I’ve heard this year is listening to Linda describe the joy she felt in returning to Nigeria with her family. This is the predominant emotion I heard. Joy. I also love how she talked about “the joy of resilience.”  What a breath of fresh air to hear this perspective.

And then there was her motive in going back, to say “thank you” to the people she worked with in Nigeria whom she and her husband Jim worked with and ministered to. I love that.  Just recently we hosted a missionary couple who retired this year after 50 some years working in a camping ministry who have bee