Vision Seminar I Pre-work

Vision Seminar I Pre-work: Journaling Your Story
Most believers feel their lives are pretty common until they take an in depth look at their story. Then they see God’s unique, sovereign, shaping work – we gain a vision for our lives when we see them from a life-time perspective of God’s shaping work.

The end result of Vision Seminar I – Life-Time Perspective, will be a personal time-line that interprets the major events, people, and circumstances of each of our lives from a God perspective. In the process, key sign-posts, values, and other elements of vision will become clearer.

Now the assignment. To make the most of our limited time together at the seminar, it is of vital importance that each one of us take 1-2 hours to journal our personal story. (If you have a long or event filled life, you may want to take longer, up to 4 hours if you can find it, but don’t go overboard.)

Exercise: prayerfully write a 3-5 page summary of your life journey. You may do it any way you like: computer, actual journal, bulleted list, poster board, whatever works for you. This does not need to be shared with others, so be as completely thorough as you can, even with painful and shameful events that have impacted you.

Suggested Method:
1.    Brainstorm: many people find it easy to begin with a brainstorm of those key events that have occurred in their life, just journaling them out in any order, as they come to mind. Then, going back and putting approximate dates on each event.
2.    Writing: Using the brainstorm list, write your story in chronological form. Keep each item brief, a summary of your life is the goal, not an exhaustive autobiography.

Helpful Categories
•    The events that have impacted who you are.
E.g. Conversion, graduations, marriage, jobs, moves to new cities/homes, ministry experiences, birth of a child, preservation of life when you could/should have died, traumas & losses, etc.

•    The people who have shaped who you are - positively and negatively.
E.g. parents, siblings, other family, friends, discipler/youth leader, pastors/other leaders, coaches/teachers, etc.

•    The significant circumstances that have impacted your life direction, including any family incidents or statements about you at or before your birth. (it's good to talk to a parent/relative when writing a life summary.)
E.g. societal changes, home situation (divorce? abuse? blessings? family values?), conflicts with parents, school situations, immigration, cross-cultural experience/living, etc.

Bring the completed story with you to the seminar – hard copy is best.