Lisa Hendey and Friends Interview Highlights
Lisa Hendey & Friends – Episode 57 – Nancy Ward “Sharing Your Faith Story”
Enjoy Lisa’s interview with Nancy about Sharing Your Catholic Faith Story: Tools, Tips, and Testimonies,
On this week’s show, we swap faith stories and learn some awesome new ways to share what means most to us with Nancy Ward, author of Sharing Your Catholic Faith Story: Tools, Tips, and Testimonies. Check out all of our book and movie picks at Lisa’s Amazon Page. For Lisa’s speaking schedule visit www.LisaHendey.com. Send your feedback to lisahendey@gmail.com or connect with Lisa on social media @LisaHendey.
Highlights:
Lisa Hendey: Do you think it’s ironic that God and the Holy Spirit used someone very shy like you to talk to us about the importance of our story?
Nancy: When you give your life to the Lord, and the Holy Spirit gets hold of you, that balances everything out. If you’re an introvert, all of a sudden you can do this because the Holy Spirit is doing it through you.
Lisa Hendey: How do you encourage people who say, I’m not that holy; I question my faith; who am I to be sharing my story? If I’m not perfect, why would God use me?
Nancy: I’d say, “It’s not about you. Our faith story is not our life. It’s a work of God, like a river flowing through our life — all of our experiences and faith moments with God that he has initiated and completed in us. This is flowing through our lives. This is what we are sharing. We are sharing what God is doing, not what we are doing. Yes, how he brought us to be who we are.
People relate to me and my story because it’s not that dramatic. . . It’s about the everyday accumulative actions of God leading up to this big God-moment of decision that he initiated in your life. You have to realize it’s about what God does. It’s this flow that goes through your life – that’s your faith story.
Nancy: What makes our story a Catholic story is that the sacraments are all a part of that. The presence of God in our lives – that’s what makes our story a Catholic story. That presence, especially in the Eucharist. We are sharing that – that’s not us, that’s God.
Lisa Hendey: I definitely recommend diving into the stories because it will show you the personal nature of these stories and it will also encourage you to sit back and think about your own and what you would share. Then you can take the tools in the first part of the book and begin to formulate your story when you are ready (1 Peter 3:15) you’ll have your story ready to share. It’s not going to be the same every time, but you give us the basic elements to share what’s significant in our lives.
Nancy: The “Always be ready” scripture keeps me going. We talked a lot about getting ready. While you are journaling, think about this: your availability is much more important than you speaking ability. If you become more sensitive to the Holy Spirit as you journal, you will recognize his nudges when you are with one person or a group that needs to hear a little incident of encouragement from your story. You can do on-the spot evangelizing.
Read more about how you can evangelize through your personal story in Sharing Your Catholic Faith Story: Tools, Tips, and Testimonies, by Nancy HC Ward, available on Amazon.com.
“Lisa Hendey and Friends” invites you into dialogue with authors and entertainment industry professionals, spiritual bright lights and seekers, and whoever else Lisa meets along her daily journey. From LA to Kenya and all points in between, come along for the conversation!
Lisa M. Hendey is the founder of CatholicMom.com and a best-selling author of fiction and non-fiction for adults and children. She serves Editor-at-Large with Ave Maria Press, home to the CatholicMom.com book imprint. Lisa co-edited The Catholic Mom’s Prayer Companion with 80 co-authors. Her “Chime Travelers” fiction series is being read and studied nationwide. A frequent television and radio guest, her writing has been featured in multiple outlets. Hendey speaks internationally on faith, family, and technology topics. She has traveled worldwide with non-profit organizations to support their humanitarian missions. Lisa and Greg Hendey worship in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. Visit Lisa at www.lisahendey.com.
