I believe every person has a story.

I was 8 years old when my 2nd grade teacher first introduced me to writing. Right away, I realized it was something I loved. Whatever we were working on— short stories, feature articles, personal narratives— I loved it all. It came to me naturally. It was a way to express myself that I'd never known before. It spoke where sometimes I couldn't.

It wasn't until a few years ago that I returned to seriously writing again. By then, many parts of my life were different. I had learned, changed, and grown. I wanted my writing to matter. I wanted to share what was important to me.

About five months ago, I had my first writing "break-out," so to speak. Hundreds of people read an article I published about something very important to me. It was an amazing, incredible feeling. And it made me realize a vital lesson about other people: every person has a story.

The reason why so many could resonate with something I wrote was because it mattered to them and to their story. For the longest time, I couldn't fully grasp why other people were interested in my words. Then I realized that just maybe it was because they weren't exactly my words. They were his story, and her story, and everybody's story. And through gathering that story, capturing it, and sharing it, you can touch people. You can influence people. You can tell their story.

I believe every person has a story.

Psychologist Carl Jung theorized that all humans have what he called the "collective unconscious," a giant web of shared human story. He believed that everyone has an innate sense of history and connection, manifested in various archetypes and symbols that appear across cultures and throughout centuries.

That theory is so intriguing to me, because the longer you observe others, the more it really does seem like we are all sharing one story.

On Odyssey, you can find all kinds of stories—stuff about politics, world events, school, even random funny things. What could they all have in common? What inspires all of these people to write?

I believe every person has a story. And I'd like to think that it's a God story.

I think the heart of any person and the things they share out of their heart—like their writing—are only so many steps away from God, whether we realize it or not. Because He made us. Because He's at the core of everything. Because He's inescapable.

"For what can be known about God is plain...because God has shown it to them.For His invisible attributes, namely, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse." -Romans 1:19-20

I want to write to share God, to know God, and to understand how God is working in my life and other people's lives. I want to capture that story. Because I think that story is everyone's story.

That's why writing is important to me.

And also because writing lets you take a big old idea running around in your head that you're not even sure makes sense and put it on the internet ;)

Here's to lots of writing in the near future and lots of a faithful God always.