Today I’m linking up with Lisa-Jo Baker for Five-Minute Friday.

The rules are to write for five minutes. No editing, revising, overthinking, or backtracking. Just write. Today’s topic is story.

There’s one thing every person has in common. Every person has a story. It’s our stories that give life substance.

These are the actual pants I wore back in 2004 before beginning my weight loss journey. Today I weigh 250 pounds less than I did then. I’ve got more to lose. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

We live our story every day. Each day it’s like writing a new page. Though we think nothing happened today, if we think about it plenty happened. We filled 24 hours with something: hours of touching and loving, working and playing, sleeping and eating. It’s important stuff in the great scheme of things.

As a journalist I’ve interviewed 1,000s of people from children dying with cancer to oncology doctors trying to fix them; from homeless veterans who don’t want a place to live to wealthy business owners who dissatisfied in their mansions.

Writing a story has always been easy for me until I decided to write the story of my own life. Yep, I wrote a book.

My story is takes almost 250 pages to tell about my weight loss journey. That’s one page for every pound I’ve lost. Telling the story of my journey through morbid obesity was literally like going back through hell, only this time I was on the other side looking in. It was a difficult process. I hope my story will help others who are in the throws of morbid obesity.

After all, that’s the value of our stories any way: helping even another find his or her way out of hell and into just a little piece of heaven.

NOTE: My book Sweet Grace: How I Lost 250 Pounds and Stopped Trying to Earn God’s Favor will be out in September. If you’d like to know about pre-orders and launch dates, subscribe to this blog by putting you name and email below. You’ll also get a free complimentary copy of my book, Gift of Purpose. A confirmation will be sent to your email. Please click that and follow the prompts to download the free ebook and be added to our subscription list.

Teresa Shields Parker

Teresa Shields Parker is a Christian weight loss author, coach, podcaster, and speaker, who has lost 250 pounds and kept it off since 2013. Her books include: “Reconnecting Jayne: Her Sister’s Support,” “Rebuilding Jayne: Her Father’s Protection,”  “Sweet Grace: How I Lost 250 Pounds and Stopped Trying to Earn God’s Favor,” “Sweet Grace Study Guide,”  “Sweet Victory: Winning the Battle,” “Sweet Surrender: Breaking Strongholds,” “Sweet Journey to Transformation: Practical Steps to Lose Weight and Live Healthy”, “Sweet Freedom: Losing Weight and Keeping It Off With God’s Help,” “Sweet Freedom Study Guide,” “Sweet Change: True Stories of Transformation,” “Sweet Hunger: Developing an Appetite for God,” and “Sweet Excuses: Stop Lying to Yourself & Start Losing Weight.” She also offers Overcomers Christian Weight Loss Academy and VIP intensive coaching. Don’t miss her weekly podcast, Sweet Grace for Your Journey, where she shares tips from her personal journey of losing weight and discovering healthy living. Contact her at [email protected].