“So, what exactly is public relations?”
While this question about my major used to
exasperate me, I would think, “How can people still think PR only stands for ‘personal record?’”, now, this question gives me the perfect opening to what I’ve found people are missing.
I’m sure professionals might give a different definition of PR but to me PR means simply telling someone’s story to people who need to hear it. The deeper I’ve dug into my major, the more I’ve found that someone’s story may be the most valuable thing he or she can offer.
Telling stories is a holy act. Jesus spent half of his ministry and disciples telling stories to his followers. Why do you think we cry at the heartbreaking and devastating moments in a movie? Why do most heroic tales give us so much inspiration? Because humans connect to stories. We relate to stories. We genuinely feel stories.
Stories are not just for us to watch in a Disney movie or read in a novel. We are in the midst of a story right now that God is writing for us. You might disregard the things you have experienced because that’s what you find normal. You know your own story too well, but your story could turn someone’s life around.
Yes, I know we’re all just in college. We’ve only lived two or so decades. But, we can’t ignore what we’ve already experienced, the pain we’ve been through and overcome, the joyous moments we’ve celebrated, the losses from which we’ve tried to move on. These are the things that make us ourselves and they are proof of what God has done in our lives.
Our stories are beautiful and our own and no one can tell your story like you can. I realize that’s very personal and might be asking a lot of you. Telling someone all the gunk in your life is messy and leaves you vulnerable. But wouldn’t it be worth it when
someone responds with, “Me too?” Wouldn’t it be worth it when someone who is in the thick of it hears your pain, hears your struggles, hears how God moved in you, and you came out on the other side not only alive but thriving? How powerful could that be?
So, I urge you all to tell your stories, whenever it may be possible. You have no idea the power your truth has in the right ears. Don’t tell the story you think social media wants to hear. Tell your story, unfiltered and unapologetically, so God can use what he has done to further praise him.
