“But they had heard only, That he which persecuted us in times past now preacheth the faith which once he destroyed.” — Galatians 1:23
Lesson
What You Will Learn
- Describe the before, turning point, and after shape of a testimony
- Choose a focused slice of your story and a guiding question
- Recognize that turning points can be sudden or slow
- Create a simple story map
Lesson Notes
Before, Turning Point, After
Many testimonies follow a simple shape. Before: what life was like and what you believed. Turning point: the moment or season when something changed. After: what is different now, and what is still growing.
Paul told his own story this way more than once (Acts 22 and Acts 26). Churches heard a short version: the man who once persecuted the faith now preached it (Galatians 1:23). That one sentence holds a whole before and after.
Choose Your Slice
A memoir is not everything that happened. Choose one thread: a relationship, a season, a struggle, or a question. A focus question keeps you on track, for example: How did I learn to trust again? or What did my mother's faith mean to me after she was gone?
Anything that does not help answer your focus question can be saved for another piece.
Turning Points Are Not Always Lightning
Some turning points are sudden. Many are slow: a conversation, a letter from a child, a verse read on a hard night, a class like this one. A slow turning point is just as real. Write it honestly, even if it took years.
You may have more than one turning point. Choose the one that best fits your focus question.
Balance and Mapping
A common mistake is spending most of the pages on the before. The past can feel more dramatic, but the reader came to see change. Give the turning point and the after real weight.
A story map is a simple page with three columns: Before, Turning Point, After. Under each, list two or three scenes you might write. You can change the map as you go.
Key Terms
| Item | Details |
|---|---|
| Story shape | The overall structure of a story, such as before, turning point, after |
| Turning point | The moment or season when change begins |
| Focus question | The single question a memoir explores and answers |
| Story map | A planning page listing possible scenes for each part of the story |
In-Class Activities
Three-Part Story Map
Draw three columns labeled Before, Turning Point, and After. Under each, write two or three possible scenes in a few words each (for example, Grandma's porch, summer I was nine). Use only memories you feel safe exploring.
Finding Your Focus Question
Write three possible focus questions for your story. Read them aloud to yourself (or a partner, if you choose). Circle the one that makes you most want to keep writing.
Assignment: Story Map and Focus Question
Create a clean, one-page plan for your final project:
- Your focus question.
- A completed three-part story map with at least two scenes in each column.
- A short paragraph (5–7 sentences) explaining why this slice of your story matters to you.
Your plan can change later. This is a starting point, not a contract.
Graded with the Module Assignment Rubric.
Reflection Journal
Galatians 1:23 sums up Paul's whole life in one sentence of before and after. Try writing your own one-sentence before and after. How does it feel to see it on paper?
Prayer focus: Ask God to show you which part of your story to tell first and to give you patience with the parts that are still unfolding.
Weekly Reading & Devotions
Before, Turning Point, After
Paul told his story more than once, and its shape stayed simple. The churches summed it up in one sentence: the man which persecuted us in times past now preacheth the faith which once he destroyed (Galatians 1:23). Before, turning point, after. That shape can hold your story too.
A memoir is not everything that happened. It is one thread, chosen on purpose. A focus question keeps you on that thread: How did I learn to trust again? or What did it take to become a mother my children could lean on? If a memory does not help answer the question, you can save it for another piece.
Not every turning point is lightning. Many are slow: a conversation, a letter, a verse read on a hard night. When Gwen mapped her story, she realized her turning point was not one day but a whole winter of Bible study where she slowly began to believe she was forgiven. (Gwen is a composite example.) A slow turning point is just as real.
Watch your balance. The before can feel more dramatic, but readers came to see change. Give the turning point and the after real weight. Your story map is a starting point, not a contract. You may redraw it many times.
Think About It
- What one thread of your story do you most want to follow? ______________________
- Was your turning point sudden or slow? ______________________
- What does your after look like, including what is still growing? ______________________
Daily Devotions for Week 2
Now Preacheth
But they had heard only, That he which persecuted us in times past now preacheth the faith which once he destroyed.— Galatians 1:23 (KJV)
One sentence held Paul's whole before and after. People glorified God because of the change they saw in him.
Reflect: If your story were one sentence, what would it say?
Pray: Lord, let the change You have made in me bring glory to You.
Do: Write your story in one sentence.
All Things New
Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.— 2 Corinthians 5:17 (KJV)
Your after is not just a better version of your before. In Christ, something new has begun.
Reflect: What is new in you that was not there before?
Pray: Lord, thank You for making me a new creature.
Do: List three things that are different in your life now.
Out of the Pit
He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings.— Psalm 40:2 (KJV)
This verse is a story in itself: a pit, a rescue, a rock, and steady steps. God establishes the after.
Reflect: Where has God set your feet on a rock?
Pray: Lord, establish my goings on Your rock.
Do: Draw a simple three-part map: pit, rescue, rock.
When He Came to Himself
And when he came to himself— Luke 15:17 (KJV)
The prodigal's turning point began with a quiet moment of honesty, long before he reached home. Turning points often start inside.
Reflect: When did you first begin to come to yourself?
Pray: Lord, thank You for the moments of clarity You have given me.
Do: Write a few words about a quiet turning point in your life, if it feels safe.
Reaching Forth
this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,— Philippians 3:13 (KJV)
Paul had a focus: this one thing I do. A focus question gives your memoir the same direction.
Reflect: What one thing is your story reaching toward?
Pray: Lord, give me focus as I write and as I live.
Do: Circle your favorite focus question and copy it onto the first page of your notebook.
Module Quiz
- 1.
What are the three parts of the simple testimony shape?
- 2.
A focus question helps a memoir writer:
- 3.
Which is a common mistake in testimony writing?
- 4.
A turning point must be sudden and dramatic to count.
- 5.
In your own words, what is a story map?