Why did Jesus tell stories?

Recently I spent a week in Nundle, NSW (near Tamworth) learning how to tell stories.
The ones from God.
You might say "shouldn't you have learnt how to tell stories when you were a kid"?
And the answer would be, yes, I really should have.

So I've never been the best story teller going round; sometimes I start a story and forget why I started telling the story in the first place! It has resulted in me not being able to count the number of times I've heard "then you found $50 right?" it happens that often BUT in saying that being able to tell stories that Jesus told and stories about who God is, stories that are amazingly powerful in so many ways, that speak right to the heart of where you are in life and what you need, stories that leave you thinking about their meaning days later as God works in your life, well now aint that a story!

I still need practise but it's pretty cool how God speaks through these stories, directly into people's lives- they are his words!

"As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: it will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it."   Isaiah 55:10-11

Jesus told the people of his day stories or 'parables' to get them thinking and being challanged about how they are living their lives. The stories he told and the story of his life, death and resurrection still speaks out today so don't be afraid to tell them or to hear them.

Love Melissa xxx