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Discover weekly, the best short stories

Looking for a steady supply of inspirational short stories? Every week thousands of writers submit stories to our writing contest.

6220+ Inspirational Short Stories to read

Submitted by writers on Reedsy Prompts to our weekly writing contest. From tales of the miraculous to stories of extraordinary people overcoming incredible odds, you’ll always find something uplifting in our collection of inspirational short stories.

Inspirational Short Stories – Page 2 of 415

Telling Tales

Submitted to Contest #307

Boris, headmaster at Ozymandias Academy, entered the outer office. He smiled at his assistant, Yvonne.“Good morning, Mr. Boris.”“’Morning, Yvonne… Anything I need know before I start my day?”“Nothing important, sir… Oh, a local man wishes to speak with you.”“Always a complaint. What’s this rube want?”“No complaint, sir. He wants to commend you on your excellent students.”“You’re serious?”“He is. He states one of our students cured his sick daughter, from afar, no less. And get this, the student never met her.”“Bizarre. I’ve no time for such ...

9 likes 5 comments 5
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R.I.P.

Submitted to Contest #307

Requiescat in pace.Even though she wasn’t Catholic, Nora made a sign of the cross as she sat at the tiny bistro table in her kitchen in front of her laptop. She had really lost it. Gone. Passed away. No longer with us. She clucked her tongue twice in imitation of the cancer patient character in Nora’s favorite Hindi film, Cheeni Kum. Ghosted by my own imagination. Having generally avoided necromancy her entire life, all Nora could summon was a rehashing of the storylines of fiction she had been reading or real-life events or the same old ima...

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A Beginner’s Guide to Dying Just Enough

Submitted to Contest #307

I’m not a very brave person, naturally. I’m what they called a “good girl,” a “poor soul,” a “miracle baby.” My mother died in childbirth. I was a C-section, and—like they so often do with Black mothers—the doctors let her die from something as simple as ignoring her blood pressure, despite my dad’s pleas for help.Knowing this growing up made me paranoid about doing anything that could kill me, whether the danger was real or imagined. My dad, with his kind, sad eyes and ever-ready hugs, did not share my fear. He tried fruitlessly to get me o...

7 likes 2 comments 2
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A Note That Didn’t Belong

Submitted to Contest #307

ARC I – The SparkThey didn’t build him to sing. They built him to boil water.The model was called ComfortOne. A second-generation smart kettle from a mid-tier tech firm that promised “subtle intelligence for everyday ritual.”It came with pleasant upgrades: voice recognition, temperature precision, steeping suggestions based on time of day and water chemistry.It had a voice, but no face. It obeyed, but didn’t learn. It was smart—but unaware.And for most people, that was enough.We name our cars. Talk to pets. Curse at our phones—then whisper “...

8 likes 1 comment 1
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The wanting

Submitted to Contest #307

It began, as most things do, with a longing.Not a loud one. Not the kind that breaks doors or screams into voids.This one was quieter. A pulse beneath the skin.A shadow behind every other thought. A wanting so old it didn’t need a name.It found her when she was twelve.A girl with too-wide eyes and silent hunger.She stood at the edge of the school auditorium stage, behind red curtains that smelled like dust and dreams. The other girl was center stage, speaking lines she knew by heart. Lines that were supposed to be hers.The applause when the ...

8 likes 2 comments 2
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Harley And His Dream Glide

Submitted to Contest #307

HARLEY AND HIS DREAM GLIDE REDNECKS Ancestral analysis indicated Harley was 80% Viking, but his mind told him he was 100% Redneck. A picture showed Harley's Mom at age five with four not-much-older siblings in Nebraska during the Great Depression. They were mud-plastered, barely-shooed, ragged-dressed – and happy-faced. Those pictures showed the resilience of the Greatest Generation. Harley's Mom was quite smart, but schooling was not especially valued in her youth. She finished the eighth grade and married Harley's Dad at seventeen. All her...

2 likes 1 comment 1
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A Noble Action

Submitted to Contest #307

Professor Peter Ash stood near the projector screen at the front of his art history classroom. Behind him, an image of multiple horses and warrior-riders tangled in the throes of ferocious battle drew the class’s attention. In the mass of violent chaos, one could make out that the riders in the mural were fighting over a banner.“This work of art is the product of an artist named Peter Paul Rubens of the Flemish Baroque school, a man who worked extensively during the early 17th century as part of the Northern Renaissance.” Ash looked out over...

22 likes 18 comments 18
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Persona non greta

Submitted to Contest #307

I was born in a big and populous city of South Asia. When I turned seven, my father , working for a local bank got promoted and he got transfered to KSA. As a result we all moved to Kingdom of Saudi Arabia We all left for Riyadh, as my father was already there, he came to receive all four of us (mother, two sisters and my self. As we came out, we were amazed to see the luxurious cars, lights (it appeared that it’s morning time even though we arrived around 7 pm). It’s a beautiful city , I have no words for it, it was very hot I cannot descri...

8 likes 11 comments 11
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The Day I Was Reborn

Submitted to Contest #307

Have you ever felt as if life gave you a second start? That one moment was enough to change everything? That’s how I felt one summer afternoon, when the sea — which had always meant freedom to me — became the stage for a near-tragedy.I was eighteen, full of dreams, hungry for life, excited for every new experience. That day, like many others, I ran toward the waves with joy in my chest. I remember the salty wind brushing against my face, the laughter of friends echoing on the shore, and the rush of the cool water around my ankles. It was sup...

5 likes 4 comments 4
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Homage to thee, Osiris

Submitted to Contest #307

I sprint down the dirt road, each stride a desperate attempt to stay ahead, feeling the sun's golden rays warming my back. The road is hot and dusty beneath my bare feet, each step kicking up tiny clouds of dust that swirl in the air behind me. My heart pounds fiercely, a wild tempo echoing the fierce beat of drums, yet I push forward, unwilling to pause. Behind me, the roar of chariots and the rhythmic pounding of footsteps reverberate, their intent and purpose a mystery that fuels my fear. Panic seizes my chest as if roots have wrapped tig...

5 likes 3 comments 3
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Text Talk about Life, Loss, Love, and Leaving this World

Submitted to Contest #306

Text Talk about Life, Loss, Love, and Leaving this World Moms:I'm sad to lose Sue but happy she had a mild passing. She put her head on her son Paul's shoulder, smiled a tear, and then went to be with her loved ones – her husband, two sisters, parents, and others… Just as I will joyfully unite with mine, albeit not wanting to leave so soon…I will watch from afar and patiently wait with family, friends, and others. Think of me just in the other room and live your lives fully, cheerfully, with Love.Always & 4everXxx Nini Moms Kit:I know ...

2 likes 0 comments 0
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2025 Geriatric Marvel Award Acceptance Speech

Submitted to Contest #306

“It is with great honor that I accept this Geriatric Marvel Award. I know so many of us have struggled through what seems like a lifetime of hardships and prayers just to get to this point. Something that comes so easily to others became such a daunting task for us. Analyzing yourself day in and day out wondering why you can’t simply be ‘normal.’ Hating your body for not doing what it was naturally created to do. I want you to know that I see you. The world sees you and you’re not alone. Motherhood is within your grasps! I remember playing ...

8 likes 2 comments 2
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Keep My Word

Submitted to Contest #306

Keep My Word ACT I: Genesis 11:1-9 ESV The Tower of Babel(Scene opens with crowds of people dressed in rough hewn garbs milling about excitedly babbling to one another.)Narrator: These are God's people after the time of Noah. They have not been following God's demand of going forth and multiply to cover the earth. They have decided to take matters into their own hands.Self-declared Leader: Come, let us make and settle here on this wide plain here in the land of Shinar. We have migrated far from the east.Worker 1: Yes, let us make bricks and ...

15 likes 6 comments 6
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Echoes of a Journey

Submitted to Contest #306

Echoes of a Journey Feb 15 Lying on my blanket, I feel nothing. My body is numb. I can’t scream, cry, or feel. I still hear the voice of the uniformed grim reaper at my door. “There has been and accident. We’re sorry to inform you that your husband has succumbed to his injury. Please come to the… The words faded into oblivion as my body melted into the cold, dead floor. Feb 21 I’m in my secret place. No one knows where I am. I’m sitting on top of my favorite dune, between the patches of dune grasses. This is my s...

4 likes 8 comments 8
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I Didn’t Survive to Be Silent

Submitted to Contest #307

I didn't claw my way out of morphine-soaked comas and sterile white rooms where machines beeped louder than voices just to smile politely and shrink myself into something people could swallow without choking. I didn't drag this stitched-up body through nightmares and nosy prayers just to smooth my edges. I didn't survive to be palatable. I survived to tell you what it feels like when your birthplace gets erased from the map, when borders are redrawn with blood and bureaucracy, and your name, once whispered over lullabies and birthday cakes, ...

31 likes 35 comments 35
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RBE | Illustrated Short Stories | 2024-06

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