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I heard once that it is so important to share our stories of faith. To share what God has done in our weaknesses, in the most challenging of circumstances and also in the good times. To share how He has brought us out of trials and how He has been with us through everything, both the good and the bad. This really challenged me. For so long I believed the lie; the lie that I was not worth the dirt on my shoes because I had made so many mistakes and that I was lucky to be squeaking by with my salvation. But something kept gently pushing me forward, to become braver, to realize I was valued, to realize I had a voice and that one day I just might be heard.
It has taken me Sixteen years to be able to begin sharing about what I have gone through and to share hope for healing with others. Even well meaning Christians would just say that what I went through was in the past and there was no need to go back to that, I must now live in the future that God has for me. But that never healed the wounds. Tucking everything neatly under the carpet and pretending I never had a past only left part of who I was hidden away along with everything else that had ever hurt or discouraged me. I became an empty shell. With God’s never ending love for me and ministering to me through the Word and through my quiet times with Him, I have finally begun to find my voice again. I have realized that even the ugly parts of who we are are so important to share because it gives an entire picture of His love story for us. Our pasts are what make us who we are today and it shows how greatly He loves to redeem back what was lost.
Our stories are important, they are so important to God because it touches people’s hearts. I have discovered while reading my Bible that life was very messy all throughout Biblical History. They REALLY didn’t leave anything out. God saw beauty and potential in an incredible group of misfits and His redemptive grace transformed these people into who He destined them to be. Once they chose God, He transformed their lives. They were no longer slaves to sin or to their old ways of life. He made them new. And He still does that today. God calls us to share with the world what He has done in each of our lives. To pass on our Testimonies to our children so each generation never forgets what God has done.
Psalm 78:5-7 NKJV speaks of this:
For He established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which He commanded our fathers, that they should make them known to their children; That the generation to come might know them, the children who would be born, that they may arise and declare them to their children, that they may set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God but keep His commandments.
For me, I believe that means our testimonies and stories are to be passed down through generations. Sharing our stories of what God has done, and is doing, in our lives is a legacy for us to bring others hope. These stories become like lamp posts on a dark road, guiding and keeping us on the right path. The Israelites were literally on a roller coaster as they wandered in the desert. They would remember how amazing and powerful God was and would share the stories and then they’d forget and begin whining and complaining and bickering, which would provoke Him to the point of limiting what He could do in their lives.
It speaks about that in Psalm 78:40 NKJV:
How often they provoked Him in the wilderness, and grieved Him in the desert! Yes again and again they tempted God, and limited the Holy One of Israel. They did not remember His power, the day He redeemed them from the enemy.
I have seen how we lose sight of what God has done in our lives. We begin to focus on all the difficulties, we stop turning to Him for our strength and we stop sharing about how He has moved in our lives. We begin to lose sight of His truth and walk in defeat. But when we share who God is and tell everyone around us what He has done and is doing in our lives, things change and begin to happen. There is incredible power in sharing what God has done.
Revelation 12:11 NKJV (speaks of the heavenly defeat of satan)
And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony…
Pretty incredible don’t you think? And this is why I feel it is important to pass along my story and my family’s story. I hope you can be encouraged.
As I have been hashing through all of my past it has brought up a lot of emotions and gratitude for what God has done in our lives. That alone has brought so much healing, not only in my own heart but in the heart of my family and extended family too. God is so Good!
**I will be adding chapters regularly to this page as it is a rather long story I have to share but worth the read. Please check in to see what’s new.
