Are you ashamed of your story ?

What is your natural reaction when people ask how you came to know Jesus? Have you ever thought " my story is not interesting enough" or felt like others have a better story?. When I meet Christians, I am always excited to ask: “ Tell me your story.” Yes, I want to hear where they were born and raised, but above all, I want to hear how Jesus rescued them. Most of us call it a testimony. I heartily believe that testimonies are the greatest gift and weapon from God. It reflects the story of how God stepped in to give the free gift of eternal life. It’s a gift of rescue from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light. (Col 1:13) It’s where you come in with the empty hands of faith and accept faith, freedom, and sonship, and are adopted into God's forever family.

When told to others, testimonies become a reliable weapon, with the power to transform others, as they forsake their idols in the name of “if God did it to you he can do it to me too”. It is also a weapon as it helps the believer have a footing of their new status when the devil comes to bring condemnation over past forgiven sins. All believers have testimonies despite how much theology they know. When the man healed of blindness had difficulty arguing theology with the Pharisees, he could still say with confidence: “all I know is that I was blind, but now I see’” (John 9:25)

Some people hang their heads in shame, believing their story is not interesting enough. If it doesn’t involve alcohol, drugs, or suicide. Their story is not significant. I am always left perplexed, as I have come to realize how we categorize our stories. There are fascinating stories that involve someone rising gloriously from violence, sex, and greed; but then there are lackluster stories where the only thing they did was steal candy at church, stayed pure until marriage, and told a white lie.

I believe that if we believe in scriptures like Acts 17:26, we will understand that no one has a boring story if God is behind it. “From one man he made every nation of the human race to inhabit the entire earth, determining their set times and the fixed limits of the places where they would live, so that they would search for God and perhaps grope around for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. For in him we live and move about and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we too are his offspring.’[1]
All stories are interesting and are a beautiful representation of redemption. All testimonies speak of God's power. I was talking on this subject with my mother-in-law, who used to feel like her story wasn't great until she realized that @@ God's saving power is just as powerful as his keeping power.@@

Let me illustrate; I have seen people who were celebrated and awarded medals after losing limbs and gaining scars in battle. I have also seen people that go on a mission, execute it, capture the enemy, and leave unharmed, yet still get the same medal of valor. There are stories of dramatic rescue, where God clearly is at work. There are testimonies of a so-called peaceful life; however, we cannot see God at work. He is the one who protected them.Both stories tell of God’s power to rescue and to keep.

Your story is your gift, so I encourage you to share it. It speaks about God’s redemptive power, and it's your weapon use and win hearts for Him. When Paul is declaring that he is not ashamed of the gospel in Romans 1:16, it is not only towards the lost that he shares what God has done, but also to the saved. I love the fact that later on, he says that the declares that God's gospel( Rom 1:1), Christ's gospel ( Rom 1:3,16) had now become Paul's gospel (2:16). @@Testimonies are glorious stories of how God's gospel, Christ's gospel becomes our gospel through redemption.@@ Heed the advice of the scriptures: "Let the redeemed of the Lord proclaim that he has redeemed them from the power of the foe and has gathered them from the lands—from the east and the west, from the north and the south." (Psalm 107:1) @@We might not have the same story, but we belong to the fellowship of the redeemed. When we gather we need to "say so."@@

Here is a simple format of how you can outline your story: