When was the last time you told your story?
This week my all girl team joined the community mothers club that meets every Tuesday. They asked us to prepare some teaching and share a few testimonies. We started with the bible story of the adulteress dragged through the street before Jesus rescued her and asked that the man without sin to throw the first stone. As Vicki, our host, translated I watched the ladies’ faces. Our focus was that someone’s worth, like the woman in the story, is not based on the actions he or she has taken, especially since in the Dominican Republic woman are extremely objectified and prostitution is legal and common. Two girls in my squad, then shared their stories. I watched the women’s faces more intently this time. These were mothers, hearing from young girls, probably their daughters’ ages, share their hardest, darkest, and most broken times in their lives. Real emotion was present on these women’s faces, they leaned forward, they nodded while listening. They cared.
Now, I have heard testimonies before and it usually goes something like this: “This was me before the Lord. This is me after the Lord.” But when my team mates shared, my mindset switched for the first time. I saw the power in vulnerability. I saw how our stories are God breathed, Jesus with skin on. Stories give the bible life and make it real, right in front of us.
To share the darkest hidden ugly part of ourselves is controversial and against our natural instinct. We believe exposing the nitty gritty of our past will push people away, rather than pull others closer. That is one of the greatest lies the devil has us believing. And he made it so, because, sharing our stories is one of our most powerful and simple ways to witness to the world. But here is the truth: Shame loses its power when its expressed, not exposed. When we stand up and claim where we were and where we are, vulnerability leads to strength. Are we more embarrassed of our past or more grateful for God’s grace and mercy? The victory over sin is worth recognition. Our God deserves recognition for the victory over our sin, struggle, and darkness.
I challenge you to write your story down. Even if you don’t share is now, or soon, or ever, writing it down is glorifying to the Lord because you are giving Him the credit He is due in your life. Maybe you have never told anyone how the Lord has saved areas of your life. Maybe you don’t even know what your story is. Before this month, I never sat down and asked the Lord to reveal what my story really looked like, but when I did the Lord showed me just how good He is.
Thank you to everyone who is reading my blogs and praying for my team and me. I ask you to pray for safety this coming week as we travel to debrief and then to Haiti. Pray for boldness and recklessness for the Lord. And pray for the hearts of the people we are serving.
Yall are such blessings!
: )
