Everyone has a story to tell. Don’t you just love it when you sit with friends and share funny stories? I did this the other day with some new friends. We were asked to do a promotional video for a musician (no I was not playing an instrument or singing). The promotional was for a Healing Room opening soon where one can go and worship and soak in the healing Presence of God. As I sat around with these three ladies whom I had never met before, what brought us together were the funny stories we were telling. Stories are a way of building bridges into each other’s lives. These women were really funny and by the time we finished, it was good therapy for us all. We left with a commitment to get to know one another as friends.
We all do have our funny stories to tell, however we have our personal stories as well of life lived on this earth; the ups and downs, the good the bad, the joy and the sorrow. We all have a story to tell. In light of this, I want to propose that the best way to bring people into a relationship with Jesus, is to tell them our God story; what God has done in our messy lives to bring us through a crisis, a dark time or an unexpected time of sorrow.
Once I was asked to give my testimony at church. I froze. I had nothing to say. My mouth got dry and my hands shook. I was not prepared. But the person asking said something to me that I will never forget: “Just tell your story.” And from that time on I have not stopped telling my story of the goodness of God. Those of you who attend my classes in person or virtually can testify that each of my teachings are meant to help us look at our lives through the lenses of the bigger story, God’s story. He places us in a time in history and gives us purpose and destiny to make Him known because He is the answer to our stories. He is the One in our midst who rights every wrong and dries every tear and helps us refocus on what HE is doing by using our faith eyes. And here is the amazing part. Every time we tell our God story- how our story merges with the bigger story of Christ entering our world, we overcome whatever circumstances in which we find ourselves. Jesus put it this way:
And they overcame him by the blood of the lamb and by the word of their testimony.. (Rev. 12:11).
Every time we share what God is doing in our lives, we testify of the Living power of Christ and we become an overcomer. The definition of overcomer is a person who succeeds in dealing with or gaining control of a problem or difficulty. So often we feel stuck in a quagmire of problems, but God has handed us the key to overcoming those problems.
Behold I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door I will come in and eat with that person and they with me.
When we open the door to Jesus in our lives, He, who overcame death and destruction gives us the power to overcome whatever we face. Joni Eareckson Tada’s story of being an overcomer is just one example of God intersecting someone’s life. In the summer of 1967, Joni dove into a lake not knowing how shallow it was. She broke her neck and was paralyzed from the neck down. She struggled with life, she struggled with God, but ultimately turning to the Lord, she became an advocate for disabled persons. What could have been a tragic life, became a fulfilled life of an overcomer.
What about you? What are you facing that threatens to cause you to give up? Consider that what you are going through may be the very story that God is allowing so that you can fulfill your destiny and ultimately your story could be the catalyst to helping countless others. God always wins.
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