Testimony Tip 1

The easier moments in life are very powerful moments to bring up.

I realized something really interesting a couple of weeks ago. I was at a staff break and someone in the room asked everyone if they could think of a way that God was a part of their lives lately. My mind automatically went down the road that was easiest for me. I was thinking about how God was a part of my life during the hard moments in life. I didn’t feel like bringing up an example like that though. I felt like it was a time where I should mention something less complex. That’s when I suddenly realized how much harder it is for me to see God when life is easy than when life is hard.

When life is hard, the story kind of speaks for itself per se. That’s at least how I see it. Something good comes after something terrible. It basically switches from one side of the spectrum to the other. When trying to think of an easier moment in my life when I felt God with me, I didn’t really know what to think. I could say that I was thankful to have a comfy bed to sleep on. I could say that I was thankful that work has been very successful so far. I could of said a lot of different things, but I didn’t quite know how I’d say that God was a part of those. Do I have a comfy bed to sleep on because God knew that I needed it, or did I have a comfy bed to sleep on because that’s simply what it’s like for everyone who has lived in the dorm that I’m living in? Would I say that work was successful because God was making it that way, or would I say that work was successful because of how many people were working? I told myself that God was in both of those situations. The dorm provides comfy beds because God knew that people who lived here would benefit from them. Work has been successful because God had helped make sure that we had enough people working in order to make the job successful. That’s how I chose to view those examples. I didn’t feel like saying either of those things though. I was wanting to bring up something that I felt didn’t involve how I chose to see things. I wanted to bring up something that people could tell God was a part of even if I didn’t tell them how. In the end, I just did what most of the people in the break room did. I sat silently, waiting to hear other people’s stories. Interestingly enough, almost nobody had something to say. Everybody’s life was going wonderfully. I think they simply saw an easier life as “just life”. I obviously don’t know about your opinion, but I feel like it’s easier to see God when life is hard than when life is easy. I feel like mentioning when God is a part of your life when things are easy can make it a lot easier for people who have lived easier lives to see God.

Also, testimonies are powerful. They can especially be powerful if they can relate to someone else. I love sharing my testimony with people, but it often feels like I’m just telling a story since my testimony isn’t that relatable. If someone needs help seeing God in their life, it’ll likely be pretty helpful if they hear about how God was a part of a similar (or even the same) situation.

Finally, every testimony is different, even if it seems extremely relatable. I’ve asked people many times what their testimony is and a lot of people simply say, “I have one of those boring testimonies”. That doesn’t actually tell me what a person’s testimony is though. All I can assume from that is that they were born into a Christian family. Is their dad a pastor? Did they learn about God from church? Books? Movies? Friends? Family? Songs? What sort of church activities were they into doing? What age did they decide to follow God? What has made them still choose to follow God? What has kept them from drifting away from the faith? Do they simply consider themselves Christians because that’s how they grew up or did something happen that made them personally decide that Christianity was the one path out of all of the paths to go? Is it a wrong assumption that they came from a Christian family? If so, what is their story?

OR, in this case, what is YOUR story?

If you’re a Christian, God has undoubtedly given you your own story.

Keep in mind, the hard moments in life are very powerful to bring up too. I’ll talk more about that in a later post. Just bring up whatever it is you feel God calling you to bring up. Let the Holy Spirit guide what you bring up in your testimony. :)