Welcome to another week of our Everyday Jesus link-up. Be sure to link-up below this post, comment on your neighbor’s blog and share with your friends… Because Jesus is everywhere, every day!
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On most occasions, I like surprises. Specifically the kind that involve one or more of the following: Inky pens, chocolate, journals, books, Jesus memorabilia or free childcare.
(For those of you who love giving gifts, please take note. #KiddingNotKidding.)
However, some surprises are less than well received on my end. Those “surprises” like army schedule changes, someone jumping out from behind a corner to scare me, cars that don’t start, or checking account balances that somehow are way lower than anticipated.
Also in that category are unwanted testimonies.
A few weeks ago, I got a text from a friend that made my heart ache like never before. I grieved for her and immediately wanted to fix it. (Even though I knew it was way beyond my power.)
So my solution was to call me husband and ask him to pray.
There I was, at 6:58am in a Kansas corn field (because I didn’t get reception in the house, hooray for back-country-visiting) word vomiting all the things to my Beloved.
A few moments into the conversation, I started crying. The cries turned to sobs. The sobs were filled with fear.
I was afraid of “catching” her testimony.
All I could choke out was, “I never, ever want her testimony. Please God, don’t ever give that to us.”
In the moment, it made sense. But now, as things have started to heal and the initial testimony wound is healed, I have a <slightly> different perspective.
All of our testimonies, if genuine, are rarely welcomed in the beginning.
Because let’s be honest, a true testimony is often a test– one that can bring us to our knees, break our hearts and open a floodgate of questions we never even considered.
Why, God? What next? What do I do? How will we get through this?
I think back to the big picture testimony of my life. Never, ever would I have prayed for something like, “God, please put me in a job that I absolutely despise and make my future husband deploy and my two remaining grandparents die and mom lose her job and dad get sick all within the next six months.”
Never would I have asked, “Lord, please give me this miscarriage.”
You wouldn’t have caught me begging for anything that looks like, “Jesus, please send my husband away again for army duty.”
Friends, ALL of our testimonies are initially unwanted.
But the true test of our faith is what we do with those testimonies when we receive them.
Honestly, as hard as all of those events were, I am now grateful to have experienced them.
Each unwanted testimony brought me closer to Jesus.
Each unwanted testimony made me less and Christ greater.
Each unwanted testimony taught me faith-filled lessons that will positively impact me (and those I minister to) for the rest of my life.
Each unwanted testimony gave me the opportunity to see God at work in my life.
Dear reader, how has God used an unwanted testimony in your life? Be bold. Share your testimony in the comments.
So yeah, we all have unwanted testimonies. But with God’s help, those testimonies bring God’s kingdom to earth.
They help us see, need and seek Jesus in our everyday.
Those unwanted testimonies make us WANT Jesus. And that is enough for me.
From Test to Testimony ,
“They triumphed over him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony…” ~Revelation 12:11 NIV
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