Traditions

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

My Testimony

I don’t remember every word that was said, or the clothes I was wearing, or the exact time it happened, but I will never forget the overwhelming feeling of peace. With tears in her eyes, my wonderful mom told me at six-years old how Jesus had taken my punishment and I gained His righteousness, and how He loved me more than I could ever understand. I wanted a relationship with this Jesus, and I confessed with my mouth that I believed Jesus died for me and was raised from the dead (Rom.10:9), took the punishment and wrath I deserved, and that I would be made alive in Him. I repented of my sin, and received the free gift of salvation and grace. That day, I became a daughter of the King.

Little did I know how much that day would change my life.

It’s been eleven years since that day. There’s this misconception that once you become a Christian, your life becomes easy. This is not true. Granted, my life has been significantly easier than most people’s, but there still have been hard times. Even though I haven’t experienced a lot of suffering, I have witnessed it, and it’s difficult to watch. The Christian life is not a care-free stroll in the park. It’s not an easy life, but it’s definitely a rewarding one. But the more I dig into the infallible, soul-comforting, heart-piercing Word of God (Heb. 4:12) the more I see God’s love, sovereignty, and faithfulness. And that’s what makes life so rewarding- watching God work not only in other people’s lives, but in your own. “These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).

On the bad days and on the good days, I can have peace. Why? Because God holds the universe in His hands (Col.1:17), He is the victor, and He has overcome the world.

I am not the same as I was when I took Christ’s free gift of salvation at six years old. And good thing, too ‘cause…that’d be weird. Many things are different: my fears, my priorities, my ambitions…But when I prayed to receive Christ that day on that bench outside of my school, I had no idea how much God would use that shy little girl to make a difference. This realization of how much God had worked in me hit me on my second mission trip to El Salvador this past summer. We were helping a new church in the middle of a community called Versailles. On that Tuesday and Wednesday, we visited some schools around the area and then during the afternoon we came back to Versailles, performed a drama and shared the Gospel to the neighborhood kids in the park, and then went back to the church that night. On Tuesday one of the girls from my team shared her testimony and then my youth pastor preached. On Wednesday, I shared my testimony.

That night, the Lord showed up. As I was telling these people what God had been teaching me the last few years, the Lord whispered in my heart, “Look where you are right now.”

I looked upon those sweet and kind faces, faces of people who either came to worship their God or came to learn about Him for the first time. And it hit me. God used that same little girl, who used to walk in the room backwards because she was so shy, now to share her faith among a group of people at a brand new church, in El Salvador. It blew my mind! As I came to this realization, tears filled my eyes, and I told the little congregation that on that day on the bench outside of my school when I prayed to become a child of God, I had no idea that eleven years later I would be sharing my testimony with this group. But God knew. If you had told me at six years old that I was going to speak to this group in El Salvador when I was just seventeen, I either would’ve cried or started laughing. I would’ve thought you were crazy. But God didn’t think it was so crazy. Why? Because He was going to give me the power to do it. And that blew my mind: God’s power. When you pick up your cross and follow Jesus, He will use you in ways you never could’ve imagined (Eph.3:20).

God uses the ordinary to do the extraordinary.

The more God uses me in extraordinary ways as He did that night, the more I want to help expand His kingdom. Those people who are enemies of God- I want them to become His children. I want to be a light in the darkness. I want to make a difference. “But apart from Me, you can do nothing” (John 15:5). Another huge part of my testimony is learning humility. It’s something I still struggle with it today. Humility is a hard thing for man to grasp because of our sinful nature. We are gravitated toward this idea of going it alone, being an individual, doing amazing things by ourselves and getting the glory for it. This is not who we were meant to be. We were created in the image of God, to be humble servants for Him, trusting in His power alone. We plant, and we water, but God causes the growth (1 Cor. 3:6-7).

We do our part, step back, and watch. And we become amazed.
Another part of humility is recognizing that your way is not the best way. This is something of which I have had to be reminded just this week. His ways are higher than my ways (Isaiah 55:8-9). And even though this fact sometimes brings momentary frustration, in the end it brings eternal gratitude. Gratitude that the Lord didn’t go with your desires, but that He chose the best way- His way.
My life is radically changed and constantly marked with streaks of thankfulness because of the beautiful, unconditionally loving deed my Savior did on the cross. Just as He defeated death itself when He rose again on the third day, so sin is defeated because we have ultimate victory in Jesus Christ (1 Cor. 15:57).
I was once dead, but now I am alive. And I couldn’t be happier.

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