The past couple of weeks we have read and talked about God working things for our good. We’ve spent time in a reality check that walking in faith isn’t always easy and admitting that storms come. As we work through this reality, we’ve also discussed how to stay strong, the perseverance it produces, and the ways in which we may see God’s purpose in allowing these storms.
One thing we’ve discussed is how sometimes the story of our journey is the purpose. It is meant to serve others as it may be what they need to hear as an example of God’s work or may provide them hope in their own journey. As I pondered the verse this week (Genesis 50:20), it seems it is another example of just that. That there are things intended for our harm that God is using for good.
Then that tug on my heart came. The one that told me it may be time to share my testimony. Now, I will say this, the words “sharing your testimony” strike some fear within me. First, because it always seems like it is supposed to be one grand story. For me, there are many different life situations and “God moments” I could share so there doesn’t seem to be just one grand story. Second, it strikes fear because it requires me to be vulnerable and as a significantly private person who struggles with trust, vulnerability is difficult for me.
Yet, I felt strongly that what may be warranted next was an example of some of the things we discuss on the blog at Living With Class. And that tug on my heart did not go away. So, today, I offer a testimony of mine that shows how timely God can really be, how much He cares about ALL aspects of our lives, and how He provides just the right tools we need.
I pray that as you read this testimony of mine, you can see how God works in our lives and that it helps you or can help someone you know to strengthen their faith and believe that we worship a living and active God. I also pray it provides you with the confidence you need to share your testimony with someone God has placed in your life that may need to hear what you have to say.
My Testimony-God Answers Prayers
Not too long ago, I moved states away from the only state I had ever lived in, a choice and journey I believe God led me to. This was some time after an extremely difficult chapter in my life that I hadn’t fully healed from. About a month or so after this move, I found myself continuing to struggle with letting go of my past. I realized I hadn’t healed as much as I had originally thought.
As I continued to try to work through that, I found I was simultaneously afraid of getting the things I want and my situation staying the same. The fear seemed equal on both sides, and I really had no idea how to begin to move forward from that.
One Sunday morning, I decided to change my prayer routine from the type of prayer I usually wrote to telling God all I was feeling. Instead of the expectation that “God already knows all of it anyway,” I told God what I wanted and the fear that existed with it. I asked Him for a way to heal, let go, and move forward.
That same Sunday, less than an hour after this prayer, my pastor did not give a sermon. Rather, a guest speaker was there talking about a program he wrote that our church would be offering. I knew almost instantly this was the answer to my prayer. And I spent a lot of that service arguing with God-wishing for an “easy button.” Like always, God won. And I signed up for that program.
I was tense the first night of that program, already exhausted from having to step outside my comfort zone regularly to make a new home in a brand new place. But on that first night, I made an immediate impactful connection with someone who supported me all the way through. Someone who could easily read me, which while difficult, was so integral in my success in this process.
I spent the next 4-6 months working through that program. It was hard work and sometimes it was difficult to understand how what we were asked to do would help. Yet it did. I had also made a fast friend here in my new home who was so supportive in the process. She didn’t need to know what I was healing from but she would frequently bring me cookies from Chic-Fil-A on Tuesdays after my group meeting and walk with me as we ate them. I am so grateful to her for her understanding and support. I’m not sure she understands how integral her support was to my success. I truly believe God placed in her my life at just the right time.
At the end of the program, I truly felt free of the things that were keeping me stuck and shed an identity defined by guilt and shame as well as the belief that there wasn’t a way to heal. My fear of moving forward and belief I didn’t deserve to- were gone. I’d learned what it meant to be happy. I even had people in my life-both in and out of the program-comment on the visible difference.
I could not be more grateful to God for this answer to my prayer. I simply had to genuinely open my heart to needing His help and believe that He could and would. And then, He did.
As you go about your week this week, I pray you reflect on the prayers you’ve prayed that God has answered and that you begin to step out in faith sharing it with others so they too can begin to see how an active faith and prayer life can transform them and know that God is working things for our good.