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| Photo courtesy of Ambro/Freedigitalphotos.net |
“It’s time!”
I woke with those two words
on my lips. I knew exactly what they meant because I knew who said them.
My life changed in that
moment.
I knew then I was being
pursued…
That’s typically how I start
my story when I share it. No, not the stories I’ve written, but my personal story
or to use Christianese, my testimony.
BTW, “It’s time” are also the
first two words in my debut novel, Angelguard.
We make ourselves vulnerable
when we share our written stories with others whether it’s our critique
partners, in competitions or to the masses if we’re fortunate to be published
or self-published. Increasingly with the interconnectedness the virtual world
avails us, we are likely to reveal more of ourselves than authors of even ten
or twenty years ago did.
Such vulnerability can be
intimidating particularly for many of us introverts. But it also allows us the
opportunity to share our testimony, how important our faith is, both to our
writing and in who we are.
The evolution of Angelguard
paralleled to some degree with a personal renewal in my faith. When I’m asked
to share the inspiration behind the novel I try to share some of my faith. It
makes sense to having been handed the opening line by the Lord.
I was reminded of the power
of sharing our testimony in a recent message at church. The pastor1
started with this verse from Revelation:
“Then I heard a loud voice in
heaven say:
‘Now have come the salvation
and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Messiah. For
the accuser of our brothers and sisters, who accuses them before our God day
and night, has been hurled down.
They triumphed over him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of
their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.’ "(Rev
12:10-11 NIV)
I’d never really seen that
verse before. What great encouragement it is to know that our personal stories
of God’s hand in our lives have real power in defeating the enemy.
“It’s okay to feel afraid when being brave.”
We should be ready to share
our story of how we became a Christian. The pastor suggested a four-step
approach to doing just that (the Four P’s):
1. Prepare it,
2. Pray about it. Prayer raises our antenna so we’ll be looking for
opportunities to share,
3. Practice it. In front of the mirror, your loved ones, your prayer
partner or small group, even cows in a field (this was the pastor’s first
audience)
4. Pursue opportunities when they are put before you.
The pastor’s message was a
wonderful reminder to me to dust off my testimony and seek opportunities to
share it with grace.
When did you last share your
story?
Note: 1. Andrew Kubala, “No-one is
you-er than you.” C3 Church Sydney Australia 10 November 2013
