Testimonies

Lesson 24: A testimony is life long.

So these past two weeks at youth group, we've been talking a lot about testimonies.  A lot of our high school kids got the chance to share theirs and it a lot of them were quite inspiring.  Every single one shared a piece of God's story and that's so powerful.  However, I will admit that I was somewhat disappointed with some.  Some of the high schoolers only shared the part where they were saved and they consider that their "testimony".  It reminded me of one of the most important lessons I learned this year at Hume Lake.  A testimony does not end at your salvation.  A testimony is an on going process and when we share, we need to be mindful of what God is doing in our lives here and now.  An example that I was taught is that a testimony is like a marriage.

Illustration time: "How's your relationship with your wife?"

"It's great! You know the wedding was absolutely perfect.  She was so stunning in her gown and she just captivated my heart.  Everyone cheered and we had so much fun that day.  Life changing day."

"That's great! But that was two years ago, how are you guys doing today?"

"Today? Oh well, I haven't really talked to her since, but it's fine."

Can you just hear how ridiculous this sounds?  The marriage/relationship means nothing unless that person continually loves his wife and commits to her.  Wouldn't the conversation have sounded much better if he had said something like, "Relationship is great! I'll admit we had a little rocky time in our marriage, but we're working through it.  She's so great and I just love learning new things about her everyday.  Like the other day we..." etc etc etc.

So why do we do the same thing with our testimony?  Can our testimony really be a testimony if we're not living it out?  I can have the best 'rescue' story in the world, but if I'm not living a Godly life here and now, what does it matter?  Now, this isn't to say that your relationship with God always has to be perfect for your testimony to matter.  But even through the difficult times, how are you putting in effort into the relationship?  Are you still staying in the Word? I know a lot of times I've said, "Relationship with God isn't that great, I feel like I can't trust Him with this. But I know He's working, I just haven't seen it or understood it yet."

God, we're part of your story, not the other way around.  You never said, "Invite me into your life."  Instead you said, "Surrender your life. Then come, follow me" (Paraphrased, Matt 19:21).  You invite us into this adventurous, and beautiful story of yours and thank you for that.  I love you, Abba.  Thank you.

With All My Love,

~Alyssa