The Path To Where I Stand

When I first started this blog, I had certain aspirations that at the very least my testimony would be heard.  I had hoped that perhaps that one, perfectly timed blog post would bring some sort of good news of hope, faith and love to the one reader who needed it.  If Jesus Christ could use it, then so shall it be done.

Honestly, I just wanted a place to organize my thoughts.

Over the last several months, I began to ponder, “What defines a testimony when speaking about the healing power of the Almighty God?”.

In the way I speak of testimony, Dictionary.com defines it as

tes·ti·mo·ny -noun open declaration or profession, as of faith

However, I like the second definition even more so:

tes·ti·mo·ny -noun evidence in support of a fact or statement; proof.

When I take both definitions into account, I am reminded just how intensely powerful a testimony really is.  Therefore, when I give accounts of my life to people I just had the pleasure of meeting, I want to be careful about which parts of my life I let people know if I want to convey a message of hope, faith or love; if I share everything in my life, both good and bad, how can that possibly show the love of Jesus Christ?

I ran into this dilemma one night chatting with some young adults last night after service.  These are the same young enthusiastic, creative, intelligent adults who are on the verge of experiencing all that adult life is going to give them: education, career, marriage, kids, responsibilities, travel, teaching, missions, ministry or just enjoying what life has in store for them.   I called it a dilemma because in the case where I was in fellowship with one young man, I shared a part of my story about my first marriage.

One thing is for sure, I never want the words that are coming out of my mouth to dissuade anyone to experience something as incredible, beautiful and holy as marriage itself.

It would be one thing if my marriage had a happy ending.  Then it would give God all the glory.  It would be whole other thing if my marriage had a not-so-good ending to it.

Therein lies the conundrum: do I not speak a word about my first marriage?  Do I keep this appearance that everything is okay and not reveal my past?

Or can God use everything, I mean everything, in my life in order to give Him all the glory and honor?

If I did share everything, then…

I would then use my testimony to let others know that my life is far from perfect and that is more than okay.

That we do life together and share in life’s victories and defeats, triumphs and tragedies.

Whatever we do experience, whatever we do face, through our friendships and investments in one another, we face them together so we can share each others’ burdens or lift each other in joy and happiness.

That we are not meant to do this life on our own.

James 5:16 (ESV) Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.

It is so easy to take this verse and go completely legalistic with “look here, it says confess! you must confess your sins!” while there is a young woman who has just been raped and is wondering if she is wrong and in sin because she doubts that God is even good.  Or better yet, to give a real world example, there is this man, who was struggling so badly with porn and lust, that he fooled everyone else into thinking it was cancer just so he could write a worship song to God believing with all of his heart and might that God could simply heal him of his addiction to porn.

People, we are not meant to do life on our own.

Yes, confess your sins, weaknesses, bondages, struggles, doubts and fears to one another, but then do what? … pray for one another, that you may be healed.