Empowering You
Dearest sisters reading this post,
I feel like I need to take a step back from sharing parts of my story and challenge you. Inspire you. Encourage you. Empower you.
While I love having this outlet and opportunity to share the details of my life and how God has intersected just about every moment, I also want to take time and give you the tools to share your own story. We're going to call these posts 'Empowering You'. So, here we go.
This post is for those of you who are discouraged and feel unworthy. When it comes to revealing the tender moment when God rescued you, you fear the feeling of pain - all over again. It's something that you decided God handled and now, you just want to move on with life.
I understand. I truly do. More than you may realize and more than you think I do. I was there. My story isn't without pain, grief and despair. Oh how those feelings were experienced. And, when I thought about reliving those moments in order to share my story... well, it wasn't something I wanted to test out.
Because of my fear.
My fear of having to relive what happened was too much. And how I envisioned what would happen, while sharing with someone, wasn't pleasant. Not only that but, I felt shame and embarrassment. Which is such a contradicting thing to feel when I knew that Jesus himself had saved me and planted my feet on new ground! How could I feel shame about something that He claimed victory over? How could I feel embarrassed over something HE did?
I beat myself up - back and forth - with these feelings. Joy because Jesus was my everything. Fear because I wasn't ready to share. Love because... well... it's Jesus. Shame because my past was still lingering in my mind. It was a swirling, whirling, confusion of thoughts and feelings. I knew it wasn't completely right but, I didn't understand. I couldn't comprehend.
Can you see how I might be able to relate with you?
So, maybe I am sharing a piece of my story with you after all. In this case, it is to showcase how God is calling us and empowering us to share our stories; to have those conversations and share the good news of HIS love, forgiveness and redemption.
Here is where things began to change for me and, I hope, it will for you too:
I am sure you are familiar with "the great commission" out of Matthew 28. If not, here it is with a pretty graphic:
Upon finding this scripture, I felt intimidated. Perhaps you felt (or feel) the same way too.
How could I, a woman riddled with shame, be able to live this out? I barely know any scripture by heart and if someone questioned the realness of God, I would be sweating and scrambling through my Bible to share. Is that how it should be? Is that truly placing my faith in the One who rescued my soul? Who took all that shame and guilt away? Who died in my place? And, here it comes, another sweeping of guilt because now, I'm doubting and denying.
Just call me Thomas.
It was at this very moment, another piece of scripture came into place. It's one I've shared multiple times here and is our key verse at This Is Your Story.
I feel like I need to take a step back from sharing parts of my story and challenge you. Inspire you. Encourage you. Empower you.
While I love having this outlet and opportunity to share the details of my life and how God has intersected just about every moment, I also want to take time and give you the tools to share your own story. We're going to call these posts 'Empowering You'. So, here we go.
This post is for those of you who are discouraged and feel unworthy. When it comes to revealing the tender moment when God rescued you, you fear the feeling of pain - all over again. It's something that you decided God handled and now, you just want to move on with life.
I understand. I truly do. More than you may realize and more than you think I do. I was there. My story isn't without pain, grief and despair. Oh how those feelings were experienced. And, when I thought about reliving those moments in order to share my story... well, it wasn't something I wanted to test out.
Because of my fear.
My fear of having to relive what happened was too much. And how I envisioned what would happen, while sharing with someone, wasn't pleasant. Not only that but, I felt shame and embarrassment. Which is such a contradicting thing to feel when I knew that Jesus himself had saved me and planted my feet on new ground! How could I feel shame about something that He claimed victory over? How could I feel embarrassed over something HE did?
I beat myself up - back and forth - with these feelings. Joy because Jesus was my everything. Fear because I wasn't ready to share. Love because... well... it's Jesus. Shame because my past was still lingering in my mind. It was a swirling, whirling, confusion of thoughts and feelings. I knew it wasn't completely right but, I didn't understand. I couldn't comprehend.
Can you see how I might be able to relate with you?
So, maybe I am sharing a piece of my story with you after all. In this case, it is to showcase how God is calling us and empowering us to share our stories; to have those conversations and share the good news of HIS love, forgiveness and redemption.
Here is where things began to change for me and, I hope, it will for you too:
I am sure you are familiar with "the great commission" out of Matthew 28. If not, here it is with a pretty graphic:
Upon finding this scripture, I felt intimidated. Perhaps you felt (or feel) the same way too.
How could I, a woman riddled with shame, be able to live this out? I barely know any scripture by heart and if someone questioned the realness of God, I would be sweating and scrambling through my Bible to share. Is that how it should be? Is that truly placing my faith in the One who rescued my soul? Who took all that shame and guilt away? Who died in my place? And, here it comes, another sweeping of guilt because now, I'm doubting and denying.
Just call me Thomas.
It was at this very moment, another piece of scripture came into place. It's one I've shared multiple times here and is our key verse at This Is Your Story.
The first time I stepped out in faith, to share my story, I did not feel how I expected to feel. In fact, it wasn't so much a feeling as it was a soul intensified cleanse. As each word came out of my mouth, I felt lighter. It was no longer my words being shared but, the Holy Spirit speaking through me the truth of what Jesus had done and who He truly is. By the time I was finished sharing, the joy was radiating from deep within.
It surprised me.
It exhilarated me.
It caused me to worship and glorify the One who saved me. All over again.
When I put the two verses, above, together - I realize that reaching out to other humans involves me being human. Our stories have more impact than we realize. The personal situations and details can be exactly what another human needs to hear to take that step of faith and acknowledge that Jesus is real. Can you imagine what can happen if we all shared our stories?
Wow. I get chills.
This is powerful kingdom work and, I pray, that you will begin to comprehend how big our God is. You don't have to feel afraid. You don't have to worry about those old feelings of pain coming back. God already took that away and will use your story to bring glory to His name and JOY to your healing heart.
"But I'm still not ready yet" you say.
That's okay for now. Keep leaning into God and seeking His healing and guidance. But, when that time comes... the one where you feel your heart rate go up, the pulse intensifying and the sweat beading up around your forehead... know that it is time and there is a Heavenly Father, ready to give you the words and wisdom to share about the hope you have. And, I guarantee you... it's going to rock your socks off.
Please let us know how we can pray for you. We are an email away and will respond back to you. Anything you send is confidential with our team unless you give us explicit permission to share. We're just glad you are here and sharing life with us.
