Count Your Blessings

Dear Christian Sister,

Lately, it has become very clear to me just what a blessing it was to have had the upbringing I did. Throughout college and, even now, in my church community, I have many friends who grew up not knowing the Lord and not having the examples of family and relationship that I did. There are so many amazing testimonies of what God has done in the lives of my friends, wonderful stories of being drawn to the Lord. During college (and yes, I went to a Christian university), I remember feeling ashamed that I didn’t have a dramatic, tumultuous story leading up to a specific turning point, a single, clear moment of salvation. When asked to share my testimony once on a missions trip, I was hard-pressed to find the words, thinking that my story wasn’t interesting, or good enough.

I was fortunate enough to have been raised in a Christian home. My parents are two of the best examples I’ve had of what it means to be faithful and live a life for Christ. I can’t remember a time that I didn’t know the gospel and the Lord captured my heart early on. I can point to the day when, at the age of four, I prayed with my mom in the hallway of our old house and asked Jesus to come into my heart. I think that I was saved at that young age; I understood the gospel. Of course I could be wrong. There may have been a different, specific point in my life where I was saved by God’s grace, but only God actually knows when I understood the gospel and responded in faith. But this doesn’t make for a moving story; or so I once thought.

At the end of the day, our testimony is not about us and what we have done. It is about God and what He has done for sinful, undeserving humans. He saves us by His grace, in His perfect timing, and uses us as His instruments in His plan.

Now when I talk about my testimony, I understand the precious gift God has given me. By His grace, I didn’t have to go through pain or hardship or suffering to find Him. My parents were faithful to the biblical calling to raise children to know the Lord and modeled for me an obedient Christian life.

More importantly, my story is a testament to God’s character: His faithfulness and grace and mercy.

I have sinned against a holy God. But God is good and in His grace chose to save me from the punishment I deserve. God is just and sent His Son, Jesus, to live a perfectly holy life and to die, taking on the punishment I deserve. Just as He said He would, He rose on the third day, conquering death. He is faithful to His promises to me, He continues to sanctify me, and one day, He will send His Son once again to establish His kingdom and make all things new.

That is the Gospel and that is what a testimony is about.

So share your testimony. Tell others what the Lord has done for you and what He has done through His Son for all of us. Go, and make disciples.