How Can You Tell the Story of His Grace?
Let the redeemed of the Lord tell their story.
Psalm 107:2 (NIV)
I love people with stories. I enjoy hearing the journey of how a person gets from point A to point B. I love overcomers and underdogs, and I'm a perpetual sucker for stories that start in the valley and end on a mountaintop.
When I began growing in my faith, I wanted to drink in stories like these. I wanted to hear about people whose lives were flipped inside out and upside down when they finally got a hold of God's grace. I wanted to know of others who had been bound by sin and shame until He transformed them by His love and forgiveness. I was desperate to be reminded that God's grace was real and that I was not alone. Each testimony I heard felt like a precious gift filled with just a bit more of the hope of that grace. After a while, I began to understand the hefty price He paid for my sins, and my love for Him grew deeper and deeper. What a relief it was to know that the same God who welcomed a prostitute into His family and promised a life-long criminal eternal paradise would do the same for me.
What love. What mercy. What grace!
And what was I to do with it all? How could I respond to all He has done for me?
After a while, I began to feel God nudging me to share my story. When this first started, I'll be honest, I fought him on it hard. For months, I pleaded, cried, and begged the Holy Spirit to take this nagging urge away. I wrestled with God over this decision.
My heart sank with weighty questions: What will people think of me? How can I possibly let my children know about my past? Will I lose the respect of everyone around me? How many times would I be the subject of eye-rolls, head-turns, or snooty gossip? Again, more begging and crying, but also a lot of praying that if God wanted to use my story, He would help me to surrender it to Him and use it however He wanted.
Eventually, I had to look myself in the mirror and consider who I once was and who His grace was transforming me into. When I thought of the many people like me who struggle to believe God would accept them, those people who would wrestle with grace until they were bruised and battered before they fully surrendered that His grace had already won- the questions stopped. I realized that pretending I didn't have a past certainly wouldn't help anyone else overcome theirs. So, I began to write my story without looking back.
But what about the stories of people who haven't lived dramatic or scandalous lives? What about those who chose a straight path?
Skip Leininger is a wonderful Pastor friend of mine. He officiated my and my husband's wedding and baptized both our sons. Skip was raised in the church, and as far back as he can remember, he never committed any hateful or atrocious behavior. Skip often says the worst thing he recalls doing before he started following Christ at a very young age was stealing a cookie from the cookie jar. Skip never drank alcohol, did drugs, or got arrested. He is a fantastic husband to his wife, Joni, of almost 44 years. He is a loving father and grandfather, and he's known as an approachable and caring Pastor who is adored by many.
One day, Skip and I chatted and even chuckled a bit about the difference in our stories. Still, he quickly reminded me that the stolen cookie was enough to make him a sinner. It was enough to ensure his need for a Savior, and our stories, though worlds apart, still desperately required God's grace.
As I have grown in my faith, I've found that stories like Skip's are just as significant as those valley-to-mountain testimonies I always loved to hear. There is something incredibly profound about watching someone's lifelong dedication and faithfulness to the Lord play out before you. Skip isn't perfect; he would be the first to tell you that. But His example matters. His loyalty and devotion to Jesus and to his family are powerful. Skip's story, though not overly dramatic in plot, is still incredibly impactful.
Today, my friend Skip is battling cancer. He goes to the hospital for treatment and dialysis often. He has lost weight and physical strength, but he has found that each visit lends him a new opportunity to pray with others around him who are struggling with the same thing. During this time, he has prayed with countless people during his visits. What a legacy. What wisdom. What a story! And I know if Skip were writing this, he would tell you that he gathered every ounce of the strength it has taken from the Lord to do it.
Perhaps, like me, your life has had ups and downs, leaving you in complete awe of how God has transformed you. Or maybe, like Skip, you have followed Jesus at a steady-solid pace throughout your entire life, and you find yourself in utter amazement that God has kept you tethered to Him in all situations for the long haul. If every story were like Skip's, people like me might find it hard to understand that criminals and prostitutes can receive God's grace. Yet if every story were like mine, we wouldn't have those faithful examples of people like Job and Joseph who held tight to the Lord with all they had throughout their lives, and even in the most difficult struggles.
Sweet friend, what is your story, and how will you respond to all He has done for you?
Paul said the body of Christ grows with the proper working of each individual part, "From Him, the whole body, fitted and knit together by every supporting ligament, promotes the growth of the body for building itself up in love by the proper working of each individual part" Ephesians 4:16 (CSB).
Christian, you have a part to play in the body of Christ.
In the pages of scripture, we read about people from all walks of life- different backgrounds, social classes, occupations, races, and genders. We read about those who obeyed God as well as any human could and those who were bound in darkness and sin. None were beyond God's grace or deserved it more than the other, and we hear the good, bad, and ugly of each of their lives. The body of Christ today is no different. Whether we write about it, preach about it, or only live it out for those around us to see, our story matters, and each piece has a purpose.
Paul requested of the church of Ephesus, "Pray also for me, that the message may be given to me when I open my mouth to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel. For I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I might be bold enough to speak about it as I should Ephesians 6:19-20 (CSB).
Friend, my prayer today is that no matter what part you play in the body of Christ, you will be bold enough to share the message of the gospel wisely and faithfully. Whether you surrender the story of a life roughly lived, or you surrender your entire life in faithfulness to Him, may we declare ourselves His ambassadors in chains so that He may use our lives as instruments to tell the story that is, and always will be entirely His.