A Rant.

Sometimes it bothers me when people say “So and so has such a GOOD testimony”. I know that they are referring to the dramatic way that God invaded someone’s life and changed it. And yes, people who were deeply entrenched in obvious, physical sin make for a great dramatic testimony. Don’t get me wrong; I am NOT knocking people who have experiences like this. I love hearing them; they inspire me and fill me with a deep awe at what our Father can do!

But at the same time, it annoys and saddens me because I feel like it cheapens other stories. Stories like mine. My story of salvation is very simple. It is probably much like many others. I was in church since I was born. I did all the good girl things. However, it was not a relationship. Then one day God opened my eyes and heart to Him! I came to know Christ as a child of 12.

Sin is sin. It doesn’t matter what type of sin it is; it all condemns us to hell and separates us from God.

Did I sleep around? No. Did I curse? No. Did I drink? No.

But I did lie, fight with my parents and brother and steal. I had pride issues. I struggle with not feeling good enough.

This sin, even though it is not evident outwardly as other sins are is still enough to condemn me to hell. But Christ saved me.

I remember the first time I ever told my testimony in its entirety. It was at Beach Project after Beach Olympics. My team leader shared his with me and then asked me to share mine. I was so ashamed. His story was one of the ones I referred to earlier. Dramatic and incredible. A story that makes you just want to praise God! I felt like my story was so boring and blah next to his. After shyly sharing mine with him, I was astonished to hear him say “That is so cool!” I was like “Really? Were you listening?” Then he said something that has stuck with me for the past 4 years. He said “Yes! Don’t you see? You were doing fine. Nothing was really wrong with your life. But you recognized your need for a Savior. You could have gone the rest of your life believing that you were ok because you were a good person, but you didn’t. God showed you that you needed him”

 I was blown away! My story is AWESOME!!! God’s grace is the same no matter the sin. I could have gone for years and years without realizing my need to God’s grace, but he revealed it to me while I was young. I have had so many incredible opportunities to see what God can do in and thorough me.

I firmly believe that it takes all kinds of people to make up any body, especially God’s church. I can minister to a different kind of people because of my story. I am not a dramatic person. I am not bold, charismatic, or prone to large gestures. But I love Jesus as much as the person who is all of those things.

So basically this rant is boiling down to this one simple statement: Every person’s story of salvation is GREAT and INCREDIBLE because God’s grace is GREAT and INCREDIBLE.