thankful/thoughtful thursday: boring, but saved.

Don’t ask me to give my testimony. Please don’t ask me….it’s so dull. What could anybody possibly gain by hearing my boring, pure, dull 3 min.schpiel…it’s short and to the point. Nothing juicy to report here…..

I used to think this all the time until my final year of college. We had to give our testimonies in church sometimes growing up, sometimes in AWANA, sometimes in school since I always went to a Christian school, and of course, during college. I was a Spiritual Life Director with my best friend my last year there and even then, I felt completely inadequate for the job. I can’t relate to anyone except for Ms. Goody Goody Gumdrops with no track record, like myself. What was it that Kate Gosselin referred herself to after she ditched Jon? Was it “Clean Slate Kate”? Yeah, that was me, minus the Kate part.

Never did anything that would be under the “juicy” description such as drugs or alcohol. Wasn’t from a broken home. Never had anything creepy or questionable ever happen to me. Wasn’t promiscuous. Didn’t party. Didn’t do anything greatly abhorrent but maybe go months without reading my Bible and one time when I was 5 years old I got my mouth washed out with soap for saying, “Oh MY GOD!” in the bathtub…so I never swore again…well, I wouldn’t say EVER again…

Let’s see, I did a lot of fighting with my sissy, Amber over clothes…but who doesn’t do that with their little sister? She blatantly would sneak into my closet and steal whatever she liked when I was occupied elsewhere…yes, I would be angry! It’s justified! 😉 Worst thing I ever did….maybe?….was make-out with Mike at the Lynchburg Airport when he came to visit….it was fun and completely affordable. $1 gets you in….better than seeing a $1 movie at Movies 10 any day! . =) (this was a big deal because “unmarried” kissing while attending Liberty is a “no-no” and this would’ve be punishable by maybe 6-18 reprimands….I can’t remember exactly.)

back to the point….

So why would anyone want to hear my testimony?  well, one of my wise friends from college so kindly put it, “it’s because God saved you from all those things that you described! And, most of all, He saved you from an eternity away from Him!” I thought about this….of course! I might not have that kind of juicy testimony that may bring everyone to tears by the end, but I am saved! “Boring?” But saved!

I also know that everyday I am alive, my testimony gets a little bit bigger. My testimony isn’t just before, during, and after I asked Jesus to save my soul…but it’s in the way I go about my day, the way I speak to others, my countenance, my love. He has saved me from a lot of potential heartache and I am very thankful to have grown up in the atmosphere I did. I also am not immune to heartache though and have had my share. He is constantly speaking to me, showing me how He needs to stretch me and make me do what He wants me to do!!! (I hate that I can still be so hardheaded sometimes.) But I’m fully human [a sinner] and fully saved [a saint] and completely, fully loved by my Creator! And I will walk as a living testimony to His goodness, His faithfulness, His promises until my final breath, whenever that may be. Until then, I have 3 little testimonies walking around outside my heart that are only borrowed to show others His glory and I must not fail. They are my greatest calling yet. They are to share His love to the next generation and my greatest desire is for them to leave such a mark on this world, that the world misses their being here.

2 Timothy 1:8 “So never be ashamed to tell others about our Lord. And don’t be ashamed of me, either, even though I’m in prison for Him. With the strength God gives you, be ready to suffer with me for the sake of the Good News.”