There is nothing more powerful than a personal story to help someone understand who God is. It may be valuable to go to school and hear someone teach about the characteristics of God, and it is helpful to learn about prayer and its effects, but a personal story of transformation is most impactful. As a pastor, I have had the privilege of regularly studying the Bible and have been tremendously blessed by those times in the Word, but my faith has grown the most when I have met individual men and women brave enough to share their stories of transformation.
There are p
eople who were once struggling to feel valuable and now recognize their complete satisfaction in being a child of God. There are p
eople trapped in addiction who found freedom, and those hurt in devastating ways who found comfort all in a new (or renewed) relationship with Jesus.
Even as I write these examples I understand it's possible to skim through them without much thought, but to me, each example has a name and each story is attached to a person who I see on a weekly basis. When God's activity moves from a theoretical understanding to a concrete example in a life it is mesmerizing and incredibly inspiring. Our stories are incredibly powerful....when they are told.
The Apostle Paul had been dragged through the streets, and beaten almost to death before several Roman officers saved his life. But before they took Paul away, he asked to have a moment to share something with his attackers. Instead of speaking about God's forgiveness, and instead of proving from scripture his controversial position, Paul began to simply share his own story.
Everyone who has chosen to follow Jesus has a story to tell. In fact we will have many stories to share as we continue to grow in our faith, and sometimes our stories are worth sharing even when we haven't yet seen the ending. Consider your life before meeting Christ, and then think of the moment you met Christ and reflect on your life since meeting Him. That is a story worth sharing.