The Most Boring Testimony You’ve Ever Read

Everybody has a story. From my perspective, each person’s journey is a story of their faith. A story that shows God intersecting in their life, often in powerful ways.

Over the years I’ve heard and read marvelous stories. Stories that read like Jonah and the Big Fish. Stories that make the 10 Plagues seem normal. Stories that lead others to God because they are miraculous.

Not my story. My story is boring. My story begins with God and ends with God but there are no huge adventures along the way. I never hit bottom the way a drug addict might. I’ve never seen the inside of a prison. I’ve never failed out of school. Never fired and unable to pay my bills. I’m basically squeaky clean and sheltered.

But that doesn’t mean that my story is not worth sharing. Because my story is the story that we want most of our children to end up with. For the most part, we want our children to  love God, be safe, be healthy, learn a lot, do good things, have good friends, and go off into the world to live as “successful” adults. Adults that can manage their personal relationships and money and perhaps contribute something to the greater good. You may debate the various parts of what I’ve listed but let’s delve deeper into those at another time.

Yet many of the testimonies that get shared are those of extremes. Stories where someone overcomes an addiction or recovers from a huge failure or catastrophic problem by the grace of God. These make great stories. It helps those of us who aren’t so bad off, put our more “minor” problems in perspective. They give us hope.

Hope, however, can be found in many places. And although my story is kinda boring, I know that perhaps someone can find hope that in the ordinary can come something extraordinary.

So here is my story…

I’m not perfect. Let’s just clear that up right now. I struggle with gluttony, sloth, cell phone addiction, being disciplined about spiritual disciplines, and loving my neighbor (especially the unloveable ones – although I realize that’s a matter of opinion). I will gossip. I will be hypocritical. I will think unholy thoughts.

But I have never known a day where I wasn’t aware of God’s love.

Never.

Even when I’ve been so sad that I did the ugly cry. Even when I’ve been so mad I threw something across the room. Even when I did things in college that I’m not supposed to write about for fear my children will read this.

Even then.

I’ve questioned. I’ve wondered. I’ve wrestled. I’ve hidden. I’ve doubted. I’ve yelled. I’ve been human… but I’ve always known that God was there and that God loved me. Even amidst the doubt – somewhere deep in my soul remembered. And hoped.

Of course there is more to the story. But I feel like this part of the story needed to be told. Because each part of God’s story is miraculous and powerful no matter how boring they are. God’s stories through God’s creation of humans is beautiful.

What is your story? I bet the majority of you think it is boring. But trust me, its not. Its beautiful and powerful and if you are willing to share it, people will be blessed by it.

Until Everyone Hears,