A few months ago we were challenged by our Pastor to share our lives testimony in three minutes or less. The prayer was to share our story and impact others through the journey we had each been on.
Though I had been doing it on a daily basis with individuals it took on a new life as I carefully crafted what God wanted me to share. You see, the devil had been after me since I was three years old and I spent most of my life pretending nothing was wrong. I had the world convinced but the world within me was crushed.
My life took so many twists and turns that there really was no real place to start. How do you bring someone in on a roller coaster ride that's already started? But that's just what God did. 12 years ago He stepped into my roller coaster and changed the course of my life. Not only did He free me from a past but prepared me for a future with a strength I had never known.
Two years after becoming a Christian my husband and I experienced the biggest blow yet. The difference this time was that the wind was knocked out of me but not the life! I knew the promises over my life and this was most definitely not the end! When I couldn't breath He breathed life into me! As I peel back all the layers.... I see the impact each layer has to those around me and the freedom in knowing they are not alone. And sometimes knowing that you are not alone is all that it takes.
So today I freely share my "Three minute Testimony" and the intro goes something like this:
"Hi, my name is Bonnie and I'm a grateful believer in Jesus Christ. I am a survivor abuse, 12 years sober of chemical dependency and recovering from food addiction."
Of all the amazing and wonderful things we plan to do, say and risk in our lives
this has been the most impactful in mine. Shedding light into what the enemy had wanted
to keep in the dark and claiming freedom from a past that has
nothing to do with my future.
What layer are you working on?
Genesis 50:20
You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.
Showing posts with label Testimony. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Testimony. Show all posts
The weight of the world!
I’m sure you have all heard the phrase of “carrying the weight of the world” and perhaps even felt like that a few times. I was recently having a conversation with someone and they used this phrase. It stuck out to me for several reasons.
1. The weight that we each carry differs in intensity but it’s never the “weight of the world” on our shoulders….just the weight of our world. Funny how we go through our own struggles and believe it to be the most difficult thing being carried out on the planet earth! Why do we dramatize it more than we need to?
2. Weight varies depending on your scale. Some stumbling blocks on my journey can be devastating to me but just a mere bump on the road to others and vise versa. Depending on how much work you have put into the “stabilizer” of your life will determine the outcome of the heaviness felt. So what scale are we measuring on?
3. You always have the choice to drop the weight. Most of the stuff I have carried around has been (if I’m truly honest and raw) by choice. Some of it I understand we carry because we are unaware of it but most of the pressure comes from the one we actually chose to continually carry even when we do become aware of it. Who said you had to carry it?
Now I don’t mean to minimize our responsibilities but I wonder if we pressure ourselves to carry what is not ours out of a sense of guilt. Perhaps we had a part that we played in creating the problem, maybe we didn’t act and therefore still feel responsible to the situations outcome, are we ashamed of what has transpired and our role in it, do we not trust God with it?
These are all just questions I asked myself. For years I carried the weight of the abandonment of my dad. I felt like I had to be all things to all people to account for his void. I pressured myself to be more present for my mother and brother and to sooth things for the family. It left me bitter, resentful and just plain tired. Until one day I threw it at the foot of Jesus… and yes, I threw it! I was so tired of carrying it that I just tossed it one day full of tears. That was the day that I realized that my heavenly father had never asked me to carry this load nor was it mine to carry. I chose to pick it up and try to fill a spot that I was never made to fit into.
Later in my journey I found I was carrying around a physical weight. A weight that masked (very badly may I say) my feelings of unworthiness of places and positions God himself had appointed me to.
Hebrews 12:1 says: “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us.”
Is holding the “weight of your world” more important than running your race? How far will you get if you’re slowed by distractions that were not meant for your eyes? How the enemy likes to deceive us and confuse us by believing we are demi-Gods to solve what is not in our power to solve!
This weight is nothing but a distraction!! The devil is so scared by what God has empowered you to do that he sends distractions on the journey to keep you from the finish line. The “weight” is mean to slow you down and tire you out before you accomplish what is yours to accomplish and what you were perfectly purposed for! Drop the weight…run…..take the speed you had lost in your life and leave he weight behind…. He’ll carry it for you!
After all, aren't we promised:
"For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." Matthew 11:30
1. The weight that we each carry differs in intensity but it’s never the “weight of the world” on our shoulders….just the weight of our world. Funny how we go through our own struggles and believe it to be the most difficult thing being carried out on the planet earth! Why do we dramatize it more than we need to?
2. Weight varies depending on your scale. Some stumbling blocks on my journey can be devastating to me but just a mere bump on the road to others and vise versa. Depending on how much work you have put into the “stabilizer” of your life will determine the outcome of the heaviness felt. So what scale are we measuring on?
3. You always have the choice to drop the weight. Most of the stuff I have carried around has been (if I’m truly honest and raw) by choice. Some of it I understand we carry because we are unaware of it but most of the pressure comes from the one we actually chose to continually carry even when we do become aware of it. Who said you had to carry it?
Now I don’t mean to minimize our responsibilities but I wonder if we pressure ourselves to carry what is not ours out of a sense of guilt. Perhaps we had a part that we played in creating the problem, maybe we didn’t act and therefore still feel responsible to the situations outcome, are we ashamed of what has transpired and our role in it, do we not trust God with it?
These are all just questions I asked myself. For years I carried the weight of the abandonment of my dad. I felt like I had to be all things to all people to account for his void. I pressured myself to be more present for my mother and brother and to sooth things for the family. It left me bitter, resentful and just plain tired. Until one day I threw it at the foot of Jesus… and yes, I threw it! I was so tired of carrying it that I just tossed it one day full of tears. That was the day that I realized that my heavenly father had never asked me to carry this load nor was it mine to carry. I chose to pick it up and try to fill a spot that I was never made to fit into.
Later in my journey I found I was carrying around a physical weight. A weight that masked (very badly may I say) my feelings of unworthiness of places and positions God himself had appointed me to.
Hebrews 12:1 says: “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us.”
Is holding the “weight of your world” more important than running your race? How far will you get if you’re slowed by distractions that were not meant for your eyes? How the enemy likes to deceive us and confuse us by believing we are demi-Gods to solve what is not in our power to solve!
This weight is nothing but a distraction!! The devil is so scared by what God has empowered you to do that he sends distractions on the journey to keep you from the finish line. The “weight” is mean to slow you down and tire you out before you accomplish what is yours to accomplish and what you were perfectly purposed for! Drop the weight…run…..take the speed you had lost in your life and leave he weight behind…. He’ll carry it for you!
After all, aren't we promised:
"For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." Matthew 11:30
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