I remember sitting in church as a teenage girl and listening to the powerful testimony of a man who had lost everything to addiction. He had deserted his family and was living on the streets when God completely worked in his life to bring him to a place of repentance and restoration.

I was amazed at the man’s powerful testimony—and so was everyone else, which was exactly why he traveled to various places sharing what had happened in his life.

Afterwards, I remember thinking, “Wow, I want a testimony like that!” At the time, I didn’t feel like I had much to say in my testimony: I had accepted Christ as at an early age and viewed God’s bringing me to place of knowing and loving Him at a young age as though it made for an absolutely boring testimony.

Sometimes as Christians we tend to think that we do not have a good enough testimony if it doesn’t involve a story of God’s bringing us away from an extremely low place, like addiction or homelessness.

But the truth is that if we know Christ, He has brought us away from a low place. And to reference Psalm 73:28, if we have ever made the nearness of God our good or have made Him our refuge through a difficult time, then we have a testimony to tell:

But as for me, the nearness of God is my good; I have made the Lord God my refuge,
That I may tell of all Your works.   • Psalm 73:28 •

Our testimony is our unique story with God. It will be different from every other person we meet because we each face different life situations, turn to God at different times, and learn from God in different ways. Because of these facts, we each have the ability and opportunity to reach or help different people through our individual stories.

One fact is true about each of our testimonies, and that is that each one tells of the works of God.

Writing down and sharing our testimonies can be used as a tool by God to…

• Help us personally realize God’s faithfulness to us.

• Build positive relationships with others through sharing in an open and honest way our struggles and how God has been with us.

• Encourage another person facing a similar trial.

• Help someone understand the purpose of making God a refuge during a trial.

• Demonstrate to others the power and love of God.

• Allow us to share Christ and His glory with others.

So when we go through a situation or trial in life, we should continue to make the nearness of God our good. As we do this, we will recognize how God is building our unique life story with Him. And when we take the time to share with others the work God has done in our lives, it brings glory to Him.

And bringing glory to Him is not only the purpose of our testimony but also the purpose of our lives.