Skip to main content

Testimony



When I was asked to give my testimony for a recent service at our church,  Community Church of Douglas, I didn't hesitate. Maybe I should have or maybe I should have worked on what I was going to say. Because what I said was confusing even to me - and the look on Pastor Beebe's face as I was jabbering showed confusion as well.

 So, here is what I was trying to say ...

I grew up in the Catholic Church where the word testimony was not used - the concept of being 'saved' or 'used' by God is not taught. In that faith tradition, you're baptized and are cleansed of original sin and then as a child taught to serve God through good works. A personal relationship with God was foreign to me until I began Bible studies in my 40s and then "POW" my life was forever changed because I have always felt a call to be in relationship with God.

 The call was not to be in service or profession, but to live my life like one who has this relationship. That is at peace knowing that there is nothing I cannot do as long as I have God with me. Philippians' 4:13 is the verse I live "I can do all this through him who gives me strength."

 I can live a life with a positive outlook while rolling instead of walking. I can smile while battling breast cancer because I know a power stronger than any is there with me. I can be a caregiver to the patient patient because I know there are is one with walking alongside me, guiding us and surrounding us with all that we need. I can be me because I am filled with the Holy Spirit who guides.

 That is what I was trying to say, that is my testimony.   

 @kathleenpiggins
@brandonbeebe
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

It's not a popularity contest, but ...

Parenting

I just read a post on Facebook regarding the dearth of parenting. The poster was describing a scene where two young girls were pelting rocks at some ducks in our little town and how he observed no parents around telling these girls that it was wrong to torture little innocent animals. Within hours, there were 15 responses - all alluding to a lack of parenting that is evident nearly everywhere today. Stick with me here - because that conversation reminded me of one I'd had recently that might not seem related to parenting at all. It was with my oldest son about his concern about the selfishness of our culture - most recently evident in the Wall Street meltdown. He believes that we are too focused on "Me" and not enough on "We" and if we had a little more focus on the total and just not our part, we would be in a much better place. Still there? Okay, here's the cement that will hold this together - those girls pelting little ducks with rocks weren't likely...
Post a Comment
Read more

Tough time to be a Pollyanna

Remember when 9/11 was just a date or a number you called in an emergency? Our lives changed dramatically post 9/11. For weeks after that September day, we seemed to walk around in a fog, like the haze that loomed over the now-fallen twin towers. I remember trying to minimize my obsession with the news, trying to keep the three little Piggins away from the enormity of the disaster. Remember when corona was simply a beer best served with a lime wedge? It now and forever will be instead associated with this virus that has upended our world in ways we could never have imagined. This tiny little, microscopic virus has brought the mighty to their knees. It has us quarantined and distancing socially (though I believe we've been doing this emotionally for years) and working from home. As anxiety peaks, our economy tanks. As toilet paper and hand sanitizer flies off the shelves, we are looking for new ways to stock our pantries. A good friend observed, "I never thought I'd...
Post a Comment
Read more

When a small town is huge

  In the movie "it's a Wonderful Life", the protagonist George Bailey has longed nearly his whole life to 'shake off the dust of this crummy little town off my feet," to see the world. But Bedford Falls, that crummy little town, felt differently about George. And with the help of a quirky guardian angel, George eventually sees that his life and his town were pretty wonderful. Good lord, but I love that movie and it's characters and it's moral and that small town. I watch it every year at least twice and still cry every time. And I wonder too about the man that pushes the devious Mr. Potter's wheelchair and stands by his side- you know the man, he looks a little like Lurch from "The Addams Family". I wonder, what was he thinking as he listened and watched his boss ruin the lives of everyone he could. What kind of an Non-disclosure agreement did he sign, to keep him silent as he stood by and watched Potter pocket the money Uncle Billy was depo...
Post a Comment
Read more