By Lynna Clark

So, what’s your story? Where have you been? When was the first time you realized that you couldn’t be good enough to earn Heaven? Who helped you understand that you needed a Savior, Someone to cover the unsightly details of your life when you stand before a holy God?

Let me give you a little peek into my story. I was brought up in church, but didn’t get the whole “You need a Savior” business. I figured I was decent enough. Once when we were headed home from church, we passed the Baptist parking lot. They were gettin’ outa Dodge, and we nearly got run over. My dad said, with his dry humor, “You have ta watch out for them Baptist. They think they know where they’re going when they die!” I never dreamed it was true. Who could know such a thing?

One night, my boyfriend asked me to a youth meeting at a friend’s home. Lame, I thought. Oh well, there’s nothing better to do on a Thursday night. So sitting on a carpet square, singing “Give me unction in my gumption, let me function, function, function,” and … all together now, “Give me wax on my board, keep me surfin’ for the Lord…”, I understood for the first time that I actually needed Jesus to stand for me before His holy Father. The youth pastor, with a gentleness I had never heard, explained 1st John 5:13, and I knew for the first time that I could know… just because I asked Him to save me. So I did. While guitars played, and some dude thumped a cord hooked to a pole on a washtub, I raised my hand to say that, yes, I am trusting. I want to be Yours dear Lord. And with that, I became his daughter forever.

Thank the good Lord, my then boyfriend, later became my now husband, and we have skipped happily through life together ever since! … Well except for the skipping part. So anyway, are you willing to tell your story? Someone needs to hear it. The section in Nehemiah we covered yesterday gave a few stories in all those numbers. That’s the interesting part. You have a story and you are loved. The Lord is honored when we tell what He has brought us through. And, it helps us know He will get us through whatever comes next, because we are His. Consider telling or writing your story this week. You’ll be surprised how it will help you speak to others about the Lord. Today, ask the Lord how to use your unique background to praise Him.

Lord, strengthen me to be honest about my past. I bring my hurts, and victories, to You, and ask You to turn them into praise. Strengthen me to continue my story for Your glory.

More: 1 John 5:13; John 20:31; Titus 3:5,6

“Let the redeemed of the Lord say so!” –Psalm 107:1 KJV

“Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory He will give us later. For all creation is waiting eagerly for that future day when God will reveal who His children really are!” -Romans 8:18,19