Faith Stories
Many Wednesday evenings when I have finished teaching KIDS (Kids Investigating & Discovering Scripture) Club I wander into the sanctuary to “catch” the end of prayer meeting. Since the grown ups always seem to finish up a little later than the children, it is a good opportunity for me to sit and clear my head and heart. This past Wednesday’s prayer meeting was fewer in numbers than usual but I was blessed in a big way. As prayer meeting was ending a woman who has just started attending our church a few weeks ago asked if she could share her testimony. Wow! What an amazing story. The telling of her story reminded me of my story which was totally different from hers but the same God met each of us where we were. She met Him three years ago and I met Him in 1974.
I mention this because I think we need to tell our faith stories. I think sometimes we are hesitant to share our faith stories but Psalm 107:2 states “ Let the redeemed of the Lord tell their stories-“ The telling of our stories is a way of encouraging each other and of acknowledging the great things God has done. It draws us closer to each other and closer to Him.
I think we also need to read other people’s faith stories. The Bible is a book of faith stories – Abraham, Joseph, Esther, David, the disciples, Paul and of course Jesus. Hebrews 11 lists a condensed version of many faith stories. I love verse 32 “And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about…” And then Hebrews 12:1- 3 states “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us… that you will not grow weary and lose heart.”
Besides faith stories in the Bible there are saints of old whose stories are worth knowing – Fanny Crosby, Bob Pierce, Mother Theresa, CS Lewis, Amy Carmichael to name just a few. Lists of what to read this summer are plentiful. Maybe we could take a slightly different approach to our summer reading and add to our reading list a faith story. Any suggestions??
“1 Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;
his love endures forever.
2 Let the redeemed of the Lord tell their story—
those he redeemed from the hand of the foe,
3 those he gathered from the lands,
from east and west, from north and south.” Psalm 107 NIV
Thank you for the reminder that we all have our unique stories of faith. Although raised in the church, I truly didn’t understand grace until later in my life.