The word says in Revelations 12:11 … that we overcome the enemy by the blood of the Lamb and the word of our witness (or testimony).
One of the enemy’s discouragement tools or come-backs to steal your joy and in the long run your testimony is that he tries to get you to start rethinking your testimony by projecting doubt-ridden and disconcerting thoughts and questions even through people. I have experienced this sometimes!
They are like kill-joy darts, poking at you so that you begin to doubt the weight or wonder of that testimony even getting you, who lived it to question them yourself; the authenticity, the weight of it, the process of getting there to that testimony, even your right to that deliverance or breakthrough, sometimes described as ‘impostor syndrome’!
‘Well, everybody goes through stuff, and many do survive it, and have their own stories and testimonies too?” So, what’s the big deal about yours?
“What makes your own storm-story and testimony so special, that I need to read or hear about it, in order to process my own deliverance?”
My answer for you would be this…
True, no one story of deliverance of any child of God is necessarily more important or special than another’s, and;
Yes we know that the testimony of “I survived to tell it”, is not one that is exclusive to any one or group because many have suffered, prevailed, and lived on to tell it, or indeed a story for not all wonders or signs are from our God.
However, this is really the point;
The peculiarity of your story, or your witness (as I prefer to call it), lies in the nature, character, composition, and complexity of your own trials;
It lies in you overcoming and prevailing against those awful challenges that had been hell-baked specifically for you, taking advantage of every possible weak link, compromise, and broken hedge within, around, or even remotely linked to your life.
These are what make up your special or peculiar story and testimony special and worth telling especially in congregation of fellow worshippers and God-fearers as King David reminds us in Psalm 22:22
The story and journey are never the same for every one, even in a family, not even those who witnessed the trauma.
However, in
TELLING YOUR TRUTH: your testimony, and through it, about the goodness, greatness and faithfulness of God, multiplies the blessings;
It will bless God’s heart when you lift Him up by telling of His wonders and this will draw others to Him.
It will encourage the hearers who are still on their own journeys, reminding them that God is an ever present, impartial, and faithful father of helps and He will help them to process their own deliverance too!
Finally and equally important is you and what being that witness does to and for YOU;
The joy of recounting your story which derives from the fact that YOU DID arrive at the answer to that prayer, YOU DID go through that trauma and YOU DID make it out of that hell hole!
YOU DID overcome, transcend, triumph, and transition against the odds and beyond what was considered possible, normal and sometimes beyond explanation. Being able to recount the works of God as a witness is a, if not , the joy of your salvation, because you are living out the Word and your life is proving it true. That joy is the adrenalin for jumping your next huddle towards your next testimony!
You have treaded the grain it took to receive the miracle of that testimony spiritually and perhaps also physically, in right living, endurance, suffering and sacrifice! Do not allow the enemy or his human minions and foot-soldiers to muzzle you from reaping the JOY!
Your Joy is from The Lord who worked out that testimony for you. His joy is your strength! (Nehemiah 8:10)
The strength from God only increases onto your flourishing, because of His unfailing love and faithfulness. (Psalm 92: 4, 92:8-15)
Tell it like it is and enjoy your God-signed Joy ride!