I Had a Dream

 

The other night, I had a dream and, in the dream, I was asked to do an interview with a Christian radio station that was doing a live event at our local conference center. They asked me to do it since I was a member of our church’s worship and praise team. This isn’t really an important detail, but it was important in the dream because apparently, it was a reason I was a good candidate to be interviewed. So, I sit down in this podcast style interview and began talking about the sermon series and the importance of sharing your personal testimony. 

Now, full disclosure, I HAD just come from a women’s conference and we talked a lot about and even practiced sharing our testimony. AND, in our sermon series, we’ve been working our way through the New Testament and just the day before, I had listened to a podcast with pastors Andy Addis and Eric Franklin talking about the story of Onesimus and Philemon and the dramatic change in the life of Onesimus, who was once a runaway slave and then became a follower of Christ. In contrast, Philemon was a long-time Christ follower. 

Ok, so back to the dream. 

So, I’m talking about our sermon series and I start talking about something Eric had said amidst the conversation of this podcast except, in the dream, I’m the one saying it. I said, I grew up in the church and, “For the longest time, I felt like I didn’t have a powerful testimony because I hadn’t lived enough rotten life to say, “God saved me from this.” 

But it’s so important for everyone to share what God has saved them from because, what if the Philemon’s of this world never told their story? When we question the effectiveness of our testimony, we shrink back and try to limit God and place Him in a box of how He can use us by saying, “Well, I didn’t have to come that far.” When we see baptism after baptism of dramatically changed lives week after week, it’s easy to slip into a pattern of thought that our testimony isn’t that important or impressive. 

But what if the only people telling their testimony were the Onesimus’ of this world? It’s easy for them to see how broken they are. From their jail cells, to their drug treatment facilities to their drunkenness. But what if those are the only stories people hear? What would happen?

I woke up from the dream like I’d been smacked HARD! I just laid in bed and said, “Ohhh.” I realized that if the drastic transformations are the only testimonies people hear, our churches would become filled with people that don’t know that living a “good and obedient life” isn’t enough. Living a life safe from a path of rottenness isn’t going to rescue them from a life of eternal separation from God because no matter how “good” and “obedient” we are, our works and living in the “right way” will never be enough to earn our way into the Kingdom of Heaven. 

Just like me. My life before Christ was one mostly of obedience. My parents took me to church from the time I was conceived. I grew up I learning the stories of the Bible as I attended Sunday School, Vacation Bible School, prayer meetings, missions and outreach classes. If the doors of the church were open, our family was there as my parents served in various leadership roles. I knew I was to honor my parents by doing what I was told and living what most would consider the life of a “good kid”. But my heart was rebellious and selfish and I didn’t like being told what to do. Despite everything I tried to do, I was still a broken and sinful person who constantly failed at trying to meet the mark of living a perfect, or even good enough life. 

What brought me to Christ was realizing that my brokenness was keeping me separated from God and would eventually lead me to an eternity in hell. I wanted to know what I needed to do to make Jesus the Lord of my life. 

So, one evening as we were driving back to church for evening services, I found my mom’s teaching bible lesson magazine. Inside the front cover was a graphic that read “Plan of Salvation” and it laid out what I needed to do. First, I needed to 

ADMIT that I was a sinner. No matter what my justifications, I had lied to stay out of trouble, I acted out in anger, I’d been disobedient, and I’d acted out of rebellion. 

Then I had to BELIEVE that Jesus was God’s son that came down from heaven to live a perfect life and then took all of my sins on himself as he was brutally beaten and crucified on a cross because of his love for me. 

And lastly, I needed to pray to CONFESS those sins.

I was so excited! And so, in the back seat of that red Chevy Cavalier, I prayed to Jesus ask him to come into my life, asked him to be my Lord, and to change me to become more like Him. My heart changed that day. 

My life since Christ has been anything but perfect. I’ve gotten caught up in seeking approval from and tried to find my own value in others. I’ve put myself into situations and a marriage where I wasn’t safe: physically, emotionally, or spiritually.  I’ve let my mouth run rampant and said and done some hurtful things. 

Though I didn’t really understand everything that it meant to be a Christian that day, I am learning and growing more like Christ every single day. And even though I continue to mess it up, I am so thankful that the Lord continues to love me. I’m thankful that even in my darkest moments in life, He has been right beside me and will never leave me. Life is good, not because of perfect circumstances but because I serve a perfect Savior.

In that moment, I felt like I had been given a vision and a mission to help others to understand the importance of sharing their own testimony. How many people sit in our pews doing and saying all the right things but whose hearts are never changed. So, what about you? I’d love to hear the testimony of how you accepted Christ as your Savior and Lord.  Don’t have a testimony? I’d love to talk to you about that as well.