When you meet me, I am usually an open book. I will share our life story with you freely. I will tell you of both our hard times and our good times. I will share my failures but, more importantly, how the Lord changed me from the person I once was to who I am today.
I try to live by the principle of being real, not perfect. I do this because I believe the scripture that says, “And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death” (Revelation 12:11).
If I pretended that life was never hard, how could my pain help others? If I led you to believe my life was perfect, would you recognize the power of the gospel to save? Would hiding myself be truthful, or would I be feeding you a lie? Would it be wiser to keep my messes and my wounds to myself? Good question.
Recently, I shared my life testimony with another person. Rather than seeing the power of the gospel to change a life, this person instead saw a picture of the old me. They saw the sin and shame that I had long ago cast off.
This person ran to that sin, picked it up, and tried to redress me in it. They tried to make my name, and my family’s name, reflect my old name, the one that is dead and buried when Christ died on the cross.
Despite wanting to drag me back there, I refuse to take that sin and put it back on. It doesn’t fit me or my life as a believer. It is part of my past story but not my present redemption.
Maybe this person doesn’t know what 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” If they don’t personally know that redemption, I feel sorry for them. I want them to see it at work in my story. I want to point to Christ and say, “It’s not of myself, but all of him!”
True, it would be easier not to share my testimony and rather, be simply be superficial as I go through life. Then, there would be no risk of being judged or misunderstood. No one would see my pain, heartache, and failures, but then again, no one would realize my joy. So much joy comes when you are at the end of yourself, causing you to fall on your face, repent, and allow Christ to do His work in you and through you.
So yes, it might feel easier, but that is not the path I want to take. Instead, I will share openly, refusing to allow Satan to keep me hiding in shame and condemnation ever again.
As for the person who tried to dress me in shame and condemnation, I hope you remember what Jesus spoke to the Pharisees, “So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her” (John 8:7). Choose your stone carefully, for I am redeemed! I’ve been set free.
Originally published on the author’s Facebook page
by Kelli Bachara 
by Tynea Lewis 
