How do you respond to the mountains in your life?

Last weekend at Elevate we concluded our “Say!” series by exploring Mark 11.22-24 and talking about the enormous strength found in faith filled words. When we’re faced with a mountain in our life, it’s how we respond to that mountain that makes the difference between a sad story* or a powerful testimony. A testimony is a personal story of God’s love, mercy and/or grace at work in your life. Here’s a few ways you can have a testimony rather than a sad story:

Accentuate the positive- identify the areas where God is/was at work in your situation and be sure to bring those points out when you think or tell your story. Romans 8.35 & 37 says  Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death?  No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.

Eliminate the negative- while embracing the situation, its triumphs and trials, avoid the “woe is me” pity party pitfalls we can all so easily fall into – you can be pitiful or powerful but you can’t be both. Romans 8.38 says And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love.

Don’t mess with the rest- even if you can’t seem to find the positives in a situation and the negatives seem to be overwhelming you remember that Romans 8.28 says And  know that in all things God works for the good we of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.

So, what situation are you facing that you need to speak God’s promises into and so turning your story into a testimony?

*Let me clarify that there are some places you need to bare all- the good the bad and the ugly: first God (see the Psalms), a pastor, counselor and/or trusted friend are all safe places for those exchanges.