Our Testimony - God's Call to Testify & Rehearse

Written by Susan Shultz

In college, God instilled a deep desire within me to be a missionary. This led me to gain a heart for international students, where after college, I joined a mission organization that reached out to them. My involvement was short-lived however. I had barely started to raise financial support, when God began to reveal a simultaneous calling. This one eventually won out, leading me to have to tell my colleagues that I was leaving the organization. As I drove away that day, I drove past some international students and I began to cry. I asked God why He was calling me away. He said, “Because you can serve them best with My purpose for you.” I didn’t fully understand what He meant at the time, but after I began to fully give myself over to this other calling over time, I began to see. For, what God began to reveal to me was that I could reach a few individuals within my lifetime, or a few “fish,” as I began to think about the disciples, or I could inspire other Christians through the unique testimony that God was forming in my life, and instead “teach others how to fish” or inspire them to testify with me, and reach even greater numbers together. For God went on to show me that He wants to use my testimony to serve as such an invitation. He wants to use it to help get His Bride, the Church, ready, involved, and mobilized, for Christ’s return. To use it remind us that we are all called to live lives, like the disciples, that together testify to Jesus. God still longs for His children to be fishers of all nations, to use all our lives as invitations that lead others to Jesus.

In college, I read a story about a woman who had lost her husband. One day she stood outside crying out to the Lord, asking Him if it was His will that she marry again. Instantly a name appeared in the sky. The next day in church she listened to a guest missionary speak who had this exact same name. She ended up marrying this man and accompanied him back to the mission field.

I had never heard anything like that before. Her testimony impacted me greatly, causing me to want to have this kind of relationship with Jesus, the kind where I would see Him manifest His presence in such ways. Her testimony served as a bridge that led me into a deeper relationship with the Lord. After this, all throughout my college and single years, I found myself lifting a name or two to the Lord, hoping to see a name in the sky. Not much to my surprise, it didn’t work.

Fast forward several years and in walked Joe. We met in a singles group at our church. We ended up dating for a few years and then separated. Knowing in my heart that Joe was the one for me, I entered a time of great heartache. I know now that God allowed this season because He knew that my desire for a relationship, or for Joe, was stronger than my desire and love for Him. So, God had plans to bring transformation into my life by dealing with my idol worship. This was such a transforming journey, especially as God began to deal with other idols in my life as well, that He inspired me, even in my heartache, to start documenting it through voice recordings. For in this desert, God did begin to manifest His presence in new ways. Just like the Israelites in the desert in the Old Testament, God sustained me, provided for me, and showed up for me. One of the ways that God showed up for me was by speaking directly to me for the first time, giving me a promise. He said, “Susan, you and Joe will be together.” He then later added, “Susan, you and Joe will be a testament to My glorifying nature,” something else I did not understand at the time.

My desert was useful for eventually God used it to turn my head knowledge into heart knowledge. My theoretical faith into practical faith and I proclaimed with Job that “My ears had heard of you before but now my eyes have seen you (Job 45:2).” Because of this, I fell more in love with the Lord.

Around this time, I attended a training for the mission organization that I had joined. Having spent the entire time immersed in training of the Bible and in outreach, I finally reached a place of true relinquishment of my idol. For, I cried out to the Lord saying, “I love You. All I want is You and a life of serving You. I don’t even want Joe anymore. If You want me to be with Him, You are literally going to have to write his name in the sky.” I said this because I knew this moment was a battle between what I thought were two separate callings, that of either being a missionary that reached nations and saved souls, or of being yoked to a journey, that although seemed to be forming a great story, didn’t appear to be leading in that direction.

I then started my drive home during which God showed me that He had set the stage in my life through that testimony I read in college, for while listening to a worship song by Michael W. Smith, I looked into the sky and saw that the clouds spelled J O E – Joe, and I knew that this was a sign from God confirming His promise to me to return my promised bridegroom. A few days later, God called me to write a book using the voice recordings that I had made on my journey through the desert, on my journey towards transformation. God did indeed have plans for Joe and I to make our lives a testament to Him.

To write, I had to go back. I had to return to those voice recordings I had made, and as I did, as I began to recount, I found myself amazed to discover that my own testimony witnessed to me. It truly was the journey of my life, for God opened my eyes. He revealed to me what every seemingly random thought or recording meant. They were not random at all. Instead, together they formed a perfect picture. God revealed that every recorded thought of mine was followed by a verse, devotional, or a conversation with another that I chose to also record. Like clockwork each of these next recordings addressed the issue in my previous thought. God used this to teach me that nothing happens to us by accident, that He is in every detail, and that because of this, it is important to acknowledge this truth through some form of journaling or means of documentation that we can go back to. For, not only did this help me to know God’s voice but it helped me to see His unique relationship with me. It also began to reveal the hand of the enemy in my life and how he had also played a role in my journey. Eventually, I also became convinced, based on my testimony, that I was truly supposed to write instead of focus on raising support for the mission organization I had joined. It really came down to testimony. God was revealing to me the power of a testimony.

The day after the Lord called me to write a book, I had lunch with a friend where God confirmed this call. For I ended up telling her many stories, some that I had been too afraid to tell anyone before. I was so uplifted by the way she was moved that I realized that these are not my stories to keep. My stories were doing for her what that testimony I read in college did for me, they were serving as a bridge drawing her closer to Jesus. God eventually introduced me to Revelation 12:11, which then became the theme verse of my life - we overcame the enemy by the Blood of the Lamb and by the Word of our testimony. Satan is defeated not only by Jesus’ sacrifice, but also by our testimonies. Our lives! 

But, despite God’s cloud confirmation and convincing call to write, my promise didn’t happen right away. In fact, it was 7 years between that moment with the clouds and our wedding day. But in those 7 years God began orchestrating the events in my life even more in order to prepare me for the fulfillment of His promise to me and for my wedding day, and in doing so, He also painted a beautiful picture conveying how all His people should use the waiting season, this season we find ourselves in between our promise given that Christ will return to us on the clouds and the fulfillment of that promise - It is by living lives that testify to Him, and by rehearsing for things to come. As God inspired the journey that got me, this bride ready, He longs for all of us to get ready. For as it says in Revelation 19:7, “Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready.” 

God then called me to write yet another book based on these newer events that took place during my waiting season. I was inspired to call this new book Bridge Stories. God laid this phrase on my heart one day while I was looking at an image of the temple in the back of my Bible, starring at the big bridge connected to it. What God revealed to me is that just as a bridge once connected Jerusalem with the temple mount, bringing people closer to the temple where God resided, that our stories, our testimonies, are meant to lead people into a deeper relationship with the Lord. We are all meant to be a bridge that leads others to Christ.

I am going to share two stories from this Bridge Stories waiting season in my life as they address these two steps:

Step One: Living Lives that Testify to Him

(This is a chapter entitled, “God Longs for Our Wedding Day.”)

God brought a beautiful Bridge Story into my life to convey His desire that we begin living lives that testify to Him. In doing so, He began to paint a symbolic picture right before my eyes of my wedding day, of our wedding day.

During one of my Bible studies, I ended up hearing the testimony of two women whom God had called to start a wedding gown business/ministry, and it was clear that they truly wanted to glorify the Lord with their gifts.

As they shared their testimony, a still, small voice told me that I would be adorned in a wedding dress someday, something that, of course, brought joy to my heart. What then instantly came into my mind is how a white wedding dress symbolizes Jesus Christ, for He is truly the “dress” that adorns us. It is the Blood of the Lamb, the covering of Christ that makes us a pure and spotless bride. So, although I didn’t know at the time where God was leading all this symbolism, we had the DRESS.

After the study that night, I found myself talking with another friend who had the gift of music through piano. God had recently led her to invest in a new piano to write worship music that testified to Jesus. During this conversation, God brought me more revelation and the thought that God brought strongly to my mind was: We have the wedding dress; now it is time for the WEDDING MARCH.

The next day, during my quiet time with the Lord, as I began to reflect on the ministry that God was calling me to, that of writing my testimony and sharing it, inspiring others to do the same, the thought that entered my mind was, ENTER the BRIDE and God gave me more revelation. He began to show me that it wasn’t just my wedding that He was planning right before me but Christ’s wedding. For our very lives, our testimonies, intertwine and collectively testify to Him. God is calling all of us to testify through our God-given gifts and talents, in order to point people to Christ as a means to make ready a people prepared for the Lord. He is calling all of us to help get His Bride ready for her wedding day.

A few days later, I ended up having coffee with another friend who confided in me that God had been calling her to build an altar like the one in the Old Testament. At first, I was taken aback because it sounded a little bit out of the ordinary, but then I heard a still, small voice say, “Susan, pay attention. This is for you.”

She began to talk about the many reasons why God was calling her to do this, mostly as a way to use her for ministry and what God brought to my mind is: We have the dress. We have the wedding march. We have the bride. And now we have the ALTAR.

A few days after that, Joe also confided in me, sharing with me a vision that God had been giving him of a place for people to use for weddings as a type of ministry, a vision that wouldn’t leave his mind. As he talked, I knew in my heart that God was saying that: We have the dress. We have the music. We have the bride. We have the altar. And now God is bringing forth the PLACE. For Joe’s vision was of a castle with a huge glass ballroom.

The revelation that came to my mind as he spoke was that of course God would inspire Joe, my promised bridegroom, with the place, with the mansion, for it is our Bridegroom who has the responsibility of providing the actual place. For Christ Jesus Himself said that He was going ahead of us in order to prepare a place for us, His Bride, in advance in John 14.

So, we have the dress, the wedding march, the bride, the altar, and the place. All we need now is the Bridegroom, and as you can see through His beautifully orchestrated picture how He longs for His wedding day and for His bride to make herself ready by living lives that testify to Him in all they do.

Step Two: Rehearsing for Things to Come

Living lives that testify to Jesus and rehearsing for things to come are not unrelated. Think of a bride’s next steps after a betrothal. Her first act is to testify, to tell the world about her engagement and the journey that brought her to this glorious point. But then what happens? She rehearses. She prepares herself and she rehearses. Most weddings do not take place without rehearsing for the big day, for what is to come. I have never known a bride to do nothing after getting engaged. Instead, this is usually the moment of her greatest mobilization. She begins to plan, get healthy, learn, and work on all sorts of different areas of her life that will better prepare her for entering into the fulfillment of being a married woman.

This is what my journey was like. When God promised me that Joe and I would be together, He was orchestrating our betrothal or promise to marry. After this ordained promise, He then called me to testify, to make my life a testament by writing about my journey with Him that was bringing me to this glorious point. But along with this, as you will see, He then called me to rehearse, which I came to find is also based around the power of a testimony.

For during my waiting season, I was invited to attend a women’s retreat. The topic revolved around something I was not expecting, for a Jewish Christian woman was there to speak about God’s appointed times, or Biblical feasts, as laid out in Leviticus 23 and why we, even as Gentile Christians, should still celebrate them. One of her main reasons was that they are lasting ordinances that serve as rehearsals of things to come. Not expecting this topic but knowing God wanted me there, I asked Him what He wanted me to learn from this. He said, “Susan, if you honor My appointed times, I will honor yours.” Still waiting on the promise God gave me to return my bridegroom to me, I knew in my heart what God meant. So, even though I didn’t know what to do exactly, I set out that year to honor all of God’s appointed times and other festivals as best as I could.

On this journey I learned that celebrating God’s appointed times is all about testimony, for they are all about looking back and remembering. They become annual reminders for us to stop and testify, to tell those we are celebrating with, especially the younger generation, all that God has done throughout time. We see God’s heart for this in the Book of Deuteronomy, for within this book God calls His people to remember. Commanded by God, Moses testifies. He recounts for the people all that God had done to bring them to this glorious point, to the brink of the Promised Land, a step of faith God required in order for them to be prepared to proceed into fulfillment. Their connection to the past became their bridge to the future.

Testifying is recounting what God has done. When we testify, we are proclaiming that the glory, or the credit, belongs to God. He becomes the true reason for the transformation, for the victory, and for the fulfillment in our lives. Entering fulfillment is of God. It is a blessing from God which is why God required the Israelites to testify before entering the promised land. This step gave Him the glory as being the One to bring them to the brink of fulfillment and into the promise.

God’s 7 appointed times and other festivals aid in narrowing down this process, giving us specific celebrations to use as means to look back and remember, as they also serve as rehearsals for what is to come. For the more that we honor these times year by year, the more we also acknowledge and honor God by choosing to live in expectation of (or rehearsal for) the truth that God will be just as faithful to His future promises as He was to those past. I will use the Feast of Trumpets as an example. During this feast, we blow the shofar, which is a trumpet made from a ram’s horn which is what they used in Bible times. As we spend this day blowing the shofar, we remind ourselves of what is still to come. We rehearse for the day when we will hear that final trumpet blast and see Christ coming on the clouds, something that is definitely worth rehearsing for, or preparing for, especially as the promised or betrothed Bride of Christ.

Due to the time of year, my journey started with the celebration of Passover, which made the last festival I celebrated Purim, which is the celebration started by Esther and Mordecai after God’s people were saved through her act of obedience. And after my own act of obedience, after honoring all of God’s appointed times for an entire year, God showed me His faithfulness. At the brink of my own promised land, my connection to the past also became my bridge to the future.

 After looking back and celebrating what God had done in the past, while seeing Him weave these truths into my own newer on-going testimony that I was still faithfully recounting and documenting, my bridge to the future appeared, for literally the day I finished honoring all of God’s appointed times, He honored mine, and I entered my promised land. The same day that I celebrated Purim, a magazine was released and placed in stores with my picture on the cover, giving me what felt like a coming out. I did not know that my picture would be on the cover. The picture was of me holding my grandmother’s Bible opened to the Book of Esther that also displayed some jewelry I had made to reflect my testimony, and the background behind me was also the exact same sky-blue color as the new skirt that I had just bought to dance in at my Purim celebration. The article inside highlighted some of my testimony.

But God was not done. For not only did He show off by putting my picture on the cover of a magazine, but He truly honored my appointed time when shortly after, Joe ended up asking my father for my hand in marriage. My bridegroom returned. God was faithful and He honored my true appointed time just as He said He would.

Almost exactly 7 years to the day that God wrote Joe’s name in the clouds, I married him.  And only by God’s continued orchestration did our wedding reflect God’s heart and purpose for His feasts, showing how they do serve as a rehearsal for things to come, for all three fall feasts could symbolically be seen through our wedding ceremony - the Feast of Trumpets, the Day of Atonement, and the Feast of Tabernacles, all of which point greatly toward being the Bride of Christ and to Christ’s return.

First, the Feast of Trumpets: 

Since God had led me on a journey through His feasts, we had someone blow the shofar to start the ceremony.

The venue God had picked for us, through Joe, was in another city and being an hour away for most of our guests, I thought that we would start the ceremony at least 5-10 minutes late to give people more time to get there. But this was not the case. For as the women and I were still upstairs praying, I thought about taking off my wedding dress after in order to go to the bathroom one last time, but something inside of me stopped me and I am so glad, for had I done that, I would not have been ready. Because before we knew it, since no one told us we were starting, even my wedding coordinator that was praying with us, all of a sudden, we heard the shofar blast and we all looked up at each other in shock.

Without a warning the trumpet sounded and at that point we didn't have time for anything else. Good thing I was ready! Dressed in white and ready to go! I knew God was speaking, for, someday all of us, without warning will hear that shofar, that final trumpet blast. I pray we are all ready. I pray that we remember that even though our Groom seems to be a long time in coming that we need to keep our dresses on and continue to live as if we are indeed at the moment of our greatest mobilization.

Second, the Day of Atonement (which is a time to reflect on Jesus' sacrifice as our ultimate atonement):

What truly made me ready? Was it really the fact that I had my white wedding dress on? No. For due to his love for me Joe would have married me while wearing anything. But this wasn’t always the case, for there was a time when I was so ugly, consumed with my idol worship that I wouldn’t have married me. But as it was, my journey of transformation, of experiencing Christ, had made me new, or renewed. But even this was a journey made possible first and foremost by the Blood of the Lamb, the covering of Christ. His atoning sacrifice, His shed blood is what makes us a pure and spotless bride as white as snow (Isaiah 1:18). He truly is the “dress” that adorns us and the only One that can truly renew us, something truly worth testifying about.

Finally, the Feast of Tabernacles (During this feast, we spend time in tents or coverings to remember when God tabernacled with His people in the desert. We remember Christ coming to tabernacle with us once and rehearse and focus upon the day when Christ will return to tabernacle with us once again.):

It wasn’t until years later that I saw how God included this feast into our story, for it was then that I was asked to give a talk at a Feast of Tabernacles celebration. As I began to prepare, God assured me that He would give me the words to say. The following day, He woke me up at 1:20am with a warm sensation in my heart followed by an instant vision in my mind and a clear message that followed. I wondered why God chose to wake me up in the middle of the night to give me these words but then what instantly came to my mind was a verse from Matthew 24 where Jesus talks about the Bridegroom coming like a thief in the night. He will come like a thief in the night to tabernacle with us. So, what better time to commune with God over this idea.

The clear vision and message that God gave me was this, that Joe, my bridegroom, not only picked the venue but provided the huppah, the covering. Joe was the one determined that we even have a huppah. He then designed it and built it completely with the help of his father, something that I came to learn matches Jewish biblical wedding traditions. Joe constructed a beautiful wooden wall and then made the poles that held the beautiful white linen covering. He then decorated it with flowers and lanterns.

The only thing I added to the final set up of the huppah was being led to place my grandmother’s Bible underneath, once again opened to the Book of Esther and to provide the light, to provide that which would shine, for I placed a menorah on the table under it for our unity ceremony. Wanting a Jewish inspired wedding but still longing to embrace the fact that I was a Gentile, I briefly struggled with using a menorah instead of just candles until God led me to the perfect thing. It was in fact a menorah but it’s base was the grafted in symbol. It had the ichthus (the Christian fish symbol) with a cross in the middle. It was perfect.

I remember, during my Bridge Story waiting season, asking God a question. I did so during a moment of weakness, and I say weakness, because I didn’t just ask Him a question, I screamed it at Him in anger. But in His mercy, He chose to answer me anyway. I asked Him, “What are You waiting for?” I believed His promise. He was weaving many stories into my life that I had written down and had faithfully begun to share, even with Joe. And through this testifying Joe had reentered my life for the most part. So, I didn’t understand what I was still waiting for. Why the delay? Do we not all find ourselves thinking the same thing, wanting to ask God the same question in regards to Christ’s return, and also sometimes in a frustrated, angerly way? Well, to help us all with this frustration, here was God’s merciful reply: “For the moment when My glory will be best revealed.”

You see, I didn’t understand God’s timing then but now I see. Although my waiting was hard, He wasn’t done writing my story, creating testimony, testimony that now speaks to how He wants ALL at the wedding feast of the Lamb. He waited for a time in my life, a time He orchestrated, when both Jews and Gentiles would be represented at our wedding. For if you knew my background and the church I grew up in, what a testament this would be to you. For had Joe and I gotten married when I first wanted to marry him, the attendance at our wedding would have looked a lot different. But as it was, at this perfect time in our life, because of the journey He had taken me on through His feasts, we had both Gentiles and Jews at our wedding. We also had both Jew and Gentile dancers at our wedding that testified together dressed in white.

Only God. We are all grafted in. We are all invited. We are together the Bride of Christ.

So, as I walked toward my bridegroom’s covering, the huppah that he had made just for me, I will never forget his face. It was the most beautiful face I had ever seen, one that was truly inviting me to come and tabernacle with him. 

I saw that same face again on the first day of fall years later. Between the Feast of Trumpets and the Day of Atonement, Joe and I went to a museum that revolves around the birth of Christ. While there, at one point, while listening to a beautiful worship song and looking upon a scene that reflected the moment of Christ’s birth, Joe walked up and stood next to this scene and began looking straight at me on the other side. There was that face, and deep within I just knew that it was Christ looking at me through Joe. For this face that smiled and beamed at me penetrated my soul. I then noticed something else, that directly on the other side of Joe was a beautiful tent covering filled with stars that let light shine through that had been placed there to represent the Feast of Tabernacles and a wedding huppah. And in that moment, knowing based on my testimony just how much God uses Joe to represent Christ’s return, God brought a phrase strongly to my mind that I wanted to shout out load. It was: He came once to tabernacle with us and He is coming again.

Standing between a symbol of Christ’s birth and a symbol of His return, there was the ultimate Bridge Story but I could sense that it wasn’t yet complete. I began to see that it is a two-part bridge as God began to lay on my heart that Revelation 12:11 is also a two-part verse. “They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony.” The Bible is filled with the stories that brought forth the promised one, Jesus, who then came once to tabernacle with us as a baby and grew up to become the Lamb of God whose blood took away the sins of the world, forming the first part of the bridge, but the second part belongs to us. The second half of the bridge, the half that starts where Christ left off is still incomplete, for God is waiting on us, this newer generation. He is waiting on His Bride, for His Bride to get ready and mobilized by also giving birth, like Mary, to the Word of our testimonies and then to shine through them like Esther, in order to also save.

The Esther-Mary Elements

What does all this mean? It means you have purpose! It means your story matters and needs to be birthed.

I love that God inspired my journey to end with Purim and see great symbolism in this, for Purim again is the celebration of deliverance of God’s people through Esther’s plea or invitation as a Bride of the king. However, before Esther was chosen to become the king’s bride, she had to go through a transformation season. She endured a beauty treatment season which included lessons and rehearsals, after which she was chosen by the king, positioned by God in order to save. For by God saving His people through her, the line that led to Jesus was not wiped out and Jesus did come into the world as a baby, birthed through Mary, stories that aided in forming the first part of the bridge.

Well, it is now our time, our bridge building season, our time such as this, but like Esther, we must also as Christ’s Bride, make ourselves ready. Let’s just say that like Esther we also need our beauty treatment season, our season of preparation, of transformation, of rehearsing and God knows this. For He has plans to bring Christ into the world yet again, this time as our Bridegroom.

I can testify that after my own waiting season came to an end, my season of preparation, of transformation, after I had accepted God’s invitation to make my life a testament and had also rehearsed, that in His eyes I too became a Bride made ready, for He then made me a bride and returned my bridegroom to me as He promised He would.

He then positioned me, or equipped me, like Esther, to also save. For, God showed me just how I could serve the world better with His true purpose for me. By calling me to first give birth like Mary, to the Word of my testimony, to make my life a testament, and then to shine through it, the way Esther did hers. By in faith, allowing God to now use it as a bridge for you, as a plea, or invitation, inviting you to join me. For this is God’s true purpose for you as well, as His chosen, for a time such as this. Here at the brink.

Even before God’s promise to return Joe to me, He called me to be there in ministry to him “for a time such as this,” quoting this line from Esther’s story. My entire journey didn’t just end with Esther, on Purim, but it started with this call from God to be like Esther. Because of this, I have always loved her story, as it is one that God has used mightily in my life when it comes to understanding the power of a testimony. For God called Esther to shine, positioning her to be a vessel for His light, His saving light. It was fitting then that her name meant “star." Her story is the only one in the Bible that does not mention the name of God or Jesus. Instead, she was the Star of her story, yet through her story we, without a doubt, see God. Her story is a true testament to God’s glorifying nature because it serves as a bridge through which we clearly see His hand at work. We see how He orchestrated her life to save His people, all for the purpose of bringing forth Christ.

Well, like Esther, God created us to also be Stars in our own unique stories, stories that He longs to use, like hers, as testaments to also save. For you see, as even Joe will testify about, what truly began to draw him back to me was my testimony. He accepted my invitation to read it to him and it was in the midst of my testifying that his life also began to change. Christ shone through my story, using it to form a bridge that led Joe not only into a deeper relationship with Jesus but also back to me. God used the light of my testimony, and my willingness to shine it forth in faith, to summon back my bridegroom.  Let me say that again, for if I could sum up all of this in one sentence, this would be it: God used the light of my testimony, and my willingness to shine it forth in faith, to summon back my bridegroom. 

Let's talk briefly about The Mary Element. What did Christ enter the world by the first time? Through Mary but by the light of a Star. There is a reason God is calling us to shine like stars together for a time such as this, to birth something together yet again that we shine through – the Word of our testimonies. It all goes back to Revelation 12:11, the second part of that verse and the second half of that bridge.

God’s symbolism has not been wasted on me. When God gave me a promise long ago that Joe and I would be together, like I said before, He was orchestrating our betrothal. Just like Mary, in God’s eyes I was engaged to a Joseph. Along with this promise, God called me to write as I experienced Him, filling me with the Word of my testimony that He has since called me again and again to give birth to so that I could now shine through it for others. God even had me working for a brief season in the birth care center of a hospital when the first version of my testimony came out and was published or was birthed. God is fun and God is speaking.

God has always called His people to testify, to be testaments in all they do. In fact, 40 out of the 66 books in the Bible are named after people, other Stars in God’s ever-unfolding story. God has aways used His people to birth His Word, to bring forth His Word, to shine forth His Word. And I don’t know about you, but I am so glad that they took the time to testify, to record their stories for future generations. Well, God’s call on our lives remains the same. We are next in line, a truth God truly revealed to me the day I leaned that my middle name which I got from my grandmother also means “star.” From generation to generation, like them, every one of us has a unique story to tell, a unique Bridge Story. As it says in Acts 14:17, God has not left Himself without testimony, never has and never will. For, He is the Living Word, able to be experienced in real-time, and because of this, each of our lives are meant to be the continuation of His story. We, like Esther, and all that have gone before, need to continue to aid the next generation with our testimonies “so that a people not yet born will praise the LORD (Ps. 102:18b).” We need to continue the bridge building or the discipleship making.

Those that wrote the Bible were simply writing about themselves, or those they knew, experiencing God and Jesus, sometimes in real-time or at least within their lifetime. We see in the Book of Acts, that after the disciples spent a season with Jesus, having been called away from their primary source of income as fishermen, to follow Jesus on a journey of transformation, started testifying, truly fishing for people. They testified about Jesus, which was simply the act of sharing their stories, their experiences of Jesus which were not that old. For people “took note that these men had been with Jesus” (Acts 4:13b). There were times when they referred to the Torah, or portions of the Old Testament, but usually this was in correlation with what they were sharing, to enhance their message, to align their testimonies with older ones, to bring even more proof and power to their witness. They very rarely simply quoted Old Testament Scripture to do the sole converting. If they had, the New Testament would simply be a copy of the Old Testament. Instead, it is the NEW Testament or new testimony.

Well, are we not to follow in their example? Are we likewise testifying in real-time? Are we sharing our even newer experiences of Jesus as well as they happen or even just years later? No. I wasn’t. Which is why God stopped me in my tracks and said that I could serve the lost better with His true purpose for me, by discovering my own testimony that He longed to align with the older ones. For, like most of us, I was solely trying to convert people by sharing only older stories, the testimonies of people like the disciples. Don’t get me wrong, God can and still does use these stories and wants us to proclaim them. However, what if we did share these stories but in correlation with our own personal, real-time stories? What if we aligned our newer testimonies with older ones, to bring even more proof and power to our witness as well. Can you imagine the impact? They caught their fish. We have new fish to catch.

Jesus is still alive. He is still moving in our midst. He is the Living Word and desires to still be experienced in real-time so that the world will know that we also have been with Jesus, just like those first men and women. He still longs to use us to save, to be His hands and feet and voice, to use our lives and stories to be a bridge that leads others to Him, just like He used the disciple’s stories and Esther’s story, and many others to be a bridge for us. For, when we share how Christ has transformed our lives, others are inspired to seek His love and grace forming new stories of their own, testimonies that will literally have the power to save. They hold this power because Jesus is the Word of our testimonies and when we experience Him and then share these stories, or birth these stories, He works through us to change lives. He forms a bridge from our heart to theirs and walks across. It is all about Christ living in and through us, the Living Word, the true Bridge that connects us all, past, and present. The true Fisher of all nations. The true Light that shines.

If you haven’t gathered yet, a testimony is more than a conversion story, the story of how someone came to know Jesus. Although this story is important and should be shared, too many stories stop there, and thus sadly, so do many relationships with the Lord. Too many people truly stop experiencing Jesus once they come to know Him. They just go through the motions and rely on the stories of others. In reality however, our story of conversion should simply be the starting off point, or story, to a lifetime of stories and experiences of Jesus that tell of how He is still moving in and through our lives. Personally, my conversion story isn’t very exciting. In fact, I used to think that I didn’t have a testimony and struggled with this for years, especially as a missionary. This alone is a testament to God, of how He is now using me to invite others through my testimony to testify. For, as you have heard, He went on to give me an amazing on-going testimony filled with stories that have nothing to do with my conversion story, but simply a life filled with experiencing Him on a day-to-day basis through my personal relationship with Him.    

In fact, God has continued to fill my life with so many stories, supernatural stories, and symbolism, that for years I was afraid to speak out and share them, mostly because no one else around me had such stories or at least shared them. But guess what? A new time in history, in His Story, is before us, for a time such as this, a time when stories like mine will not be unique or strange. For God longs to write, always has. He longs to reveal to you as well that you are a Star in a unique story that can impact lives, a story that will reveal that God is still alive and moving in our midst, something this world desperately needs now more than ever, especially as darker times unfold. It is time for God’s Stars to arise.

So, we invite you to become part of God’s Bridge Story, His ever-unfolding story. Join Esther. Join Mary. Join the Disciples. Join Joe and I and become a true Fisher of all Nations.

I hope that our story has inspired you and that you have heard God’s invitation, His plea, to make your life a testament to His glorifying nature. For I believe that we are once again at the brink of a promise, this time the ultimate promised land. But in order to enter in we must likewise take the time while still in the desert to acknowledge God, to give Him the credit as the very Testimony, as the very Word, throughout time - past, present, and future. He is the Word of the Old Testament. He is the Word of the New Testament, and He desires to be the Word of our testaments as well.

You have a story God longs to use, that He wants you to birth in order for Him to shine through. And we would love to continue to help you find it. Here’s how:

First, I have been capturing my testimony for more than 20 years now. Not only can I share different methods on how to do this and on how to get started, but as you have heard, I can testify to how this journey and discipline has truly changed my life. God has helped me to put together resources that can help you to get started finding and recording your testimony.

Second, let’s talk about how testifying takes many different forms. It isn’t just about written words but covers all the God-given gifts and talents out there. The best example we have is King David. Most of the Psalms are in fact his testimony and even though we read them, they were actually songs. So, go ahead, testify through music, art, dance, you name it. Joe himself is also a great example of this, as God went on to call him on his journey to testify, as he actually sat drawing next to this scene that reflected the moment of Christ’s birth, to “Claim the arts for Me.” Since then, Joe has been working to birth his testimony and then to shine his testimony through many different artforms.

Finally, let’s break down barriers together, especially the barrier of fear, and learn how to share our testimonies together. It can be scary to share your story, or your God-given talent, for Satan wants us to stay quiet, fearful, and thus hidden away. But it is time to rise above, to no longer keep our lights hidden under that bushel. Instead, it is the time for our greatest mobilization. It is time, like Esther, to be Stars that rise and shine and align, to be positioned by God in order to save, to be that city on a hill.

For, Christ longs for His wedding day to us. He is looking upon all of us with that same face that I saw through my own Joseph when he stood between that symbol of Christ’s birth and that symbol of His return, longing once again to tabernacle with us, which is why He also longs and needs for us all to make ourselves ready, to get His Bride ready, by rehearsing and collectively living lives that testify to Him, our ultimate Bridegroom. He knows that when we align our testimonies with those that have gone before us, connecting to those past, that we will form a great bridge to the future, completing that final Bridge Story that will lead others to Christ, both Jew and Gentile, in this final hour. For God wants all at the true wedding feast of the Lamb and for all to join Him under His covering, His covering filled with shining Stars. Until we see our true Bridegroom coming on those clouds, we have work to do. We have purpose for a time such as this. Here at the brink. We invite you to join us.