The Power of Your Story to Change a Life

As we role into Thanksgiving week, I’m thinking how thankful for how God took the messiest parts of my story and turned them into the most miraculous.

I used to cringe at the thought of telling parts of my story. People in my small town thought that my family was a typical American family with two kids and a collie dog named Lassie. We certainly dressed the part…my mamma made sure of that. I remember sitting in high school homeroom laughing on the outside but crying on the inside. If they only knew my shame whispered.

You can imagine my resistance when God prodded me to speak up and tell how He transformed my secret alcohol-induced violent childhood into a public grace-infused peaceful adulthood. Would you rather they think well of you, or think well of Me, He seemed to ask. But when I finally planted the seeds of my story, God brought in a harvest of souls that boggled my mind.

Every redemptive story, like a raw seed, cannot realize its potential until it is planted in the heart of another human being. And a plant born of a seed will become a plant that bears more seeds.

One day, Jesus told a parable to a group of listeners. We’ve come to know it as the Parable of the Talents, but it is really more the Parable of the Three Choices. Jesus used the parable to explain what the kingdom of heaven would be like.

For it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted to them his property. To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. He who had received the five talents went at once and traded with them, and he made five talents more. So also he who had the two talents made two talents more. But he who had received the one talent went and dug in the ground and hid his master’s money. (Matthew 25:14–18 ESV)

When the master returned home, he was pleased with the two servants who had invested and doubled their talents. The master praised them by saying, “Well done, good and faithful servant!” (Matthew 25:23 NIV). But he was furious with the one who buried his one talent in the ground because of fear.

You wicked and slothful servant! You knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I scattered no seed? Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was my own with interest. So take the talent from him and give it to him who has the ten talents. (Matthew 25:26–28 ESV)

A talent was a measure of weight. Some translations say “bags of gold” instead of the word “talent.” But Jesus was teaching us about far more than investing money. He was demonstrating what God expects us to do with what He has entrusted to us in every area of life. We can plant what He gives us and watch it grow, or we can bury it the furrows of fear and walk away.

You may feel that you wasted part of your life because of failure, but the greater waste would be not telling what you learned from that failure. How God picked you up after you fell down. How God turned you around when you were headed in the wrong direction. How God drew you in when you had pushed Him away.

I wonder if you have any bags of gold that are buried in the ground because of fear? Fear of rejection, embarrassment, or what others might think of you? Fear has no choice but to leave the premises when you stand on the promises of God and say, “You are not welcome here.”

At this point in my journey, I’ve come to fear what would happen if I did not tell my story. Who would not be encouraged to take one more step, breathe one more breath, make it through one more day?

Who would not know that she’s not the only one?

Who would not catch a glimpse of her future hope regardless of her painful past?

And for that, I refuse to bury the talent that is my testimony when I have the choice to invest it into a human heart instead.

If you say yes to God and share your story of redemption, be prepared to hear these words from the Master, “Well done, good and faithful servant” (Matthew 25:21 ESV).

And remember, the opportunity to tell your story could happen anywhere, and you never know when your smallest investment will multiply in another’s heart.

“Let the redeemed of the LORD tell their story” (Psalm 107:2 NIV). This is my story, this is my song. Praising my Savior all the day long.

Heavenly Father, thank You for entrusting me with great treasure in my story. Thank You for saving me, redeeming me, using me. Help me to keep my heart open to sharing my story with others. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Digging Deeper

Your story is one of the most precious gifts God has given you. It may not feel like it at times. You may have chapters you want to rip out. But those chapters may be the very ones God wants to repurpose for good.

Grab a copy of When You Don’t Like Your Story: What if Your Worst Chapters Could Become Your Greatest Victories and become a story seed planter. (Includes a Bible study guide)

I love to wear this bracelet to remind me of the power of Jesus
and the blessing of how He changed my life. This is  my story, this is my song, praising my Savior all the day long! It is also available on sharonjaynes.com.