Your Story Matters
By Dean Collins
I had just become a teenager when, in the early 1970s, a youth revival known as the Jesus Movement began to sweep across America. No one knows the exact day the movement started, but by June 21, 1971, it had become significant enough that Time magazine devoted its cover story to what it called the “Jesus Revolution.”
As a young teenager, I felt the energy of teenagers and young adults becoming excited about their faith. It was also the season when I began playing the guitar and singing. Like many of my generation, I found myself torn between rock music and the emerging world of Christian rock. I played both.
My memory is that many parents and grandparents in the church were nervous about the Jesus Movement. Was it a genuine work of God, or simply an extension of the hippie movement that had begun in the 1960s?
Many pastors and church leaders also felt the pressure. Worship styles were changing. New music was finding its way into church services, and people were being invited to stand and share testimonies of what Christ had done in their lives. Pastors rejoiced over the genuine conversion stories they heard, but they also wrestled with some of the theology that occasionally accompanied those testimonies.
My memory is a little blurry on some of the details, but I do remember thinking—even as a young teenager—that testimonies sometimes became a competition to see who had the most dramatic conversion story.
Looking back, I realize the movement wasn’t just about new music or a new style of worship. At its best, it reminded an entire generation that everyone has a story of God’s grace worth telling.
All of that came to mind as I read Psalm 116 today.
This psalm is somewhat unique. We do not know who wrote it, but much of it is a personal testimony offered to the gathered congregation—likely friends, family, and fellow worshipers. The psalmist wanted others to know what the Lord had done for him.
Listen to just a few of his words:
“He has heard my voice and my pleas for mercy.”
“The snares of death encompassed me… I suffered distress and anguish. Then I called on the name of the Lord: ‘O Lord, I pray, deliver my soul!’”
“When I was brought low, he saved me.”
“For you have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling.”
If you had a testimony like that, wouldn’t you want someone to know?
The truth is, many of us do.
How many times have we prayed through difficult circumstances? Sometimes God answered quickly. Other times the answer seemed delayed. Yet, looking back, we can often see His faithful hand at work.
When God answers our prayers, our first response is usually relief, followed by gratitude. We all have stories of times when we desperately needed God—and He met us in our need.
But what about the testimony?
I don’t know that church culture will return to seasons when people regularly stand during worship services to share what God has done. But nothing prevents you or me from telling a friend, a family member, or someone in our community about God’s faithfulness. In fact, your story may be exactly what someone else needs to hear. Your testimony could encourage another believer or awaken a seeker to their own need for Christ.
Read this beautiful psalm today, and take a few moments to reflect on your own testimony. It may not seem dramatic to you, but that doesn’t make it any less powerful. God has been at work in your life. Someone may need to hear what He has done—not only years ago, but even in the past few days.
Father, with the psalmist we declare our love for You because You have heard our voice and our pleas for mercy. You have been faithful to provide for us again and again. Thank You for Jesus, who redeemed us and brought us into the land of the living. Today, may we declare Your praise and give testimony to Your goodness. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Your Time with God’s Word
Psalm 116:1-19 ESV
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