I use to think that my testimony was only from Junior year of high school leading to the time when I got baptized mid October 2017. It was a short and sweet testimony, but what I thought was my testimony turned out to be wrong. Yesterday I was telling my story to someone and I realized that the story kept on going past the time of my baptism. This got me thinking. We usually base our testimonies from our past selves to the time when we got saved, but we never mention all of the hard work we put in and all of the obstacles we go through after that. The struggle doesn’t just stop there. I think the story is great when it’s about the change from being a worldly follower to a follower of christ, but what I think is the best story of it all is the one that comes after the saving. It’s the story about us continually messing up, learning, and growing, remembering that we’ve been saved by God and are choosing to live our lives by putting Him first.

I love the idea that we mess up. It sounds kind of crazy, but I do. It means we are not perfect in any way, and it always leads to growth. When I started my workout program with the Marines, my 3 mile was sitting at 28:00 minutes, 2 minute crunches was at I think 40-50, and my pull ups were zero. My pull ups were by far the weakest out of them all. In order for me to get better, I had to learn what exercises works for me and how to stick with consistent repetition. When some exercises became easier, I would add more weight or make it more challenging. In a way that is a lot like our lives. We decide what we want to learn and grow from. Any time I have a struggle in my life, I can either choose to learn from it and keep pushing myself which leads to growth or I can run away from it causing me to be more afraid of that situation and to not grow from it. Running away from it would honestly probably cause a snowball effect leading me to be more fearful of hard and tough situations later on in my life. Instead, I choose to move forward and challenge myself. With my PFT now, my 3 mile is sitting at a 26:56 (or something like that), 2 minute crunches is at 83 I think, and I have just finally reached 2 successful pull ups.

So as I was telling my story yesterday, I noticed that I put more of my focus on the story after the saving rather than before. It’s a miracle that I was saved by His grace, and I am very thankful for it too. My story is still being written right now. There’s no ending to my testimony because I will never be perfect. I will always be imperfect and will always be learning, growing, and challenging myself in any way possible. I really encourage you to make that change as well.

(p.s. if you want a good testimony to read, I recommend Pauls testimony going from Saul the persecutor to Paul the apostle)

(p.p.s. below are videos from when I couldn’t do a pull up to getting 2 pull ups)

Best wishes,

Emily