Let the Life of God Shine Through You...

I read this statement recently, and I stopped and paused in deep thought.

So often, we feel like we need to have all the right words to impact someone's life. We think we need the perfect Bible verse, the perfect testimony, or the perfect answer to whatever struggle they're facing.

But sometimes, the greatest testimony isn't what we say.

It's how we live.

As I look back over my own life, I realize that there were people who helped me see God long before I fully understood who He was. They weren't perfect people. They didn't have perfect lives. What they had was a genuine relationship with Jesus that shined through everything they did.

When I was younger, I was headed in a very different direction than the one God ultimately had planned for me. I made poor choices. I surrounded myself with people who influenced me in all the wrong ways. I was carrying wounds from an abusive childhood and trying to navigate life without truly surrendering it to God.

Yet even during those years, God continually placed people in my path whose lives reflected something different.

There was a peace about them.

A joy about them.

A kindness about them.

They made people feel valued and loved.

Looking back, I realize that what I was seeing was the life of God in them.

Years later, after God began healing my heart through Mercy Ministries and deepening my faith through my time at Christ For The Nations Bible College, I started to understand something important: people aren't looking for perfection. They're looking for authenticity.

They want to know if the faith we talk about actually works when life gets hard.

They want to know if God's peace is real when circumstances aren't.

They want to know if grace and forgiveness are possible when you've been hurt.

The older I get, the more I realize that the life of Christ within us is often the loudest sermon we'll ever preach.

Sometimes it looks like offering encouragement when someone is struggling.

Sometimes it looks like extending grace when it's undeserved.

Sometimes it means simply listening when someone needs to be heard.

And sometimes it's allowing God to use the difficult chapters of our own story to give someone else hope.

I don't share parts of my testimony because I enjoy revisiting painful memories. I share them because I know there are people carrying similar hurts who need to know that healing is possible.

God took a broken young woman with a painful past and gave her a beautiful future.

Today, I have a husband who loves God, a family that I treasure, a business that Scot and I have built together, and a son who has brought immeasurable joy to our lives. None of that happened because of my own strength. It happened because of God's faithfulness.

And if my story can help someone believe that God can redeem their story too, then every difficult chapter was worth it.

The beauty of the life of God in us isn't found in our perfection.

It's found in His transformation.

When people encounter someone who genuinely loves Jesus, they feel seen because Christ sees them.

They feel valued because Christ values them.

They find hope because Christ offers hope.

So today, don't worry so much about having all the right words.

Simply walk closely with Jesus.

The more His life shines through you, the more others will see Him—and that may be exactly what they need to come alive.