Stewarding Your Story: The Sacred Trust of Personal Experience

How vulnerability flows naturally from security in Christ

I spent years believing I didn't have a testimony worth sharing.

Growing up in a godly home, I never had the dramatic conversion story that seemed to captivate audiences at church events.

No rock bottom moment.

No life of rebellion dramatically interrupted by divine intervention.

Any time I thought of sharing my testimony, I'd feel a twinge of inadequacy. I certainly had nothing that would make for an engaging three-minute share at a youth rally.

But much later in life, thanks to a direct encounter with Jesus, I realized something:

Testimony is more than dramatic conversion.

It's the entire narrative of God's faithful presence throughout our lives—even when we didn't recognize it.

And that discovery changed everything about how I approach vulnerability, even (or perhaps especially) in my writing.

In short, there's a huge difference between vulnerability that flows from security in Christ and vulnerability that comes from striving for connection.

Rediscovering Your Story Through God's Eyes

One of the most profound transformations that happens when we surrender to Christ is how it changes our relationship with our past.

Suddenly, we can look back and see Divine fingerprints on moments we once thought were insignificant or even random.

This is what happened for me.

Somewhat late in my life, I finally crossed that threshold from intellectual belief to true surrender.

And with this surrender came a new perspective—not just on my present and future, but on my past as well.

Looking back now, I can see that God has been in my story from the beginning—leading, guiding, and drawing me to Himself long before I recognized His presence. What I once dismissed as an "ordinary" testimony was actually a sacred journey of His patient, persistent love.

When we begin to see our stories through God's redemptive lens, we discover that we've been carrying around a testimony all along—we just didn't recognize it as such.

This isn't about manufacturing spiritual significance where there is none. It's about finally seeing what was always there: the consistent thread of a loving God weaving through every chapter of your life.

For many of us, this realization is humbling. We thought we needed dramatic events to have a story worth telling, when God was writing something beautiful in the ordinary all along.

Security as the Foundation for Vulnerability

As I mentioned before, there is a profound difference between vulnerability that springs from insecurity versus vulnerability that flows from security in Christ.

• Vulnerability from insecurity says: "I'll share my struggles so people will accept me."

• Vulnerability from security says: "I'll share my struggles because I'm already fully accepted."

This distinction can transform how we share our personal experiences as writers.

When your identity is anchored in Christ, you're no longer mining your life for content that will connect with readers. Instead, you're offering your story as evidence of God's faithfulness, with no need for it to perform or prove your worth.

This security creates freedom:

• Freedom to acknowledge weakness because you know your true strength

• Freedom to share struggles without shame because you know who holds your redemption

• Freedom to tell the unvarnished truth because your worth isn't tied to how others receive your story

I experience this freedom firsthand now. I have no problem talking about my old self, because he's dead and gone.

I'm open about my struggles, because I'm not the one fighting anymore—He is. What once felt like weaknesses to hide have become opportunities to showcase His strength.

When Paul wrote, "I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me" (2 Corinthians 12:9), he wasn't using some kind of strategic vulnerability technique.

He was expressing the natural overflow of a heart secure in Christ.

God in the Everyday: Finding the Sacred in Your Story

Not everyone has a road-to-Damascus moment (though some of us do!). Some of us have a gradually-unfolding-realization story. Some have a faithful-despite-doubts story. Others have a God-was-there-when-no-one-else-was story.

These stories matter.

In fact, your "ordinary" testimony might be exactly what someone else needs to hear. While dramatic conversion stories certainly have their place, many readers are trying to find God in their everyday lives. They need to hear from writers who can illuminate the sacred in the seemingly mundane.

How do you uncover God's presence in your own story, especially if you don't have dramatic turning points?

Look for:

• Patterns of provision that you once attributed to luck or coincidence

• Relationships that guided you toward truth, even when you didn't recognize it

• Moments of inexplicable peace or clarity amid difficulty

• Seeds of faith planted early that took years to fully bloom

• Questions and doubts that actually led you deeper rather than away

One of the greatest gifts we can offer readers is permission to see God in their ordinary moments. By sharing how He's been present in the everyday chapters of our lives, we help others recognize His presence in theirs.

Writing from Secure Identity

Interestingly, when you understand that your worth comes from Christ rather than your writing, you actually become a better writer.

The pressure will lift. The performance anxiety will fade. The need to impress will dissolve.

What remains is the pure desire to communicate truth as you've experienced it—to serve readers rather than impress them.

Now,

• You can write first to God before writing to an audience

• You can share struggles without self-consciousness

• You can tell the truth about both your failures and successes

• You can trust the Holy Spirit's guidance about what to share and what to keep private

Writing from secure identity also helps you resist the temptation to use vulnerability as a strategy.

In today's content landscape, authentic sharing has unfortunately become a marketing tactic—a way to manufacture connection. But readers can sense the difference between “strategic vulnerability” and genuine testimony.

The former feels calculated, even when the content is personal. The latter feels like a gift, even when the content is simple.

Connection Through Authenticity

As Christian writers, we are uniquely positioned to convey God's life in and through us—both past and present. When we write from our true identity in Christ, we create space for genuine connection with readers.

This connection doesn't come from impressive prose or perfectly structured arguments. It comes from the resonant truth that emerges when one heart speaks honestly to another.

Readers today are hungry for authenticity. We’ve grown weary of carefully curated personas and strategic self-disclosure. Even subconsciously, we can spot manufactured vulnerability from miles away, and it leaves us feeling more isolated, not less.

What readers are often looking for—whether they can articulate it or not—is evidence that they're not alone in their journey. That someone else has wrestled with similar questions, faced similar struggles, experienced similar grace.

Paradoxically, when we stop using vulnerability as a tool to create connection and instead offer it as a genuine testimony of God's work in our lives, the connection becomes deeper and more meaningful than we could have possibly engineered.

Embracing Your Whole Story

Perhaps you, like me, have dismissed parts of your story as too ordinary to matter. Or perhaps you've kept certain chapters hidden out of shame or fear of judgment.

Today, I invite you to see your entire story through the eyes of the One who has been authoring it all along.

The chapters you thought were boring? He was there, laying foundation. The chapters you'd rather forget? He was there, preparing redemption. The chapters still being written? He is here, completing the good work He began.

Your story—all of it—is a sacred trust. Not because it's dramatic or impressive by worldly standards, but because it bears witness to a God who has never left your side, even when you couldn't see Him.

When you share from this place of security and recognition, vulnerability stops being something you strive for and becomes something that flows naturally. Not to gain connection, but because you're already connected to the Source of all true relationship.

And that, dear writer, is a testimony worth sharing.

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BONUS: Uncovering God's Presence in Your Story

Guided Reflection

Take some time to reflect on these different seasons of your life, looking specifically for God's presence even when you might not have recognized it at the time:

1. Early Childhood

   • What people influenced your understanding of faith, even in subtle ways?

   • What early experiences shaped your view of God?

   • What questions about faith do you remember having?

1. Adolescence

   • How did your understanding of God evolve during these years?

   • Who provided spiritual guidance, even if informal?

   • What challenges to your faith emerged, and how did they ultimately strengthen you?

1. Early Adulthood

   • How did major decisions reflect either movement toward or away from God?

   • What unexpected provisions now seem clearly from Him?

   • What relationships served as anchors to truth?

1. Recent Years

   • Where have you seen prayers answered in unexpected ways?

   • How has God redeemed past struggles for present purpose?

   • What gradual changes in your heart and mind reveal His ongoing work?

Connecting Past to Present Ministry

Consider how your unique journey equips you to minister to others through your writing:

1. Your Questions

   • What questions have you wrestled with that might help others who are questioning?

   • How has God met you in uncertainty?

   • What does your journey of doubt and faith offer to seekers?

1. Your Struggles

   • What difficulties have you faced that give you compassion for others?

   • How has God's presence in your struggles shaped your message?

   • What hard-earned wisdom can you now share?

1. Your Growth

   • How has your understanding of God matured over time?

   • What misconceptions has He gently corrected?

   • What truths have moved from your head to your heart?

Journal Prompts

1. "When I look back at [difficult season], I can now see God was..."

1. "I used to believe _____ about God, but now I understand..."

1. "The part of my story I've been hesitant to share is... What holds me back is... What might happen if I shared it is..."

1. "If I were to write a letter to myself during my most challenging season, I would say..."

1. "The unique perspective I bring to Christian writing because of my experiences is..."

Remember: Your testimony isn't just the moment of conversion or dramatic change. It's the entire narrative of God's faithful presence throughout your life. As you uncover this thread of divine involvement, you'll discover fresh material for authentic writing that truly serves your readers.