In some of the activities I do, I have the opportunity to hear women’s testimonies. Lot’s of women’s testimonies. It never fails, as I’m listening to someone’s testimony, one person will give a dramatic story that happened in their life. Something so dramatic, that it changed their life. They usually don’t mention Jesus, or He’s a small detail in their story. But the story is always about them and this very dramatic event. It’s about how they came through this event and now they are happy and that much stronger because of it. What they fail to mention is how they came in contact with Jesus Christ. That’s what a Christian testimony is supposed to be about. But many of these stories don’t have that. We all have dramatic stories to tell. But when a person gives their testimony, they should be telling us all about that point when they came in contact with Jesus Christ as their Savior. That moment in time when a transaction occurred. That moment, that day, that time when they let go of their own life and accepted Christ.

One day I was listening to some women’s testimonies. After several women had shared when they accepted Jesus Christ as their Savior, one woman started questioning herself. She wanted to know why she didn’t have the testimony everybody else seemed to have. She wondered why she didn’t seem to have the power of God in her life like the other women had. Another woman turned to her and told her to never let ANYONE question her testimony! She told her to not let anyone tell her she wasn’t a Christian. That wasn’t right, this woman said. She kept saying it over and over again to all the ladies, to not let anyone ever tell you you aren’t a Christian or to question your Christianity. What?!?

What does the Bible say about this? Does the Bible tell us to protect our stories and our title of Christian? Are we to go around defending ourselves to everyone who comes along and asks us when we became a Christian?

2 Corinthians 13:5 “Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you-unless indeed you fail the test?”

What is this verse saying? It tells us to test ourselves. It tells us to examine ourselves. Are we in the faith? And how do you become “in the faith?” Going back to what I talked about before, we need to see if there was a point in time, when we accepted Jesus Christ as our Savior. Is there? Was there? Question yourself. Let someone question your Christianity. It is that important. Examine yourself. Do you know Jesus Christ as Savior? We all have stories to tell. Does YOUR testimony have the point in time when YOU accepted Jesus Christ as Savior? Make sure you do and tell others about it. If you don’t have a testimony, you can get one. You can do it right now, right at this moment. And then your testimony will be sure. You will be sure.

I think what happens to women nowadays is that they get caught up in the Christian culture. They have family or friends who are truly Christian, so they start copying those people. They may start going to church. They may start going to a Bible study. They may start home schooling their kids. As they go along in these activities, they began to learn the lingo. The “Christianese,” as I call it. So these people sound like Christians. They look like Christians on the outside. But truly they are NOT Christians. The longer they go, and the deeper they get, they began to believe they ARE Christians. They lack the power of God in their lives. They are mere copycats. Every once in awhile, the true Christian tangles up with the copycats. The true Christian wonders what’s up with this? How come I can’t get along with this “sister in Christ?” How come there seems to be something missing? That’s because THERE IS! They are missing JESUS CHRIST!!!

So dear reader, question yourself. See if you really are in the faith. Question yourself. Look back in your life and try to remember that point in time when you accepted Jesus Christ as YOUR Savior. Let someone question your Christianity. They are doing you a HUGE favor. We should insure ourselves that we truly are in the faith. Has that transaction occurred? Do have have a time and place? If not, do it now. You don’t have to live without the power of God in your life and the HOLY SPIRIT living in you. Time is running out. Do it now. Accept Jesus Christ as your Savior.

If you find these words speaking to you don’t be a copycat. Become the real thing. Don’t deprive yourself of the POWER of God in your life. You don’t have to pretend anymore. Jesus told us He came to give us life and life more abundantly. Come get and experience that life. The copy is never as good as the read thing.

I just returned from a conference this last weekend. It wasn’t a Christian conference, it was a blogging conference. What I didn’t know, until after I attended the conference, was that it was a heavily Mormon conference. My first clue should have been the fact that it was held in Salt Lake City. But it wasn’t advertised as such. My second clue should have been the group that was sponsoring the conference were Mormon. I came to find out that all the workshops I went to were run by Mormons as well. My third clue came in the keynote speaker at the very beginning of the conference.

The keynote speaker had a very sad story to tell. He started blogging to document the journey with his son who was diagnosed with a horrible genetic disorder that would lead to an early death. This father talked about the illness some and documented the whole journey with thousands of pictures. Pictures of his son at the hospital, pictures of his son with doctors, pictures of this son with the family. As the speaker spoke about his son, my mind kept trying to catch ways this man and his family coped with this difficulty. The man said nothing. He showed us more pictures of his son. He showed us great video montages of his son battling the disease. He made one mention of the power of family. He didn’t mention God. He didn’t mention God and the hope God provides. He didn’t mention prayer.

As the son was dying, the family took the boy home, which they heavily documented with more pictures. By the end of the keynote speaker’s story, I don’t think there was a dry eye in the room. People jumped up to give him a standing ovation. I wasn’t effected by this story. All the speaker gave us was a sad, sad story of his son dying. No credit was given to God. He never mentioned God. There was no hope in the story. It was hopeless. People jumped up and applauded this speaker because the story was so sad. But he left the audience with NOTHING. He left the audience with no hope, nothing to look to, except the power of family.

I thought of my friend who is a very recent young widow. It hasn’t been a year since her husband passed away, leaving her with three kids, whom she home schooled. She is a Christian. I won’t tell you her life is all roses and sunshine. She struggles day by day with the loss of her husband and what her future holds for her. There is something that confuses her as she walks through this valley. People keep telling her she seems happy, so content. She questions herself and ask, “I do?” She confides in me that many times she is not happy. Many times she is angry.

We talk often about how she is doing. I’ve told her I’m here for her and I will walk along side her as she makes this journey through the valley of the shadow of death. When I listened to this sad sad story of a father losing his son, I thought of my friend. I compared the two in my head. This speaker gave us a sad story. And that was it, nothing more. It was just something to cry about. My friend has the Holy Spirit in her. There is hope. She exudes hopefulness. People keep telling her she seems so happy and content because they see the hope within her. She talks about God all the time. She talks about praying to Him, crying out to Him. Hers is not just a sad story, hers is a testimony of the hope all us Christians have within us. When we face trials and tribulations, we can turn to God. God has told us to.

“Cast your cares upon Me for I care for you.” We aren’t asked to journey alone. He tells us to allow Him to carry us. And then give a reason for the hope that is in us when people ask.

I went away from the keynote session sad. I was sad for this family who doesn’t know the truth. They believe in the power of family (whatever that means). Yet they have no hope. God is our hope, and they don’t know God. They don’t know the true God.

My friend knows the true God. The Holy Spirit lives in her because she has accepted Jesus Christ as her Savior. She can tell you the date and time she accepted Him. She knows the truth. She’s not offering a sad story for people to be sad with her. She hasn’t curled up in a corner hoping the world will just go away. She is coping with the death of her husband by continuing to love God. She knows God loves her. She has hope. She has much hope.