The Power of a Witness

Over the weekend, in preparing for an upcoming retreat, the team leaders all took time to run through our witness talks for the different themes of the day and share pieces of our stories and how our faith has been impacted in different ways.  As we took time to share and discuss our ideas for our witness talks, I was reminded of how cool it is that every person has different stories and faith journeys.  Not one person’s story is the same and each of our journeys reflects God in a different way.  We are all called to share about our faith and how God has worked in our lives.

Some people have big and dramatic stories.  Maybe they stopped practicing their faith and strayed far from Jesus or left the Catholic Church altogether, and then they experienced something that brought them back.  Others have stories that seem like a roller coaster, with lots of ups and downs.  Those big stories are great and powerful and people are always amazed when hearing them.  Other people have stories where nothing seemingly major happened, and at surface level, may seem boring.  Some people might think that they don’t have a story to share because it’s not big and exciting.  But if we are alive, we have a story to share and that’s what we need to do.

Each of our faith journeys is a testament to God.  All the bits and pieces of our stories are worth sharing.  At times, we might be asked to stand in front of a group of people and share a personal witness talk.  Other times, we are called to share through a conversation with someone.  At times we might be asked to share our whole story, and at other times, just parts that are applicable in a given moment.  Regardless, our lives can be a witness to our faith, simply by what we do and say.  And God can use our lives to impact others.

We should always strive to be a witness to why faith matters and why we need God in our lives.  Each of our stories have value and are a piece of who God is, and our stories also share our love for God and His love for us.  My prayer for today is that we would all recognize the value of our faith journeys and be open and ready to share!