Before I became a Christian, I had no idea what a testimony was. When I was fourteen, one of our neighbors invited my mom over for coffee and asked if she could share her testimony with my mom. Until my mom explained to me what our neighbor had told her, I was completely confused thinking about what she could have meant by that phrase: “share her testimony.”

Now that I’ve been a Christian for a few years, the phrase seems second nature to me. I wonder, however, if the practice has become second nature to me as well?

While there aren’t any Bible verses that flat out say: “you should share your testimony,” there are many Bible verses that tell us how good it is to talk about what the Lord has done for us:

1 Chronicles 16:8-9 says, “Oh give thanks to the Lord; call upon his name; make known his deeds among the peoples! Sing to him, sing praises to him; tell of all his wondrous works!”

Psalm 107:2 says, “Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom he has redeemed from trouble.”

These verses clearly tell us that we are supposed to talk publicly about what the Lord has been up to.

Another powerful example is found in the book of Mark. In the fifth chapter, Jesus heals a man who was possessed by a legion of demons and gives him this command: “Go home to your friends and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.” I don’t know about you, but that sounds a whole lot like “go and share your testimony” to me.

Now, even though Scripture is clear that sharing our testimonies brings glory to God, many of us still don’t do it. I doubt that most Christians refrain from sharing their testimonies because they disagree with Scripture. I think most of us struggle to share our testimonies simply because we’re afraid!

What exactly are we afraid of? We’re afraid of being judged for our past actions. We’re afraid of sharing too much with the wrong person and being gossiped about. We’re afraid of leaving too much out and being ineffective. We’re afraid of being misunderstood. We’re afraid of incorrectly sharing the gospel. We’re afraid of being labeled as “one of those crazy Christians.”

The great thing about all of this is that God has an answer for all of our fears. He’s not asking us to do any of this on our own strength! He knows that sharing our stories takes humility, vulnerability, and courage. He doesn’t tell us to pull ourselves up by our bootstraps and figure it out, He tells us to lean on Him for strength and wisdom!

If the idea of sharing your testimony makes you a little uneasy or stirs up some questions, I encourage you to spend some time in prayer this week! Ask God to help you understand the purpose of sharing your testimony. Ask him to give you the strength to do it, and pray for discernment about when to share it and with whom.