Monday, October 11, 2010

Testimony

We were at Selah for our second retreat last weekend.  Our assignment was to share our testimonies in a creative manner.  I went with a poem (surprise) but we had everything from power points, to posters, to dressing up, to rap songs (that was Jean).  I am amazed by the very different paths that God has led each of us on to bring us to the same place.  After we finished sharing testimonies, some of the girls were helping another girl carry all her props back to her room and I could not help but find it an awsome illustration of the verse where we are told to "bear one another's burdens."  The things they were carrying represented her burdens and they were helping to carry them.  :-)

My testimony poem is the hardest thing I've ever tried to write.  It wasn't just the format but also the topic.  How do I communicate what God has done in my life?  From the outside looking in, I have had a near-perfect life.  But God is at work all the same because I'm not perfect.  So it was hard to find the words to craft my testimony.  I hope you'll understand it.

A simple story is mine to tell
Of how my God saved me from hell
Oh!  Listen friends and listen well
His grace has sounded Death’s death knell

A child I was when God’s grace came
Adopted me in, gave me His name
A name to which I’ve oft brought shame
Yet nonetheless He loves me the same

My father it was who told me first
Of the perfect Son and Sin’s dark curse
Of Christ’s life and death and the worst
Sep’ration from God, the Last and the First

In the beginning, Dad told me
Adam sinned, thus so do we
The punishment was death, you see
No matter how small the sin may seem

My debt of sin the cross repaid
And in the tomb the Christ was laid
Til o the third day He was raised
Proof of the power He had claimed

I know not how much I truly grasped
But this I do—God’s love had cast
It’s binding spell o’er me at last
My heart was His, forever clasped

The years have passed—18 or so
In which His faithfulness is shown
He’s guarded my heart and body I know
Without Him, I’ve nothing here to show

My testimony cannot end there
For endless is His love and care
Though trials light have been my share
My heart from His I’ve tried to tear

It’s hard for me to see my sin
Because of the things I’ve never been
Pride and arrogance, they creep in
With the lie, “You’re better than them”

Comfort, security, I did seek
From family, friends, from day to week
Instead of looking to Christ the meek
Inside God’s word I’d barely peek

Building worth on knowledge learned
With pride I was little concerned
Til once again, God’s love it burned
Into my life with grace unearned

Showed me then the black of my pride
And the things in which I often hide
The books, the knowledge, the comfort wide
Pulled me away on Love’s strong tide

A haughty look He says He hates
But comes to him who humbly waits
He alone can fill my plate
In God the King is comfort great

I know I’ll often drift away
From the path He bid me stay
A rough, unwilling lump of clay
Yet He is with me all the way

God plumbed the depths of His supply
From death and sin my heart did buy
He gave His Son—I scarce grasp why
But this I know—‘Twas Him, not I