The Word of Our Testimony {to ourselves}

A verse that has been an encouragement to me during this "displacement" period is: 

"Be at rest once more, O my soul, for the Lord has been good to you!"

Psalm 116:7

We are only able to allow ourselves to rest when we have reason to believe that we can trust the Lord to be good to us. What I love about this verse is that it is a reminder that God is trustworthy- because He's been good to us before! It's a reminder that He is in control now, just as He has been in control in our lives in the past. 

When I am going through really difficult times, a dear friend of mine (who walked with me during one of the most difficult times in my life) often says the line,  "Theresa, you've been here before and you made it through. You are strong enough for this!" She reminds me that the struggle isn't new- I've faced hard thing before and God was faithful then, so we can be assured that He will be faithful yet again. 

A helpful practice for me is to insert truths about how God has been good to me into this verse as a reminder that He has been faithful in my life and will continue to be faithful. For example:

"Be at rest once more, O my soul, for the Lord {the One who brought restoration and salvation after the house fire; The Lord who comforted after Nigeria; The God who provided abundantly during evacuation; The One who has brought abundant comfort and encouragement through friends at just the right times} has been good to you!

When I remind myself of how God has been faithful in the past, it is like preaching my testimony to myself. Why do we share testimonies to other people? To show how great God is and how much He deserves to be praised. When I preach to myself about what God has done int he past, it gives me hope that He WILL do it again. Why? Because He is faithful and He has already shown Himself to be able and willing to come through for me. 

Revelation 12:11 reminds us that we will overcome, "by the blood of the lamb and the word of our testimonies." Sometimes the person who needs to hear our testimonies the most is ourselves. It's how we overcome. We need to remind ourselves of how God has been faithful so that we will believe that He will be faithful once again. 

My prayer for you today is that you will be reminded of how God has been faithful to you in the past. I pray this reminder will encourage you in whatever difficulties you are going through at the moment. I hope you will be able to trust that just as God has been faithful to you before, He is willing and able to answer you prayers and come through for you yet again.