Why I’m Thankful for My Boring Testimony
by Rebekah Rood
When I was growing up in a believing home, the testimonies that grabbed my attention were the ones that sounded like something out of a movie. I grew up assuming that a "real" testimony was one that included a backstory of dangerous or bad behavior—and then an encounter with Jesus that miraculously turned everything around.
That wasn't my life. I couldn’t remember one “lightbulb moment,” but rather lots of little moments. I was a good kid who spent my early childhood attending church or Messianic congregation at least four times a week! And so, instead of being able to see my story—one that contained evidence of God's care and faithfulness—I was self-conscious and didn't really think that I had a story worth sharing.
I was first asked to share my story when I was 16 and serving as a staff member at Camp Gilgal. Public speaking was hard enough! And on top of that, I felt like I didn’t have much to say about myself, my own behavior, or any big events in my life. But as I was nervously anticipating my turn, I heard stories that sounded more like mine than I was expecting. Instead of dramatic "coming to know Yeshua literally saved my life" stories, I heard stories of people who, like me, were figuring out little by little how to make their faith their own. Listening to them gave me the opportunity to reflect on the things God had done.
He had led me to the friendships that I needed to understand Jewish faith in Jesus for myself. My family and congregation had gone through some big changes. I wasn’t prepared for the loneliness that came with all those changes! But in the midst of a season of uncertainty, God was at work in my life providing what I needed and didn't know how to ask for.
God knew I needed someone outside my immediate circle to provide a safe place to just be. There had been transitions in my family and congregational context, and a lot of them were really challenging. But they also led to my family getting connected to local Jews for Jesus staff who were newly married. Nici was outgoing and easy to connect with, and she was between my age and my parents'. She was an adult who made time for me and who talked about her faith in a way that felt really natural and normal to me. I didn’t realize it at the time, but when Nici invited me into her home to share meals together, talk together, and help prepare their new baby’s room, that was God’s way of sending someone to model the life I was trying to figure out.
Getting to know the ministry had also led me to Camp. I wasn't a teen who gravitated towards the outdoors or highly social environments, but God knew that Camp Gilgal was exactly what I needed and knew that it would be part of my life for a long time. It ended up filling a hole and providing the Jewish believing community I was missing. God answered my prayers in a way I hadn’t expected. I didn’t even realize until twenty years later how powerfully He’d been directing my story!
At that point, I’d gone through life changes like coming to work for the ministry, getting married, and becoming a mom. I joined a leadership development program that asked us to map out our lives up to that point. It was like sharing a testimony, but while zooming in to particular moments. We had certain post-it colors for moments of celebration, moments of provision, moments of struggle, and moments of significance in our faith story. There was something about looking at my story in this way that made it click like it hadn’t before. In every purple post-it season of my life that was marked for "struggle," there were also neon green post-its of provision.
God used this exercise to show me that He had seen me years ago when He led me to the right resources before I even knew what to pray for. Sometimes, when we have a need, God has already provided for it. That was true for Moses when he was scared to talk to the people—and Aaron was already on a path to meet him (Exodus 4:14)!
The Lord directed my path to a place where I’m now discipling young people. I've been honored to walk with families through the process of their kids becoming bar or bat mitzvah (that list has even included Nici's children!). I get to help teens learn how to read and understand the Bible for themselves, and I mentor interns who are trying to figure out how they can best serve God with their lives. When these students feel the way I felt—that their testimony isn’t worth sharing—I remind them that there’s a story only they can tell, and that’s the story God is writing with their life.
A testimony is a story of God's faithfulness. If you have a relationship with Jesus, you have a testimony. Maybe it is like mine and it's kind of a long story, or maybe it is one of those stories with a clear moment where God changed everything. Only God knows why our stories are the way they are—but they are stories where God is at work, and that's exciting even if there aren't “spicy” details to share!
If we had cookie-cutter stories that all reflected the same piece of God’s character, how could we get to know him better? We need the puzzle of many different people if we’re to see the one big story of who God is. He is Rescuer, Father, Friend, Protector, and Provider. You’ve got a story, and it’s a story that shares a piece of God’s character that you are meant to share.