SUMMARY
Sharing Your Witness – Sharing the Abundant Life (Part 2)
There is a blessing that comes forth when those who seek the Face of God share what they have been given. This includes sharing your witness. In this episode, Patti Brunner will give you pointers in preparing your witness and the benefits of Sharing the Abundant Life. Stewardship is not a ‘to do’ that we accomplish then cross it off the list. Its purpose is to connect us with Jesus. When you grow in understanding, you begin to comprehend truth in ways that you never realized. When your heart is moved by God’s love, it is an important moment in your life. Whatever you say, speak from the heart. Share truth; truth sets hearts free. When a difficult time in your life is overcome by the mercy and grace of God, it can become a witness sharing point. You can’t imagine the blessings that will flow as you recognize the presence of God in your life and then share that with others.
Blog TOS071 “Sharing Your Witness -Sharing the Abundant Life (Part 2)”
I want you to see the blessing that comes forth when those who seek the Face of God share what they have been given. This includes sharing your witness. Sometimes people get a little confused about witnessing. We’ve all seen television shows of courtrooms where the witness is sworn to tell the truth and nothing but the truth as they testify, but how can that be a blessing from God? One thing Christians have in common with the courthouse witness is that your story is also a statement of truth. The difference is that instead of solving guilt or innocence in a case, your testimony can share the gift of eternal joy. Preparing your witness helps you to grow in understanding. When you grow in understanding, you begin to comprehend truth in ways that you never realized. The fulfillment of the promises of God awaits the fullness of truth for all to understand.”
Welcome to Truth of the Spirit. Today’s topic is “Sharing Your Witness -Sharing the Abundant Life” I’m Patti Brunner. This is part 2 of a short series.
Sharing your witness is a form of sharing your faith. A lot of people I have met have an awkward aversion to the Catholic term “evangelization” as if I were going to ask them memorize Church doctrine, learn a foreign language, and then move to Haiti and live among the poorest of the poor to share the Catholic faith as a missionary. But even that is more agreeable than their other fear of being asked to go door to door in their own town. What I have discovered, and I quickly share to alleviate fear, is that evangelizing begins with sharing your own story of faith wherever you happen to be. I find faith stories a lot more interesting than talking about sports, diets or politics.
You should be prepared to share the Good News at “The drop of a hat” whenever and wherever you are. What keeps you from doing so? Statistics reveal that most Catholics feel they do not know their faith and thus cannot share their faith. This is because they have a lack of understanding of what “faith” is. The richness of the Church is revealed in many ways: the lives of the saints, the sacred Tradition of Scripture, the sacraments—especially Eucharist, Baptism, and Reconciliation—prayer, the various documents written by the Church doctors and leaders, the priesthood of the faithful and the sacred priesthood of Holy Orders, the telling of the history of the Church and the encyclicals of the modern popes and the Catechism of the Catholic Church. All of these are wonderful ways available to know, love and serve God. Yet, the signs of believers came to a group who did not know it all because someone shared their personal relationship with the living God.
I have also seen statistics that showed another reason that people don’t evangelize is because they do not want to offend people. Be aware that it is not against the law to speak about God and His marvelous works in our daily lives. When someone says, “How are you?” you can bring God up in a casual way in your everyday conversations as the One who answered your prayers. When someone asks, “How was your weekend?” share with them something you heard in the homily that touched you or some way that you recognized or felt the presence of God. Share something you heard on a Christian podcast or Catholic radio broadcast.
At Patriarch House, the ministry house that my husband and I provide to our Catholic community, we’ve invited quite a few people over the years to share their witness in public. Everyone has a story to tell. Some are conversion stories that rival St. Paul’s story that is repeated many times in the New Testament. Others are quiet testimonies of the goodness of the grace that flows through their lives. One thing they discover is that they do not have to be a theologian to share their own story. In the abundant life the Lord has given us, we could give a fresh witness every day. Are you surprised by that? When we are busy, serving, focusing on self and ‘get it done’ we miss the truth. God, in his love for us, will remind us again and again until it sinks in.
When your heart is moved by God’s love, it is an important moment in your life. So often, people sleepwalk through the most important moments of their lives. The presence of God is real. Too many just are not aware that God is in their midst. Tell them: the Lord, the great ‘I Am’ is here. Perhaps, like me, you have met him in the cool of the evening, or upon the mountain top overlooking the harvest. You could share a time when the Spirit flooded you, soul and body, indeed when he called you into a moment of fullness of the kingdom.
Whatever you say, speak from the heart. Share truth; truth sets hearts free. Do not be afraid of boasting of what God has done. Speak of God’s generosity that manifested in your life. Why do you fear sharing the supernatural? Our God is the Lord of the natural and the supernatural. It is the job of the witness to use one to explain the other. Fear not. The Lord is with you.
Take note of God’s presence in your daily walk. God is with you. God is among you. Yet, unless we seek His face, watch for his Presence—we can be blind to his presence. Watch for his presence in “Holy Coincidences”, affirmations of answered prayers and favors. Every day—every hour—try to make an effort to see God in your life.
If a lot of your day is a struggle, or if your witness includes some really hard times, remember, as darkness dissipates with the ‘Son’ rise, so does the pain and sorrow of traumatic events fade as the Son of God comes into your life through prayer and surrender. When a difficult time in your life is overcome by the mercy and grace of God, it can become a witness sharing point. Not to dwell on the negative but to relate that the power of God can get us through the difficult times. It then gives you the chance to help others who are still in their personal darkness of a similar struggle. By sharing what God has done for you the ray of hope can lift them up.
One time a young person I knew was struggling and I couldn’t seem to do anything to help; even my prayers seemed useless. I called out to God in frustration. He told me that this child was building her witness. God’s ways are beyond our understanding. Another time I was in a dark place in my heart feeling lost. A friend mentioned St. John of the Cross and his book “Dark Night of the Soul”. As I turned to read about his experiences I gained a new understanding of God’s ways and my joy returned and I knew I wasn’t really lost at all. A few years later I met a young man who was in a dark place feeling lost and I was able to share my experience and he quickly realized that God was with him, too.
Sharing our witness can change lives.
Recall, now, someone who influenced your life. How did that person do this? Recall someone who influenced your spiritual life. Ask yourself—have I done this for others? Have I handed over what was given to me?
How about keeping a running auto-biography with various stories that are funny, poignant, touching—that clearly point to the presence of God or that show the mercy of God.
You can’t imagine the blessings that will flow as you stop and recognize the presence of God in your life and then share that with others.
Take five minutes to make a list of your blessings. Even in the most trying of times I bet you can find a blessing. One day, a long time ago, I was cleaning the refrigerator and I knocked out a new jar of strawberry jam. The jar broke and the sticky goop went all over the kitchen, which I might add was carpeted at the time. Grace helped overcome the initial reaction to breaking the jar of jam as I sat in the floor and I started giving God praise that I had a refrigerator stocked with other food. I had a car and money with which I could go buy more. I was physically able to get down on my knees to clean it up. Breaking that jar of jelly was a blessing!
As you do a little preparation to share your witness, realize that the audience and the amount of time you have to share is key.
For a 5 minute witness take note of 3 times that you KNEW God was with you. Then one or all of these can be shared in a line at Wal-Mart or on the bleachers of a ball game.
When 15-30 minutes are available the witness can include something about who you are and where you started from—not geographically but mentally/spiritually. Then trace the move of God, your response to the God’s move, then the effect of responding to him. It’s not difficult. It’s an “I was. He did. I am.”
Contemplate where you have been and where you are going. Recognize that your story has merit no matter where you are on your spiritual journey. Every part of your life has formed you and can be used as part of your personal witness. Please note that when you witness your faith you don’t have to give a lot of detail. Too much detail can give the person to whom you are speaking a ‘glassed over blank look.’
And know that if you have confessed your sins they are forgiven. When your past is full of negative elements use them to show the mercy of God. Survival is an act of faith and hope. As you comprehend answered prayers, note them and put them in your personal witness.
When time is of no matter—such as when you write your witness to share with family or a spiritual director—include background information plus more details of the 5 and the 30 minutes witnesses. Write where you are now in your spiritual walk contrasted with where you were. Complete details of who, what, when, where and how can be given.
Keep a separate section for ‘hopes and dreams’. What is it you feel called to do? What is your current unfulfilled heart’s desire? What do you see happening in your current situation that pleases God? It is easy to find disappointments—The Holy Spirit calls you to connect the dots to see how one thing has prepared you for another.
If you have attended Cursillo, the reunion and Ultreya constantly gives the opportunity to witness. Sharing your life—and how you are connected to God—is an important part of sharing the faith that has been greatly overlooked. Remember “witnessing” is relating everything back to relationship with God or the past lack of relationship with God.
The more you share your witness, the blessings of the Lord will be more apparent and the more you will have to share. It is the way of the Abundant Life.
What if someone asks you a question and you don’t know the answer? Answer honestly, say: “I’m not sure of that—let me do some digging and then get back to you.” Trust me, there are plenty of Catholic websites of Catholics who, in sharing their time, talent and treasure, have an answer for you from the documents of the Church or their own personal experiences. You might even find an answer in one of my podcasts.
Another thing to remember, you state a profession of what you believe every Sunday at mass. It’s called the Creed. Every Sunday, you are sharing the witness of what you believe.
Once you are comfortable sharing your personal witness, you can take another step.
The Holy Spirit has given many a unique understanding of truth so that they can teach, share, and witness to others. The charism of the teacher starts with understanding. Then, it is “like seeing a different spectrum of color for information readily available to all. They then describe the prism to which others can find and look through to see the different angle of a particular topic encompassed in God’s love.”
Explore the Good News to discover how to share the Good News of Jesus Christ. Jesus taught the Apostles how to share their witness, how to evangelize, then he sent the Holy Spirit so they could remember everything he taught them. Jesus does this for you too!
Choose and memorize a few meaningful scriptures. The sports star Tim Tebow became famous for evangelizing John 3:16: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life.” You don’t have to write the scripture on your cheek the way Tim did, but have it ready to express something the Lord has done for you and point out that he can and will do it for others. If you’re not sure how to get started listen to my podcast “Basics to Reading the Bible for Catholics”.
Study of scripture is the study of God. The Holy Spirit inspired the writers of sacred scripture that it might be used for formation. The magisterium, or governing body of the Church, set our modern liturgy to include more scripture content so that as we attend Mass we can hear the Word of God. Remember ‘Faith comes by hearing the Word of God.’
Jesus shows the way. He told stories. I shared in Part 1 that a story about a farmer’s relationship with God changed my life. Can you imagine how many lives you might touch sharing your own story? The Gospels tell the story of God’s love for us. The Acts of the Apostles tells the story of the early Church. What is your story?
In the first part of this series I talked about sharing your personal assets by tithing and how you can’t out give God. I ended by sharing that “Jesus tells us the ‘person who is trustworthy in very small matters is also trustworthy in great ones’. Material wealth is a small matter. Spiritual wealth is a great one.” What you see unfolding is just a drop in the bucket. As you release your personal treasure, your intimate witness, many shall be touched. As you open your heart for all to see your strengths and your weaknesses many shall be encouraged.
Stewardship is not a ‘to do’ that we accomplish then cross it off the list. Its purpose is to connect us with Jesus: To see and experience Jesus in our actions of stewardship whether it is sharing our witness, sharing our finances, our time and talent, or our family. Sharing his gifts with others is to connect us with the source of the gifts and thus share the Giver to those whom we ‘steward’.
If we miss the ‘big picture’ our initial actions keep us in the ‘stream of living Water’ in a whirlpool and God brings us around again to hear, to learn, to experience. As we soak in the Living Water, we are freed of barriers and we are soaked clean and start being saturated, finally becoming one, truly, one heart—with the Sacred Heart—one mind—with the Mind of Christ—and one Body—the Body of Christ, the Church—giving all that we are—we are giving Christ. We are His Body and all that the Father has is given to the Son and to us to share.
Remember, the more you share your witness, the blessings of the Lord will be more obvious and the more you will have to share. It is the way of the Abundant Life.
You’ve been listening to Truth of the Spirit. I’m Patti Brunner and I invite you to subscribe and come back for more. With the Holy Spirit there’s always more.
