By: Dr. Natasha Davis
Testimony. Have you ever heard someone’s testimony? Of course, throughout the Bible we read many accounts of people sharing their testimony of how God transformed their lives, but I’m speaking of a testimony by someone you know. Maybe you heard someone’s testimony in church or in class, recounting how God has worked and moved in their lives. Or maybe you have shared your own testimony. God reminds us as believers that we are called to testify. 1 Peter 3:15-16 says, “But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.” So, with that, I am going to share my testimony and I pray that it will bless you in some way.
I’m going to take you back to a time when I was in high school, a senior in fact, and I was ready for the next chapter of my life…college! During my high school years, like most teenagers at that time, I was an active student, always involved in a variety of things both in and out of school. I was also very involved in my home church serving on the Young Adult Usher board, singing in the Young Adult choir for a short time (where I quickly learned God did not intend for me to be a singer), attended Sunday school and church every Sunday, never missed church revivals or homecomings, and participated in church trips. God was a significant part of my life, and at an early age I gave my life to Christ and was baptized.
So, as an excited and ambitious teenager in my Senior year, I was ready to take on the world and to see where God was going to lead me next. Imagine my surprise when someone I trusted told me one day, “You will never amount to anything.” Unfortunately, there were more negative words to follow that I won’t divulge here, but I’d like for you to let those words sink in for a moment. Say those words out loud and see how it feels. Heavy statement, right? Here I am, a teenager thinking I’ve accomplished so much in preparation for college, academically and personally. This person saw how hard I worked, so where did that statement come from? But yet for some reason, when this person looked at me, instead of seeing my God-given potential, they only saw unworthiness.
In that moment, time stood still for me as those words sunk right down to my soul, crushing my spirit. Was this person right? Did they see something in me that God didn’t see? Maybe this was God’s way of telling me not to pursue college because I was not smart enough or there was something I lacked. So many emotions were felt at that time that I walked away from this person feeling defeated, angry and broken. In that brief moment in time, I went from a joyous teenager to feeling that I somehow failed God by not being good enough, that someone felt compelled to tell me I would never amount to anything.
So, after walking away, you’re probably wondering what I did next after that encounter. I went home and told my momma, that’s what! Through tears streaming down my face, I recounted for my mother what this person said to me, and in all her infinite Christian southern momma wisdom, my mother gently replied, “So are you going to believe that one person’s opinion about you or what you know to be true of what God says about you? Are you going to let them define your life for you or are you going to define it for yourself according to God’s will for your life?” And that was that. The tears dried up, and with a renewed spirit, I understood that I could not and would not let that person make me think less about myself. That not only was I smart enough to attend college, but after earning a bachelor’s degree, two terminal degrees and several certificates, I thrived in college!
In all honesty, after telling my mother what happened, I almost halfway expected her to find this person and bless them with a good ol’ piece of her mind, but that was not the case. Instead I was taught a very valuable lesson that changed my life: never allow someone’s opinion of you to overshadow what God knows and says about you, and that’s my testimony.
As crushing as it was to hear that statement, it was also my God-given fuel to always lean into one of my favorite Bible verses. “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future” (Jeremiah 29:11).
Reminder. HIS plans for you, not others; what HE thinks of you, not others.
What is your testimony? Have you shared your testimony with someone who needed to hear it? If not, I encourage you to do so and write them down in a testimony journal. Whenever you can, share His goodness to encourage others that He can do the same for them. That moment in my life strengthened my relationship with God. Now at this time in my life, knowing how far God has brought me spiritually, personally and professionally, is why I always carry an attitude of gratitude for everything HE has done in my life. For the truth is, just because that person thought I would never amount to anything, is the reason God used me to show and prove, that according to His plan, I actually amounted to everything.
May God bless you always and in ALL ways!
Witness to God’s goodness,
Dr. Natasha Davis