This is real good and meaningful.
----- Original Message -----
From: O.Addison Gethers
To: Deaf-blind inspirational life groups ; Christian bible study groups
Sent: Saturday, July 25, 2009 9:50 AM
Subject: {dbilg} A Spiritual Dialect devotional from S F July 25
Saturday, July 25, 2009
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A Spiritual Dialect
Jothany Blackwood
My grandmother had an expression that captured the myriad nuances of
testimony and its power to transform. As we sat around her porch on humid,
southern
nights, she would open her stories of God's goodness with "honey, it's a
story to tell!" As though there are some stories only to be read, others folded
like worn quilts in the secret places of our hearts, or still others that
dance unrestrained like leaves upon a sudden breeze.
But what I sensed in her expression was the urgency of sharing our
testimonies. That engaging in a communal dialogue about the Spirit connected us
to an
individual transformation and ultimately, a collective one as a body of
believers. When we keep the power of God to ourselves, we miss the lesson that
was meant not just for us, but for others. That our overcoming is a road map
for how others can continue their destinies uninterrupted.
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Testimonies are simply our stories translated into a spiritual dialect, where
our sundry experiences are shared in the same voice. The barriers that once
separated us become less meaningful. Instead we are connected through the
strength of learning that someone not only survived their circumstances, but
came out of it unbroken. Where the story from the other side offers a
reflection of who you can become, a compass for direction, a light in darkness
and
confusion, and manna for your soul.
The Word teaches that we overcome through the testimonies of others, so
embedded in that is an edict that we must give voice to our experiences. That
the
articulation of our journey with God carries power beyond our words, but that
it morphs into an agent of change when shared. You are standing now because
you heard of someone who did the same. You can shout now because you read of
someone who shouted out of what you are going through.
And so knowing that testimonies by their nature must be shared, we gathered
around the porch on humid, southern nights to share how we made it over. And
by the time the front porch crowd thinned and Big Mama shooed us all
home...you knew that no one left that porch unchanged.
Jothany Blackwood
O. Addison Gethers
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