A Story to Tell to The Nations

When my friend Aleesa has some really good news or some really good dirt so to speak she will text me and say these simple words “Girl do I have a story to tell to the Nations.” In reading those words it sends my nosiness gene into overdrive and I know I have to call her quick to get the news. I was reminded of those words yesterday though in a totally different context. I was roaming around the French Market yesterday with a friend doing the tourist thing and just hanging out when we stopped at a booth that had the coolest coasters with classic New Orleans Stuff on them. I picked up one that said “I know what it means to miss New Orleans.” I called my friends attention to it and said I had to have it, when the vendor asked me “Do you really know what it means to miss New Orleans?” “Yes mam I do I replied I am not from here but I have lived here for about six years now and in that year I knew what it meant to miss New Orleans.”
It was then that this woman a complete stranger began to recount to me and my friend her horrific story in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, of being trapped on a roof watching the water rise and hearing the groans of her family members as the sun was blistering their skin. “I knew we could not stay on the roof any longer so we got in the water, then I knew we could not stay in the water…” What she said next rocked my world “I was the only believer in my family, and all I could do was pray. The kept saying help will come but what they did not know was help was already there God was on the roof, and in the water and at the dome, because HE was with me, and now my family has a testimony of what God can do!”
Recounting that story gives me chills again as I sit here and write it. As I have thought of that story over and over for the last twenty-four hours it brought to my mind that we all have a testimony of what God can do. It also brings to mind a woman by the name of Mary Magdalene. Now this is a woman with a story to tell to the Nations. One of being possessed by demons and having Jesus himself cast them out, being there when he was crucified and then the story to end all stories. The gospels tells the story of resurrection morning, of Mary Magdalene going to prepare the body of Jesus and finding the tomb empty, of her running to get the others and staying behind after they left weeping when it happens… Jesus appears to her and says why do you look for the LIVING among the dead. Jesus picked Mary Magdalene a woman with a Story to tell the greatest story of them all… HE… IS…NOT…DEAD! HE IS RISEN!!
We all have a story, some are good, some are bad, but we all have a story. Over the last few months I have been learning that my story is not a weakness but a strength, and that was never more apparent than Saturday when a complete Stranger reminded me that God is always there on the roof, in water and through any storm life throws at me.
We all have a story to tell to the Nations, the story of serving a RISEN LORD!! We also have stories of how God has revealed Himself to us in the best and worst of life’s circumstances. The question is how will we use it to impact the kingdom?