Go and Share: Telling Our Stories Matters

“Return home and tell how much God has done for you.” So the man went away and told all over town how much Jesus had done for him.” (Luke 8:39 NIV)

As I sat in the church pew with my head bowed in prayer, I heard a voice reverberate so thunderously in my heart that it startled me.

The voice seemed blaringly loud, as if it had been announced over the sanctuary speakers. I opened my eyes and glanced around to see if anyone else appeared to be as startled and taken aback by this interruption during silent prayer as I was. But all was calm. All heads were still bowed, all eyes closed. I concluded what I had heard was a divine message meant for my spiritual ears alone.

God had spoken loud and clear, just three little words that would have life-altering repercussions for me. Three words that were powerful, commanding, firm, resolute, and alive.

God simply said, Go and share.

I immediately became overwhelmed with emotion, awestruck that God had spoken at all, and I had actually heard from him. But I was also bewildered at the three words that pierced my ears. Go and share? Go and share what?

I sat silently for a few moments in thought, and then it hit me. Fear immediately overwhelmed me, and I felt my body sink into the pew, trembling at what I thought God might be asking of me. So I began to question him.

Surely you can’t mean for me to share my past, Lord. Surely you don’t mean go and share what I prefer to keep secret. Share the most vulnerable, painful experiences of my life?

I was certain that was exactly what he meant. And I didn’t like it.

I did not want to go, much less share. I didn’t want to be transparent or vulnerable. I had no desire to open up my heart to shame, judgment, or ridicule from others. I much preferred being a private, quiet person. This was not OK.

It had all started a few months earlier, when I had finally fully accepted his forgiveness for the secret sins of my past, sins which had haunted me for years, resulting in an abortion as a teenager. I had been slowly healing with great thankfulness for his love and mercy.

But now this…go and share? This was just too much.

The man who was healed from demon possession in the Bible apparently had similar feelings. This demented man had lived in the tombs for many years, naked and alone, cast out of society. When he saw Jesus, he fell to his knees and shouted at the top of his voice, begging for mercy from God. Jesus commanded the demons to leave him, then cast them into a herd of pigs, who rushed down a steep bank into a lake and drowned. The man was healed physically and, more importantly, he was healed spiritually.

He was no longer a shell of a man consumed by demons, but a new man, given new birth, new life, and—little did he know—new purpose. He was so overwhelmed with gratitude for what Jesus had done, he just wanted to sit at his feet and bask in his glory. He begged to travel with Jesus and stay by his side, enjoying his newfound peace and freedom, just like I did.

Instead, Jesus told him to go and share his story. Unlike me, who spent years mustering up the courage to finally obey, this man went and shared all Jesus had done. What had once been a burden to bear became a powerful story of holy transformation. The man’s shameful past and the healing he had experienced became the foundation of a purpose in life he would have never imagined, proof of the grace, faithfulness, and life-changing power of Jesus.

That experience in the sanctuary where I heard those three life-altering words took place many years ago. I finally stepped out in obedience to share my story for the very first time, trembling onstage before a sea of women’s faces with tears dripping down my cheeks. I have been sharing my story ever since.

God has consistently given me new stories to share as well, as he does in all our lives. My most recent story has been about the pain of enduring the abrupt end of my twenty-five-year marriage. When secrets came to light one early fall morning, my husband walked out of our family home never to return, leaving me living in the wake of destruction and debris. It took years to sift through it all as I tried to salvage what was left of our life and heal my and my children’s hearts.

I thought I would not survive. I thought I would never pull out of the pit of pity, lack of self-confidence, sadness, fear, worry, loneliness, and all-consuming grief. I deemed it impossible to stop grieving over the death of my marriage and the death of all I once knew. I felt like the man possessed by demons, so full of inner turmoil I couldn’t function. My house became my hideaway cave, where I hid in shame and fear, desperate for Jesus to intervene and have mercy on me. And in time, through faith, perseverance, and his continued faithfulness, he freed me from my own inner demons and led me to a place of freedom of happiness yet again.

Jesus gave me new life, helped me have peace when problems surrounded me, and filled me with joy even in the least joyful times. And then he did it again: he called me to go and share. As before, my first instinct was slink and hide. Did I want others to know of my failed marriage and all the dirty laundry we had kept so well-hidden behind our smiling family portrait? I didn’t, but he did, because he knows people can be brought to Christ when we share our stories and become living proof of the power of Jesus Christ in today’s broken world.

I was an author prior to my marriage ending, with two books under my belt. Miraculously, in the aftermath of my marriage falling apart, I’ve published three best-selling books, each with a different focus but all following his call to go and share pieces of my separation and divorce story as I walked out this hard, painful journey in the hopes of encouraging others walking down that long devasting journey. There is no better reward than knowing God has used our pain for a purpose, and that somewhere along the way of going and sharing out of obedience, He also healed our own.

The demon-possessed man’s story only became a testimony when he was willing to share it with others. I can’t help but wonder how many people began believing in Jesus Christ and are now spending eternity with him right now simply because this former demon-possessed man was willing to allow his terrible past to become a story of redemption and purpose, which could help others discover Christ for themselves.

People can deny Christ, dispute Scripture, and ignore prophecy, but they cannot deny, dispute, or ignore what God has done in someone’s life. Our stories of pain, adversity, and overcoming in Christ are meant to serve as a testimony of God’s faithfulness and power; evidence that God really can take what the devil means for evil and use it for good.

We all have a story to tell, and no one can tell our story but us. God never wastes our pain, only we do that. He has a plan for great purpose and a beautiful future for all who believe in him—not despite our pasts, but because of them. Imagine the difference you could make if you push past your fear, step onto whatever stage God provides, and simply go and share.

Tracie Miles is a popular author with five best-selling books, with her most recent release being Living Unbroken: Reclaiming Your Life and Your Heart After Divorce. Tracie is a contributing author to the popular Zondervan NIV Women’s Devotional Bible, and monthly contributing writer for the Proverbs 31 Ministries Encouragement for Today daily devotions, which reach millions of women around the world every day. Tracie is also the Director of COMPEL Writers Training at Proverbs 31 Ministries, has 3 grown children, and lives in Charlotte, North Carolina. You can connect with Tracie on her blog at www.traciemiles.com, on Facebook, in her Facebook Love Life Again Community, and on Instagram.