It’s true. I don’t like public speaking, but I want to do news broadcast for a living. Most people who know me are surprised when they hear that I hope to be a news anchor for a large station.

At first I doubted myself, but I’ve found it much easier to speak in front of a camera than to speak in front of a group of people, no matter how small. But a lot of times, public speaking is unavoidable. Obviously when you are required to present something in a class or for your job you’re going to have to speak, but more importantly we should be publicly sharing our testimony with as many people as we can because Jesus told us to.

Sometimes we’re called to share it with just one person, but recently I was told to share my testimony with a group of 40 middle schoolers in a way that is relatable in only 3-5 minutes. I’ve shared a quick testimony before so I know the basic guidelines: describe your life before you accepted Christ, how you accepted Him, and then describe your life afterwards and how you’ve grown in Christ.

I’ve always viewed my testimony as being fairly simple, I grew up in a Christian home and my dad went to seminary to be a preschool and children’s minister. I went to everything at church, and one night when I was 5 I became a Christian. While there was a change in my life, I was worried it wouldn’t speak to the teenagers like some other people’s testimonies would.

Saul literally had Christians killed and beaten and was known for that by everybody. And one day on his way to have Christians sent away he heard Jesus’ voice speaking directly to him, telling him to go to Ananias in order to come to know Christ. His name was changed to Paul and he wrote almost half of the New Testament, encouraging others to turn to Jesus. He was persecuted repeatedly but continued with his mission to share Christ with as many people as he could.

Paul’s testimony speaks powerfully to so many people. And I’ve felt intimidated to share mine because there’s just no way it could be as great as someone like Paul’s was. Then I found 2 Timothy 1:8 (written by Paul, of course) that says,

“Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God.”

In the beginning of the verse I found comfort. Our testimony is not our own. It doesn’t show how powerful our actions are or how great we are for finding Christ. The testimony we share is God’s.

It shows how powerful and loving He is to send His Son to die for us and how He sought after us to bring us to Him. God is going to use the testimony to speak to the people who hear it.

Knowing this, I shared the testimony. And I have faith now that God has used it for His purpose. And I can go on sharing it with others because of the joy it brought me.

By Hannah