Sarah Nyhan

I used to think I knew what God was up to. Not so much anymore.

John 1:8 helped me big time. It is talking about John the Baptist. It says John was not The Light but was sent to bear witness of The Light.

Bearing witness means to tell what you’ve seen. It does not mean you have to explain anything. Remember the blind man who was healed? “Once I was blind and now I see.”

What is my experience? All I have to do is share that. I don’t have to explain it or back it up with theological proofs.

Think of a car accident. If I was a witness at the scene, I am just responsible for telling what I saw. I am not responsible for determining who was at fault or describing the physics behind the accident. None of that. Just share my own experience.

I am also not responsible for “saving” people from their darkness. I am not The Light. I just point people to The Light through telling what I know. I am not responsible for what I don’t know. That was a huge relief for me: learning to feel no guilt over saying “I don’t know” and encouraging people to reach out for themselves to The One who knows and ask Him for the answer. Remember the woman at the well? All she did was go get the people she knew and tell them what happened to her and bring them to Jesus. She didn’t try to be Jesus to them in her own strength.

I am not responsible for other people’s relationship with God.

I am so conditioned to believe my success is only measured by the outcome, but God made it clear to me that as long as I am faithful to share then I am successful.

Even if only one person is listening, that’s enough for God. Remember how He left the 99 to go find the one?

We need both The Spirit and The Word. Some people can be in The Spirit but sometimes it will fall flat because they leave out The Word. More often I have experienced people who talk non-stop about the word but I don’t feel The Spirit is the one leading. It seems like the person is just speaking from their own strength and it falls flat. So there is a balance there.

What helped me was to stop trying to go forth with everyone else in mind. I sought God for what He had for ME. Versus anyone or everyone else. Then I was faithful to share what I learned.

My ears are now sensitive to this when trying to determine whether to listen to a pastor/preacher/teacher/speaker. If I hear the speaker continually telling the audience “you need to… you should… etc” then it turns me off now. I look for the more humble speakers that are not telling anyone what to do but are instead sharing how God has met them in their own darkness.

Nothing wrong with old stories but I am wary when speakers don’t have any stories about how God has been working in their lives recently.

I think it is wrong to believe I have to act like I have arrived and I have it all together and I have to know what God is wanting someone else to do. I’ve seen others misuse speaking for God and lead people to the point of feeling suicidal.