Worship Series #5: Worship in Testimony

This weekend our church celebrated Thanksgiving in a way that both glorified the Lord and built our trust in His faithfulness. I'm sure many of you have seen the YouTube video, "Cardboard Testimonies". Well, many weeks ago, this video sparked an idea for our pastors to celebrate Thanksgiving with our church family by testifying of the transforming power of our God.

Approximately 40 people prepared their testimony which was then placed on cardboard. One side: where I was; The other: where God has brought me.

Throughout the service, as we sang of His grace, His faithfulness, our trust...one, by one, these people came to the center of the platform and showed their cardboard testimony. Addicts - clean. Marriages - restored. Pornography and lust - 100% freedom and purity. Idleness - Passion. Fear of Loss - Never alone. Grieving - With Hope.

Teens, adults, seniors...it didn't matter. What mattered was vulnerability and Truth. The Truth is that our God changes things, and there is no sin, no situation, no circumstance that is too big for Him to restore. There is no fracture too deep for Him to make whole again.

Three people were asked to share a portion of their testimony verbally....1) An infertile couple who learned to wait on the Lord in their infertility, and learned how God sustained them even in their darkest times of doubt. Now they have been blessed with beautiful twins, and this morning they publicly dedicated them back to the Lord in humble thanksgiving. 2) A couple still grieving the loss of their 10 week old son to SIDS just six months ago. As they shared, they praised the Lord for the way He has knit together His Body and empowered them to be His hands of comfort and care. They shared of God's consistency, and how there is no depth of grief to which He won't go with us. Praise be to Him! 3) My dear friend and sister who grew up clinging to the things she held dear, and sabotaging things so she would not have to suffer losing them. Through the last 2 years the Lord repeately asked her to trust Him by letting go of the most precious things..she chose to trust, and has now walked through her first year as a young widow...trusting the Lifter of her head with every breath and every step.

He can be trusted, for He is good. He is faithful. He is real.

The walls of cardboard testimonies grew this weekend as we placed our praise outward for all to see. What a blessing to celebrate the One who transforms hearts, minds, families and lives. We overcome the enemy by the blood of the Lamb and the Word of our testimony. And we worship and glorify Him as we tell others what He has done and what He is doing. There is nothing quite as powerful and worshipful as speaking out our trust in His faithfulness, even while still walking through the time in which we need to depend on Him the most.

Some of my cardboard testimony, as an act of Worship:

Bound in fear & control....Loosed to trust with peace.

Sinful, dirty and in despair.......Purity. I will not be afraid.

Paralyzed by a fear of man...Set free to please my Lord.