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The Power of Your Story: How God Can Use Your Story to Reach Others · Grace for My Home | Christian Women, Growing in Faith

• 1:14
  Audrey: Hello, friend.
• 1:15
  Audrey: Welcome back to Grace for My Home.
• 1:18
  Audrey: I am Audrey McCracken, and what a blessing it is to be back with you again this week.
• 1:22
  Audrey: I hope that you're doing well, and I hope that your family is doing well also.
• 1:28
  Audrey: We are doing great.
• 1:30
  Audrey: I'm very thankful for this season.
• 1:33
  Audrey: And this is a season when I have all of my children, all of my boys living with me still.
• 1:40
  Audrey: And I don't know how much longer I'll get to enjoy that, but I'm enjoying it while I can.
• 1:46
  Audrey: Now, granted, I don't get to see them a lot.
• 1:49
  Audrey: It seems like our schedules are are all flopped around.
• 1:52
  Audrey: But at least sometimes at night I can see them or at least make sure they're in their bed, or in the morning make sure they got in their bed.
• 2:00
  Audrey: So it is a busy season for us, but a good season.
• 2:05
  Audrey: Today I want to talk with you about your story and how important your story is.
• 2:13
  Audrey: I do you do you ever think about that?
• 2:15
  Audrey: Do you ever think about what God has done in your life?
• 2:20
  Audrey: And you know, from your childhood all the way up to where you are now, do you see his hand and how his hand has been on you?
• 2:32
  Audrey: I often do.
• 2:34
  Audrey: I often think about the things that God has done in my life, where he's brought me from, the uh the difficulties that he's brought me through, the changes that I've seen.
• 2:46
  Audrey: Um, and I'm so thankful.
• 2:49
  Audrey: And some, you know, I I can think about what he's done in my own life and get encouraged.
• 2:54
  Audrey: But also I love to hear about what he's done in other people's lives.
• 2:58
  Audrey: When we homeschooled, one of my favorite things to do was to read stories of men and women of God who had overcome great things, often while trying to share God's message with other people.
• 3:15
  Audrey: I love to read missionary stories and stories of men and women in the faith and and just stories of great men and women who did things.
• 3:24
  Audrey: And those stories were so encouraging to me.
• 3:27
  Audrey: And you know, the way that the Lord works often when we try to encourage other people, he encourages us.
• 3:33
  Audrey: And I remember reading these stories to my children, and one of the wonderful things, just a little caveat here, one of the wonderful things about homeschooling is that while you're teaching your children, God is teaching you.
• 3:48
  Audrey: I was never a big reader when I was in school.
• 3:51
  Audrey: There was other things I was more interested in, and I never got into reading, and I would hear people say, Oh, that was such a good book, and I thought, I don't, I don't know that I know that feeling.
• 4:02
  Audrey: But once I started reading with my children, I got it.
• 4:07
  Audrey: And I feel like I got an education myself in a lot of really good books, and I I understood the love of reading after that, because I had to read with them for their education and to them.
• 4:24
  Audrey: And so many things were opened up to me.
• 4:27
  Audrey: And even today I read, I still, and I mean, and don't get me wrong, I mean, I had a I had a college education.
• 4:35
  Audrey: I mean, I had to read books, but for just to pick up a book for entertainment or for enjoyment, I would not do that.
• 4:41
  Audrey: But now I crave a good book.
• 4:45
  Audrey: But what I still love a book that shows the the hero, that shows the person who started with insurmountable odds, but somehow in the end overcame all those obstacles and they achieved great things or they succeeded.
• 5:04
  Audrey: And I love that because we always put ourselves in that person's shoes and we think, what would I do?
• 5:11
  Audrey: or or you know, how would I behave in that situation, in that's in that circumstance?
• 5:16
  Audrey: And those books teach us how to how to act, how to respond to difficulty.
• 5:24
  Audrey: And guys, we need that.
• 5:26
  Audrey: We need that.
• 5:27
  Audrey: And you may not realize how many people need to hear what God has done in your life, because God's done a lot in your life, you know, he's had his hand on you for your entire life, and he has taught you things, and there are people that need what he has put in you, what he has shown you, what he has done in you, because they may be going through similar things, and they need to see that God rescues, that God saves, that God can do it, and it will build up their faith.
• 6:01
  Audrey: This past Sunday at church, the pastor taught on the story of the man who was demon-possessed and how Jesus set him free.
• 6:12
  Audrey: And you might be saying, Well, which one?
• 6:14
  Audrey: There's a lot of those in the Bible.
• 6:16
  Audrey: But this is the man in Luke chapter eight, and I'm just going to read the story to you really quick.
• 6:22
  Audrey: It starts in in verse 26 of Luke eight, and it says, They sailed, they being Jesus and his disciples, it says they sailed to the region of the Generacies, which is across the lake from Galilee.
• 6:37
  Audrey: When Jesus stepped ashore, he was met by a demon possessed man from the town.
• 6:44
  Audrey: For a long time this man had not worn clothes or lived in a house, but had lived in the tombs.
• 6:52
  Audrey: When he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell at his feet, shouting at the top of his voice, What do you want with me, Jesus, son of the most high God?
• 7:03
  Audrey: I beg you, don't torture me.
• 7:05
  Audrey: For Jesus had commanded the impure spirit to come out of the man.
• 7:10
  Audrey: Many times it had seized him, and though he was chained hand and foot and kept under guard, he had broken his chains and had been driven by the demon into solitary places.
• 7:22
  Audrey: Jesus asked him, What is your name?
• 7:26
  Audrey: Legion, he replied, because many demons had gone into him.
• 7:30
  Audrey: And they begged Jesus repeatedly not to order them to go into the abyss.
• 7:37
  Audrey: A large herd of pigs was feeding there on a hillside.
• 7:41
  Audrey: The demons begged Jesus to let them go into the pigs, and he gave them permission.
• 7:46
  Audrey: When the demons came out of the man, they went into the pigs, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and was drowned.
• 7:57
  Audrey: When those tending the pigs saw what had happened, they ran off and reported it in the town and countryside, and the people went out to see what had happened.
• 8:06
  Audrey: When they came to Jesus they found the man from whom the demons had gone out, sitting at Jesus' feet, dressed and in his right mind, and they were afraid.
• 8:17
  Audrey: Those who had seen it told the people how the demon possessed man had been cured, and all the people in the region of the Jareneses asked Jesus to leave them because they were overcome with fear.
• 8:31
  Audrey: So he got into the boat and left.
• 8:34
  Audrey: The man from whom the demons had gone out begged to go with him, but Jesus sent him away, saying, Return home and tell how much God has done for you.
• 8:44
  Audrey: So the man went away and told all the town how much Jesus had done for him.
• 8:52
  Audrey: And this story has always bothered me.
• 8:56
  Audrey: Jesus sets this man free.
• 8:59
  Audrey: He heals this man.
• 9:01
  Audrey: In another gospel, this story is told, and it says the man had cut himself with sharp stones.
• 9:06
  Audrey: He was cutting himself, he was mutilating himself, these demons had tormented him.
• 9:12
  Audrey: And now Jesus, and everybody was afraid of him, and now Jesus has set him free.
• 9:19
  Audrey: And they don't want anything to do with it.
• 9:23
  Audrey: They are afraid.
• 9:24
  Audrey: They're afraid of this man.
• 9:25
  Audrey: And they're they don't want Jesus around because what happened to the pigs?
• 9:30
  Audrey: And instead of being happy for this man, instead of, you know, thinking, instead of wanting to talk to Jesus and find out, you know, what is going on here, they just want him to leave.
• 9:43
  Audrey: And this man, he will never be the same.
• 9:47
  Audrey: God has completely set him free.
• 9:49
  Audrey: It is a miracle.
• 9:51
  Audrey: And it seems as if God came just for that one.
• 9:55
  Audrey: Have you ever felt that way?
• 9:57
  Audrey: Like God came just for you.
• 9:59
  Audrey: Nobody else saw what you were going through.
• 10:02
  Audrey: And if they saw, they didn't care.
• 10:04
  Audrey: But God saw and God cared.
• 10:07
  Audrey: And He came to set you free.
• 10:09
  Audrey: And He loved you and He took you into His fold and healed you.
• 10:18
  Audrey: And He did this for this man.
• 10:21
  Audrey: And this man is so thankful.
• 10:23
  Audrey: He wants to go with Jesus.
• 10:24
  Audrey: He's like, Lord, let me go with you.
• 10:26
  Audrey: And Jesus says, No, go back and tell everyone what I've done for you.
• 10:32
  Audrey: And see, there are pla those people in that village, they didn't want Jesus.
• 10:37
  Audrey: They didn't, they didn't want anything to do with him.
• 10:40
  Audrey: He couldn't go.
• 10:41
  Audrey: Jesus couldn't go back to that village and tell them about the goodness of God because they were not receptive.
• 10:49
  Audrey: But he sent this man to do that.
• 10:55
  Audrey: He sent this man to tell them what Jesus did for him.
• 11:02
  Audrey: And he was able to go where Jesus couldn't.
• 11:06
  Audrey: See, Jesus will send you to people who need him, but they may not they may not go to church.
• 11:19
  Audrey: But they need God.
• 11:20
  Audrey: They may never reach out to someone for prayer, but they need to hear what God has done in your life.
• 11:28
  Audrey: And in hearing what God has done in your life, then when when pressure comes and when things happen, God can bring you and your story back to them when they need it most.
• 11:42
  Audrey: And and this this inner dialogue happens.
• 11:45
  Audrey: If God can do it for her, maybe He maybe He would do it for me.
• 11:51
  Audrey: And that is the power of your story.
• 11:56
  Audrey: The power of your story is that it brings hope to other people and it shows the glory of God and the power of God and the goodness of God.
• 12:06
  Audrey: You remember the woman with the issue of blood, and she had had this same problem for 12 years.
• 12:13
  Audrey: For 12 years, she had suffered.
• 12:17
  Audrey: And it gotten to the point where she'd spent all of her money on doctors, and instead of being better, she was worse.
• 12:25
  Audrey: And she couldn't be around people because she was considered unclean.
• 12:29
  Audrey: So she couldn't be around people.
• 12:30
  Audrey: She was isolated.
• 12:32
  Audrey: But she she got in her head, if I can just touch Jesus, if I can just get close enough to touch the hem of his garment, I will be healed.
• 12:46
  Audrey: How did she know that?
• 12:48
  Audrey: How did that faith come?
• 12:50
  Audrey: How did she know?
• 12:52
  Audrey: Because she heard.
• 12:55
  Audrey: She heard the news.
• 12:56
  Audrey: She heard what people were saying, she heard about the miracles, she heard that he sets people free.
• 13:02
  Audrey: And she thought, if he did that for them, maybe he can do that for me.
• 13:08
  Audrey: And so hearing about the miracles, hearing about what Jesus did in the lives of others, it caused faith to rise in her heart.
• 13:19
  Audrey: And then she went to Jesus for herself and got her own miracle.
• 13:26
  Audrey: Romans 10 17 says, So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
• 13:35
  Audrey: Hearing what God has done for you can be life-changing for other people because God can use your story to spark faith in their hearts and cause them to come to Him and He can do a miracle in their lives.
• 13:53
  Audrey: Your story is so powerful.
• 13:56
  Audrey: And I encourage you this week to share it.
• 13:58
  Audrey: I encourage you this week to just share with somebody what God has done in your life.
• 14:05
  Audrey: You know, look for opportunities.
• 14:07
  Audrey: Often we don't find opportunities to share our story because we're not looking for them.
• 14:12
  Audrey: But if you will look for opportunities to share your story, to tell other people about what God has done in your life, you'll be amazed at how many opportunities pop up.
• 14:25
  Audrey: God loves people.
• 14:28
  Audrey: He wants to touch them.
• 14:29
  Audrey: He wants to be with them in their suffering.
• 14:31
  Audrey: He wants to relieve their pain.
• 14:33
  Audrey: He wants to let them know that he sees them, that he cares about them, and he wants to use us to do that.
• 14:42
  Audrey: Decide today to be his mouthpiece, to be the one who's going to tell other people about the goodness of God and what he's done in your life so that God can do the same in their life.
• 14:54
  Audrey: And guys, it may not be instant.
• 14:55
  Audrey: They may not be interested.
• 14:58
  Audrey: They might be like these townspeople and say, you know, we're not interested in Jesus.
• 15:02
  Audrey: And that's fine.
• 15:03
  Audrey: That's fine.
• 15:04
  Audrey: But if you tell the story now, there may be a day that God can use that story.
• 15:10
  Audrey: He can go back and say, Remember when so-and-so told you what God did in their life, and you're going through something similar.
• 15:18
  Audrey: Do you think God could do that in my life?
• 15:24
  Audrey: And you won't know until you plant the seed.
• 15:28
  Audrey: You don't know what God can do.
• 15:30
  Audrey: And you may never know, but you have released it to the Lord and you have put your story out there.
• 15:37
  Audrey: And guys, God wants to use you.
• 15:49
  Audrey: He created us on purpose for a purpose.
• 15:53
  Audrey: And part of our purpose is to bring other people to Jesus, to tell other people of his goodness so that they too can enjoy him forever.
• 16:04
  Audrey: Amen.
• 16:05
  Audrey: And don't forget to sign up for my weekly newsletter.
• 16:08
  Audrey: You can find the link in the show notes.
• 16:12
  Audrey: Before you go, I'd like to pray for you.
• 16:14
  Audrey: Father, in Jesus' name, we come to you and we pray, Lord, for your hand on us.
• 16:19
  Audrey: God, let us hear your voice this week.
• 16:22
  Audrey: Father, let us break through the barriers that have tried to hold us back, that have tried to tell us that things are just not going to get any better.
• 16:31
  Audrey: Lord, we break those lies in Jesus' name.
• 16:34
  Audrey: And God, I thank you for hope.
• 16:37
  Audrey: I thank you for newness of life.
• 16:38
  Audrey: And I pray, Lord, that you would bring people in our life that we can share your story with.
• 16:48
  Audrey: God, let us tell people what you have done in our life.
• 16:51
  Audrey: Give us opportunity, Lord, and I just thank you for it.
• 16:55
  Audrey: I thank you for putting us at the right place at the right time.
• 16:58
  Audrey: We are your daughters, Lord.
• 16:59
  Audrey: We're your servants.
• 17:00
  Audrey: And we thank you for your grace and for, Lord, just putting us where we need to be in Jesus' name.
• 17:07
  Audrey: Amen.
• 17:07
  Audrey: God bless.
• 17:08
  Audrey: Have a great week.