Writing Our Testimonies: The Final Checklist

This is the final post in a series by Pam Williams on "Writing Our Testimonies." To read the earlier articles, click on Writing Our Testimonies: Why We Share, Writing Our Testimonies: A Biblical Example, Writing Our Testimonies: Life Before Encountering Jesus, Writing Our Testimonies: The Encounter With Jesus, and Writing Our Testimonies: Life Since Encountering Jesus.

Writing Our Testimonies: The Final Checklist

“Proclaim his glory to the nations, his mighty deeds to all peoples.”Psalms 96:3 (GNT)

We are called to let the world know what God has done for us. God even promises to give us the words. (Jeremiah 1:7-9) We need not concern ourselves with whether or not we are as experienced a writer as Max Lucado or if our story is as exciting as the salvation of Billy the Kid, former member of Hell’s Angels. Our only responsibility is to be obedient and recount our own story. When we tell others what God has done for us, we don’t know who may relate to our story and draw hope that God will work in their life also.

As we write our testimony, answering the following questions will clarify and focus our account so others can easily understand and relate to it.

As we write our testimony, answering the following questions will clarify and focus our account so others can easily understand and relate to it.

ü  Have I prayed about this writing project, trusting God to organize my thoughts and form my words?

ü  Do I catch the reader’s attention at the get-go with a strong opening hook?

ü  Have I written my story as though I am having a conversation with one person?

ü  Did I write in first person, using “I”, “me” and “my”, rather than “you” and “your?

ü  Does my testimony state my main point in the introduction, weave it throughout the testimony, and restate it in the conclusion?

ü  Have I stayed on task, sticking to what is relevant to my salvation experience and avoiding unnecessary tangents or characters?

ü  Are my vocabulary and concepts understandable to a general readership, avoiding “Christian-ese” and theological discussions?

ü  Have I kept Christ central and shared how He enables me to walk through my problems, rather than removing them?

ü  Have I answered the “Who? What? When? Where? Why? How?” of my experience?

ü  Did I present events in a logical order?

ü  Does my testimony share my progression through the steps of salvation—admitting I did wrong things; realizing God loves me anyhow; believing Jesus died so I could be forgiven; asking God’s Spirit to work in my life?

ü  Is my tone positive and uplifting?

ü  Did I avoid bad-mouthing any individuals, churches or denominations, realizing experiences vary greatly from one person to the next?

ü  Have I backed up my experience with a few Scriptures brought to life by my experience rather than merely stringing Bible verses together?

ü  Have I been honest, open, vulnerable, and real, letting the reader see my struggle, instead of casting myself as a saint?

ü  Is my testimony a story that allows the Holy Spirit to do the convicting and that avoids preaching and finger-pointing?

ü  Was I careful not to glorify sin when writing about my life before encountering Jesus?

ü  Does my testimony reveal God’s character and help the reader get to know Him better?

ü  Have I stimulated readers to think about their own lives by leaving them with a challenging thought?

ü  Is my testimony only as long as absolutely necessary to adequately explain my experience?

ü  Have I asked other writers to critique my story to make sure it does not contain awkward wording or leave out important information?

It is also important to keep in mind that our personal testimonies are constantly changing. From time to time we will want to update our specific details. The various seasons of life will change what we emphasize in our testimony.

God has given us, the followers of Jesus Christ, the privilege of testifying to His goodness. In faith, let us pick up our pens and write!

Blessings as you write for Him!

Pam

©2011 Pamela D. Williams

1st Mentions . . .

Our Favorite Blog Posts of the Week

Pam's favorite: Once again, Lynda Young at W.I.P. IT gets the thumbs up. Her post Things To Do After Finishing the First Draft is full of first-hand knowledge, common sense, and wisdom. If you are near or at the end of the first draft of your book, you'll want to check it out. Good stuff, Lynda!

Brianna'a favorite: I discovered Charmaine Clancy @ Wagging Tales during the A-Z Challenge. Her blog is full of great tips and information for writers. I particularly appreciate her book recommendations and her links to free E-books. This week I'm directing readers (especially Dawn because it sounds like a book she'd really enjoy) to Art of Science and Lightbulb Moments.

I'm also mentioning Wagging Tales because Charmaine is hosting the Imagination Sparks Blogfest (a blogfest 'write' up Dawn's alley) August 1st through August 8th. I haven't signed up yet, but I most likely will sign up soon...I think.

Writing Comes First - Comic: Writing Exercises

Here's a little writing humor for your Friday...

Series for New Bloggers: Part 3

In the last part of our series I introduced four possible blogging platforms. Now it's time to actually start a blog!

The first step is to decide on a name for your blog. Finding the perfect name doesn't happen right away, and sometimes it doesn't happen until you've been blogging for months! Unfortunately, while you can change the name of your blog at any time, you cannot change the URL, which means you cannot change the address you type into the search bar.

For instance, if you title your blog "Bowling Tips", the blog URL or address will be www.bowlingtips.blogspot.com. Then after several months you realize you don't know very much about bowling and want to change the title to "Baseball tips", you can do that, but while the title on your blog reflects the change, the blog URL or address will not and will remain www.bowlingtips.blogstop.com, which is confusing to readers looking for baseball tips.

This week's assignment, if you will, is to think about a name, so that next week we can create a new blog!

In the meantime, I'm sure our other members and other bloggers have some tips to share about naming your blog that they'd like to share in the comments section.

My personal suggestion is to create a blog with your name as the URL address and try out different titles, especially if you are a writer who blogs and your name is your brand. This is based on something I read once, but I can't find the link to the article, go figure!

So, what's your advice to new bloggers on naming their blog?

See Photo Write

 See Photo Write Challenge

We would love to have you join in and write whatever story 

the photo brings to mind.

 

Writing Our Testimonies: Since Encountering Jesus

This post is part 5 in a series of posts by Pam Williams on "Writing Our Testimonies." To read the earlier articles click on Writing Our Testimonies: Why We Share, Writing Our Testimonies: A Biblical Example, Writing Our Testimonies: Life Before Encountering Jesus, and Writing Our Testimonies: Encountering Jesus.

Since Encountering Jesus

Romans 10: 14-15 tell us that in order for others to become Christians we need to tell them about Jesus. Sharing what Jesus did for us gives others hope that He will do the same for them.

Friends and family are interested in how God became real for us. They may resist finger-pointing, guilt-instilling lectures, but they want to know what makes us tick—and God is a huge factor in that.

Each episode of God working in our lives is like a scene from a play. When they are all put together they become a complete story—our testimony. Our testimony helps us and others understand how much God loves us and works to bring us into a right relationship with Him. God can then use that story to minister to others.

In this session we are going to focus on what has happened in our lives SINCE we realized we needed Jesus to forgive us and bring us into a right relationship with God.

Whether we became Christians at a young age and can’t remember a time when we didn’t believe in Jesus, or we put our trust in him after we were grown, we have a story to tell.

Waypoint Community Church in Davis, California offers their congregants excellent testimony writing prompts and guidelines*. Waypoint’s blueprint includes the following:

1. Memorable times when certain spiritual truths became particularly relevant—when concepts moved from head knowledge to heartfelt belief.

2. Unforgettable occasions of rededication or renewed commitment to Jesus.

3. Instances of turning away from a particular sin after being made aware of it—addictions, wrong attitudes, misplaced beliefs, sinful lifestyles, etc.

4. Circumstances that have revealed God’s love and grace and have deepened my appreciation for the cross.

5. My main identity now in relationship to God—who Jesus is to me and how his Lordship in my life is evident to others.

6. Ways in which I have developed “spiritual hunger,” i.e. a desire for, an interest in, knowing more about God, reading and studying the Bible, experiencing true fellowship and conversation with God, and involvement in missions.

7. Changes in my basic outlook on life—differences in goals and values regarding money, marriage, pleasures, career, success, security, etc.; how these differences have precipitated conflicts or alienations between me and non-Christian friends or family members who do not share my views and values.

*http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:zH4Sf6bgUSAJ:www.waypointcc.org/files/testimony_writing_prompts_guidelines_120908.doc+testimony+writing+prompts&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us

Our testimonies are very individual and personal. No two are ever alike—even for people like my husband and I, who committed our lives to Jesus on the same day and have shared many spiritual experiences since that time. Some testimonies will have a longer “before’ section, while others will write more at length about their life “since” encountering Jesus. One person’s story may be complex and intricate; another person’s story will be simple and brief. There is no right or wrong style, length, complexity, or vocabulary to a testimony. That’s what is so amazing! God reaches out to each of us wherever we are, sending those He knows we can relate to, using the approach He knows will be most effective for us.

Blessings,

Pam

©2011 Pamela D. Williams

1st Mentions . . .

Our Favorite Blog Posts of the Week

Pam's favorite: I want to give a "thumbs up" to Jade's inspirational musings in her post The Writing and the Life United at Blush of Dawn.

Brianna's favorites: I want to give a second thumbs up to Jade at Blush of Dawn! The Writing and the Life United was inspirational and beautifully written. It was a happy surprise to see that Pam had already beaten me to mentioning her.

For an original recommendation, I'd like to also direct anyone interested in writing blogs full of useful information to Writer Unboxed.

See Photo Write

See Photo Write Challenge

(Click the link above to participate.)

Since that insidious robber, Busyness, stole several hours last week, we are leaving the "Rain on the Table" photo prompt up for another week. We would love to have you join in and write whatever story comes to mind in connection with this photo.

Writing Our Testimonies: Encountering Jesus

This post is part 4 in a series of posts by Pam Williams on "Writing Our Testimonies." To read the earlier articles click on Writing Our Testimonies: Why We Share, Writing Our Testimonies: A Biblical Example, and Writing Our Testimonies: Life Before Encountering Jesus

Vonette Bright and Barbara Ball, in their book The Joy of Hospitality write: "A personal testimony is not simply a story of how God rescued someone from a life of horrible sin. It is an account of how God transforms lives—no matter where the person comes from or what circumstances the person has experienced. Many people are encouraged by the testimony of someone who was introduced to the Lord at an early age and who then avoided many pitfalls of growing up. God uses each of us as we are, created in His image and transformed by His power."

Whether or not we ever write out our testimony, it is vitally important to realize that the only way to a relationship with God is by trusting Jesus for the forgiveness or our sins. It is not a relationship we can earn or merit. It is a gift of God, free to anyone who accepts it. For those who are unsure if they have ever truly committed their life to Jesus, there is no better time than this present moment to begin a relationship with Him or to renew a stale or uneasy one.

Writing Our Testimonies: Encountering Jesus

In this part of our testimony we describe the circumstances that caused us to get serious and turn our lives over to Jesus. For those who became Christians as a child, their stories will probably also describe a series of events that culminates in their assurance as an adult that yes, they truly want to follow Jesus.

The most important day of our lives as Christians is the day we realized we could trust Jesus for our forgiveness from sin and put our lives into his hands. We can organize and relate that event by including physical, spiritual and emotional details:

a. The physical details: Where was I? When did this happen? What age was I? What was happening at the time? What people or problems influenced my decision? Who shared God’s plan of salvation with me?

b. The spiritual details: Why did I make the decision to trust Christ? What thought process did I go through to reach that decision? How was I convicted of my sin? How was I convinced that Jesus died on the cross for me? How did I come to realize God’s love and grace? How did God begin to work to draw me to Him? Were there any verses from my childhood that stuck in my mind?

c. The emotional details: Many people’s actions spring out of their emotional dissatisfactions—lack of peace, fear of death or hell, no meaning to life, loneliness, lack of security, a void in their lives, lack of purpose, longing to be loved and unconditionally accepted, alcohol or chemical dependencies, guilt, hopelessness, boredom with religion, need of healing, a hunger to know God better.

What motivated me? How was I impacted? What did I feel? What did I commit to? What was my conversation with God?

In this portion, we also want include the basics of the gospel as they applied to ourselves: 1) Realize I sin. 2) Admit that the punishment for my sin is eternal separation from God. 3) Believe that God loved me so much that Jesus took the punishment for my sin by dying on the cross. 4) Confirm my salvation by telling others what I believe in my heart.

By applying these Biblical concepts to ourselves rather than using them to point a finger at others, our readers will be more inclined to keep an open mind. After all, our testimony may be the first opportunity for someone to learn how to become a Christian.

Perhaps as you read this post you committed your life to Him for the first time or renewed an earlier commitment. If so, I encourage you to do two things. First, write today’s date in the front of your Bible as a reminder to you when doubts arise. Second, tell someone! I would love to receive an email sharing this good news.

Just as it takes time to become a skilled artist, it takes time to master the art of writing our testimony. It is not learned in one day. A painter has to paint and keep painting, learn what others know, acquire knowledge and develop the skills of painting. As we write our testimony, we do the same thing.

Start by praying; then write as little as a paragraph of your testimony a week. Ponder and change the words, adding some and deleting others. God will form and shape your story into an artistic expression that stirs the hearts of those to whom He is speaking.

©2011 Pamela D. Williams

Congratulations, Brianna and Dawn!

Wesleyan Publishing House will be publishing stories by Brianna and Dawn in their 2012 issues of VISTA! Way to go girlfriends!

1st Mentions . . .

Our Favorite Blog Posts of the Week

Pam's favorite: My "thumbs up" actually goes to our own Dawn Hamsher over at The Write Soil . I loved her writing prompt entitled Bring History To Life. If you enjoy prompts and learning more about historical figures, you'll love this one. Dawn offers great writing prompts, so any time your writing feels stunted, just pop on over to The Write Soil!

Poetry Shmoetry

Swing

My feet are in the clouds.

My hair grazes the grass.

My face shines in the sun.

My toes skim the soil.

The sky and earth are one.

I smell the damp dirt.

I see the tops of trees.

I move back and forth.

I go up and down.

I swing higher and higher.

Blood rushes to my brain.

Bile rises in my throat.

I feel sick and stop.

Posted as part of Writing with Shelley's Poetry Schmoetry Blogfest

See Photo Write

1st Writes' Photo Prompt Blogging Challenge! 

Appearing every Monday!

All are welcome to participate in this fun prompt! 

Let's see how many unique stories we can come up with for each Monday's photo!

 

Writing Our Testimonies: Life Before Encountering Jesus

This post is part 3 in a series of posts by Pam Williams on "Writing Our Testimonies." To read the earlier articles click on Writing Our Testimonies: Why We Share and Writing Our Testimonies: A Biblical Example.


Writing Our Testimonies: Life Before Encountering Jesus


People get more excited when we are passionate about what we are writing. Passion involves strong feelings and intense emotions. When we write our testimony, God wants us to be passionate about what we have to say so that our stories stir the depths of emotion in our readers.

The goal of dedicated, skilled artists is to strongly and favorably stir the emotions of every person who sees their paintings. God would have us become like a masterful artist at sharing our testimony. He wants us to paint the best picture we can in the minds of our readers using words as our "brush strokes". Why? Because our testimonies are the most important and exciting stories we have to write and are the most effective witnessing tools at our disposal.

Just as it takes time to become a skilled artist, it takes time to master the art of writing our testimony. It is not learned in one day. A painter has to paint and keep painting, learn what others know, acquire knowledge and develop the skills of painting. As we write our testimony, we do the same thing.

We start by putting words on paper, perhaps a paragraph a week. We ponder and change the words, adding some and deleting others, until our roughly formed testimony is eventually transformed into "a piece of art" that stirs the emotions.

How should our testimony begin? Today we will look at writing about our life before becoming a Christian. Some areas to cover within this section include the following:

1. Your spiritual life:

• What was the spiritual environment you were raised in?
• How was your family involved in the life of the church?
• What did you think about God when you were growing up?
• How did your spiritual beliefs affect your every day life?
• What questions did you have about God?

2. Your challenges:

• How did you feel about yourself?
• What struggles were you facing?
• How did your family life impact you?
• What challenges felt beyond your control?
• What habits were you involved with that were pointless or even enslaving?

3. Your priorities:

• What brought you satisfaction?
• Where did God rank in importance for you?
• What was most important to you?
• What was your outlook on life?
• What were your goals?

When we ask, God will teach us how to share our testimonies in such a way that they will pierce the soul of every person who reads them. The task can seem daunting, even impossible. The challenge is to pour the stories from our hearts onto the paper, mixing details with passionate emotion. May you be blessed anew as you ponder the tremendous love and power God has and is pouring into your soul.

©2011 Pamela D. Williams

1st Mentions . . .

Our Favorite Blog Posts of the Week

Pam's favorite: My "thumbs up" goes to Lynda Young over at .W.I.P. It She has a really good blogging article entitled 4 Ways to Gain More Comments and another on dialogue called How to Use Dialogue Tags.

Dawn's favorite: Joy's blog Good Morning Mary Sunshine ("joy" and "sunshine" say it all!)

Brianna's favorite:

Writing Exercise

Today I have a writing exercise for you!. This was originally posted on my blog, The Write Soil. 

Writing Exercise: Write a poem comparing two things. Write it in any format you like.  Feel free to get creative!  

My response is below and it compares the past and present.

Life Today Vs. Life Yesterday
by Dawn M. Hamsher

Life Today

immediate
immediate gratification
immediate gratification digital
immediate gratification digital information
immediate gratification digital information public
immediate gratification digital information public communication
immediate gratification digital information public communication virtual
immediate gratification digital information public communication virtual stimulation

gradual accumulation manual publication private conversation community situation
gradual accumulation manual publication private conversation community
gradual accumulation manual publication private conversation
gradual accumulation manual publication private
gradual accumulation manual publication
gradual accumulation manual
gradual accumulation
gradual

Life Yesterday

See Photo Write

1st Writes' Photo Prompt Blogging Challenge! 

Appearing every Monday!

All are welcome to participate in this fun prompt! Let's see how many unique stories we can come up with for each Monday's photo!

Writing Our Testimonies: A Biblical Example

This is the second post in the series "Writing Our Testimonies" by Pam Williams. The first post can be found at Writing Our Testimonies: Why We Share.

Writing Our Testimonies: A Biblical Example

Mary Fairchild, in her www.about.com article, “How to Write Your Testimony” (2009) says, “Skeptics may debate the validity of Scripture or argue the existence of God, but no one can deny your personal experiences with him.”

Though people may not respond to a litany of verses, they often are interested in hearing about a person’s spiritual journey. They can identify with the trials we face, the challenges we overcome, and the processes we went through to reach where we are in our relationship to God.

When writing our own testimony, Fairchild suggests we study one of the most famous examples in the Bible--the witness of Paul. We find Paul’s testimony three times in the book of Acts—Acts 9, 22, and 26—and many more times throughout his letters. Paul’s account of his conversion to Christianity gives us excellent guidelines to follow in writing our own faith story.

As in all writing, our testimony should begin with a hook—an attention-grabbing sentence that leads the reader into the story. Paul’s first sentence casts a tempting lure for his hearers as he wows them with his association with the leading Jewish teacher of the day. "I am a Jew, born in Tarsus in Cilicia, but brought up here in Jerusalem as a student of Gamaliel.” (Acts 22:3 GNT)

Early in all three chapters of Acts, we learn about Paul’s life before encountering Jesus. Acts 26:4-11 gives a quick summary of his former religious beliefs, how he lived and his zeal as a Pharisee.

Acts 22: 6-16 relates the circumstances of Paul’s encounter with Jesus. Using great sensory detail and dialogue, he highlights what he saw (or couldn’t see in this case), felt, heard and did.

Paul concludes his testimony in Acts 26:19-23 with what his life is like since encountering Jesus—his attitudes, his beliefs, his work. Paul wraps up with a prayerful invitation to his listeners, "Whether a short time or a long time my prayer to God is that you and all the rest of you who are listening to me today might become what I am - except, of course, for these chains!"

As the highlighted phrases show, Paul’s testimony consists of three parts; our stories should also include:

1. Life before encountering Jesus

2. Encountering Jesus

3. Life since encountering Jesus.

We’ll go into more detail on the three parts of a testimony next Sunday here at 1^st Writes. Ask God to bring to mind details about your encounter with Jesus in preparation for writing your testimony. Blessings on your week!

Pam Williams
www.2encourage.blogspot.com

©2011 Pamela D. Williams

1st Mentions...

Our Favorite Blog Posts of the Week

Pam's favorite: This week in my corner of the blogosphere God has inspired me through story after story involving birds. Check out Eagles at Rita's Random Ramblings. You'll be blessed!

Dawn's favorite: Blogging Basics 101 Etiquette

Writing Comes First - Comic: Writing Gift

Here is the next installment of "Writing Comes First". I reserve the right to not be funny and just use the comic to get a point across. This one might not go over well with everyone, but it is how I feel about my writing.

Blessings! -- Dawn