“If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and he will deliver us from Your Majesty’s hand. But even if he does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.”

Daniel 3:17, 18 NIV

Anyone who has ever experienced a hardship can certainly say, “I have a testimony.”  But what is that testimony?  Is it the hardship?  Is it the trial and the suffering endured?  Is it the wound we suffered?  No it’s not.

Someone in my life, a mate whom I deeply love, is engulfed in darkness-experiencing a hardship so foreign to them and no clue how to handle it.  The enemy is attacking hard, at times even giving this person no opportunity to catch their breath let alone have a clear thought to stand on God’s truth.   If you knew the details of the circumstance you’d be in awe at how ruthless the enemy truly is.  The devil clearly takes all as a prisoner and doesn’t hold back when you’re a huge threat to him.

A beautiful sister-in-Christ struggles with an undiagnosed illness that causes severe abdominal pain. She’s been in and out of the hospital and frequented doctors but still left mystified as to what is going on with her body.  Her dream to grow her family was even threatened by this illness. I use the word “was” because she is currently expecting her second child.

Another beautiful sister-in-Christ has a child struggling with a newly diagnosed illness also-one that could bring a lifetime of health issues including severe pain. I know a brother-in-Christ struggling with a brutal cancer and was recently told by one doctor there was nothing more that doctor could do for him.  Although I don’t know every detail of his cancer I’ve seen the ups and downs physically and through prayer requests that remission and growth in the tumor have brought to this man.

I too have faced darkness unknown to me and no idea how to handle it.  I have battled with unknown health issues and know what it feels like to see my child struggle with health issues also.  At this point you may be asking-what does all this have to do with testimony?  The answer-everything.

A few days ago, I was listening to some praise and worship music.  I was thinking a million thoughts at the same time because well, that’s just how my brain works.  I was thinking of my own health issues, my mate’s dark struggle, my friends’ struggles, and I just started praying.  I laid my hands on my throat and prayed for God’s healing touch because He has gifted me with a singing voice and the enemy has attacked it.  I prayed for my friend suffering with cancer, my other friend’s fears regarding her unknown health issues and the effects to her unborn child, my friend’s daughter suffering with a new illness and of course, for my mate and the darkness he is currently enduring.

While I was praying, the song “Overcame” started playing.  I was filled with the Holy Spirit and began declaring victory over each person’s struggle, including my own.  I literally heard myself yell out, “This situation will not defeat him/her/ me.  This situation is not his/her/my testimony-God’s deliverance, God’s redemption, and God’s almighty healing will be our testimony.  And then it “dawned” on me (I really don’t use this phrase a lot considering my first name is Dawn but saying it “Holy Spirited” on me isn’t grammatically correct.)  Our struggles are NOT our testimonies.  How God gets us out of the storms life brings to each of us, that is our testimony.

The book of Daniel is a prime example of testimony using a fiery furnace and a lion’s den.  Captivity was not Daniel and his friends’ testimony.  God’s protection and deliverance was their testimony. (Daniel chapters 3 and 6.)

In Genesis we learn that Joseph’s brothers assaulted him and sold him into slavery.  This was after he dreamt that his brothers would bow down to him.  He was promoted to the Pharaoh’s right hand, then falsely accused of sleeping with Pharaoh’s wife, and imprisoned.  But THAT was not his testimony.  He was promoted again to governor (Genesis chapters 37, 39, and 41.) In Genesis 42 we learn that a famine brings Joseph’s brothers to Egypt seeking food.  Verse six tells us “Now Joseph was the governor of the land, the person who sold grain to all its people. So when Joseph’s brothers arrived, they bowed down to him with their faces to the ground.”  Joseph endured a lot of unjust suffering, but what an amazing testimony he was gifted because of it.

The best example of testimony is Jesus’ Christ himself.  If you’ve ever watched The Passion (which I have yet to view entirely because I can’t stomach watching my Savior brutally tortured) you get a visual of what Christ endured.  But His suffering, the beatings, His barbaric death, was not His testimony.  We don’t celebrate Easter for His death.  We celebrate Easter to honor His life!  Christ’s resurrection was His testimony.  Victory over death WAS. HIS. TESTIMONY.

Are you stuck in a pit so dark you think you’ll never find your way out?  Are you or a loved one facing an illness that feels like it’s sucking the life right out of you?  Whatever hardship you are enduring-it does not define you.  It is NOT your testimony.  When you surrender it all to Jesus, when you cry out to Him and trust Him in the process, His deliverance, His redemption, His provision and healing WILL. BE. YOUR. TESTIMONY.  How do I know?  Because God delivered me from abuse, near homelessness, scary health issues and he even delivered my son from a life sentence of asthma.  I know because my life is a living, breathing, walking testimony and I give God all the glory!!!