stitchy Posted December 8, 2006 Group: Advanced Member Followers: 1 Topic Count: 35 Topics Per Day: 0.01 Content Count: 171 Content Per Day: 0.03 Reputation: 1 Days Won: 0 Joined: 10/12/2006 Status: Offline Birthday: 05/06/1986 Share Posted December 8, 2006 I've been having an incredible urge to write out my testimony for a while now. But I've never done it before... so I'm hesitant. For those who have done it... how did you do it? How did you start? How should I write? I'm worried because it's very important to me. I want my testimony to mean something to someone. I want it to show others exactly how God has worked in my life. I don't want to fail at showing that. How...? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikehev Posted December 8, 2006 Group: Members Followers: 0 Topic Count: 5 Topics Per Day: 0.00 Content Count: 37 Content Per Day: 0.01 Reputation: 3 Days Won: 0 Joined: 01/06/2006 Status: Offline Share Posted December 8, 2006 (edited) God is good. It is wonderful that you want to share your testimony with people. I'd like to point you to when Christ casted the legion of demons out of a man in Luke 8:26-39. This man wanted to come with Jesus after the ordeal, but Jesus stopped him and told him to "Return to thine own house, and shew how great things God hath done unto thee." He went his way and published how great things Jesus had done unto him. When Jesus came back to this same place later, there were thousands waiting to hear him. I'm sure God used this person's testimony to encourage these thousands to come to Christ. We can assume that this person had little to no theological training, and he didn't get much guidance as to "how to" shew how great things God had done unto him. He just got guidance to do it. I'm sure if you just tell the great things God has done for you....He will take care of the "how to" part. Hope this helps. I've been having an incredible urge to write out my testimony for a while now. But I've never done it before... so I'm hesitant. For those who have done it... how did you do it? How did you start? How should I write? I'm worried because it's very important to me. I want my testimony to mean something to someone. I want it to show others exactly how God has worked in my life. I don't want to fail at showing that. How...? Edited December 8, 2006 by mikehev Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iryssa Posted December 8, 2006 Group: Royal Member Followers: 1 Topic Count: 117 Topics Per Day: 0.02 Content Count: 3,860 Content Per Day: 0.56 Reputation: 9 Days Won: 0 Joined: 05/10/2005 Status: Offline Birthday: 09/13/1984 Share Posted December 8, 2006 Well, how you start writing really depends on your personal preferences. If you're a visual person, you may want to draw out a timeline to get your bearings, then start at the beginning of the timeline and work your way forward. You could write out everything first, and then edit it for length later. I know many people find this method satisfying because they can just pour it all out...I'm not so much one of those. Like me, you may be the type of person who finds it easier to dive right in to the part that sticks out the most in your mind (in this case, it's probably the turning point, the climax of the salvation story). Once you've written about that for a while it may be easier to concentrate on the other aspects of your testimony (the lead-in, for instance, to help your audience understand where you're coming from). Still others have started with a favourite verse or hymn, then have arranged their testimonies around that theme. I've even heard one who went through the chorus of her favourite song, using each line as a new paragraph heading. These are just ideas...do whatever feels good to you. Relax and be creative! Your Language Arts teacher isn't going to be grading you on this one! As far as format goes, I find the best way to learn which format is best for your story is to read the stories of others. Which one do you like the sound of best? Which one keeps you most interested? Which one do you think your story would fit into well? As a former school newspaper editor, I have but one request: please divide things into paragraphs!! I see it all the time; people get so excited about what they're writing that they completely forget about the readers! It's extremely difficult to pay attention through a paragraph that is thirty sentences long. The standard four or five sentence rule works best for most people. Here are some examples from our own Testimonies forum (which I chose based on format): A standard timeline format Timeline+headings Concise Version Anyway, there are lots more in the Testimonies forum! Take a look around, see what people have done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stitchy Posted December 8, 2006 Group: Advanced Member Followers: 1 Topic Count: 35 Topics Per Day: 0.01 Content Count: 171 Content Per Day: 0.03 Reputation: 1 Days Won: 0 Joined: 10/12/2006 Status: Offline Birthday: 05/06/1986 Author Share Posted December 8, 2006 Thankyou very much, both of you. This is a huge help. I've decided to go about it by just writing EVERYTHING out. I'll get it all down on paper. It helps me to organise my thoughts better that way. Then I can edit it, picking bits and pieces that I'd like to include and exclude. Thankyou both for your wonderful advice. May God bless you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Northern lass Posted December 8, 2006 Group: Diamond Member Followers: 2 Topic Count: 106 Topics Per Day: 0.02 Content Count: 1,072 Content Per Day: 0.17 Reputation: 25 Days Won: 0 Joined: 08/13/2006 Status: Offline Birthday: 02/27/1948 Share Posted December 8, 2006 Just write from your heart. Your testimony WILL be a blessing as it's always a blessing to see how God has worked in someone's life and how He treats us each individually because He know us so well. I agree about the paragraphs! It's so hard to read without them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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