Category: Scriptures

contains Bible verses

Four confidence builders for sharing your faith story

When we are with our friends and family, neighbors and business associates, are they so impressed with what we’ve said and done that they want what we have? They want to know the secret of our peacefulness in a chaotic situation, our commitment to God and family when it’s inconvenient, and why we build our schedules around Mass and ministries. They may not recognize at first that they are seeking the same close relationship with Jesus that transforms all our relationships.

Testimony: I Cannot Tell

The view from the top of the mountain in New Mexico was enchanting. I could almost see the Texas border as the sun set on the wooden cross. I was 15 and finally old enough to go to the annual youth retreat sponsored by my Protestant church in El Paso, TX. The crackle of the campfire, the smell of the marshmallows toasting and the cool breeze of early March kept us near the fire.

Five tips to start sharing your faith story

What does it mean to evangelize? Why does God want us to reveal our relationship with him – isn’t our faith personal and private? These were my arguments before I saw the value in sharing my faith with others. Saint John Paul II convinced me to act on his words in Evangelii Nuntiandi:
Here lies the test of truth, the touchstone of evangelization: it is unthinkable that a person should accept the Word and give himself to the kingdom without becoming a person who bears witness to it and proclaims it in his turn. (EN 24)
He also taught that the most effective way to evangelize is through our personal witness – and that’s just what we have available to us!

Three Ways We Glorify God by Sharing Our Faith Story

Evangelization is part and parcel of being a Christian, but sharing our faith is not simply a chore to be carried out. When we share our faith stories with others, not only do we grow as Christians, but we encourage others and give glory to God.
We are not evangelizing for our own glory, but to glorify God. Sharing our story is not about showing how pious or holy we have become, but how God’s love for us has transformed us. We acknowledge his power and might in showing how he has been able to bring good even out of our neglect and sin.

Six Ways Sharing Our Faith Story Helps Us Grow

I was first baptized as a Protestant and later conditionally baptized as a Catholic (as was the custom before Vatican II). For me, the effects of baptism have been a tremendous source of joy. That’s when I was adopted as a beloved daughter of God, equipped as a follower, commissioned to witness, freed from original sin, made a temple of his glory, empowered by the Holy Spirit, welcomed into the Church, and lovingly placed into the river of my faith story.
My baptism gave me my identity in Christ and began God’s work in my life. May I never “dry out” and turn away from being his beloved daughter, whom he continues to transform.

A cross in the sky above Calvary Hill Cemetery, Dallas, TX (photo by Nancy Ward)

The radiant joy of God’s presence

“Look to him that you may be radiant with joy.” (Psalm 34:6)
Joy creeps into our lives as we develop an intimate relationship with the Lord in prayer. Like the early Christians, God created us to display his presence through our happiness and joy so that the world will see that something is different. We are radiant with joy because God loves us. This transformation comes through the indwelling presence of God himself. These moments of radiant joy help us cultivate the habit of practicing the presence of God. 

God’s presence dwells within us from our formation in the womb and then removes our original sin at our baptism. That sacrament eventually opens the door to the Eucharist, where we receive him ever more fully. Jesus calls us into a relationship with him through our baptism and shares his dynamic presence with us through every sacrament.