The Power of Sharing Your Story: Subtle Ways Satan Tries to Stop You
Do you have a story to share, but it’s hard for you to open up?
Is pride or uncertainty getting in your way to speak your truth?
Well, I am here to tell you that that’s satan lying to you. In this blog, we will be covering:
How satan will do anything in his power to stop you from sharing your story
How pridefulness can get in your way.
Getting over the need to feel validated.
Are you ready to deny satan’s plans for you and to truly give glory to God through your testimony?
How Satan Tries to Stop You From Sharing Your Story
Well, my friend. Sharing our stories with others can be hard. It’s hard to be transparent and authentic because it doesn't come naturally to us. It’s especially hard to remain authentic if we don’t receive immediate validations or affirmation. Satan wants to keep us in darkness, and he wants us to put on a facade. Satan’s goal is to kill our authenticity and wound our spirit. Even if we find the courage to share our story, we run the risk of it being validated, so he wants to shut us down.
Here are the ways that satan tries to stop you from sharing your story:
He will tell us that what we went through or are going through is insignificant, and it doesn’t matter.
He diminishes our pain and hurt to where we question if this sounds like a “broken record” or if others had it much harder, so it’s not a big deal.
He wants us to be afraid that others will judge us or look at us differently after hearing our story.
Satan loves extremes.
He wants us to walk away after telling our testimony, feeling ashamed, embarrassed, raw, vulnerable, and naked. We can't tell our authentic story if we are trying to avoid feeling exposed. Honestly, telling our story, our doubts, fears, worries, and insecurities does expose the human in us and shows us in a “less flattering light.”
We expose the parts of ourselves that we normally try to cover up.
Sharing My Testimony
Recently I spoke about my testimony to two different audiences in two different contexts just this past week. One was impromptu over a zoom video call where I could see the other person’s facial expressions and received immediate affirmation. The other instance was through a video that I made and shared in a group of other Christian moms. While one instance of sharing my story left me inflated, the other instance left me deflated.
So what was the difference?
Let me just tell you that pride has no place in our story or our testimony. The video I made was watched, but no comments and no responses. As a writer and speaker, it can be hard to put ourselves out there and not receive confirmation and affirmation that we did the right things or that we spoke to someone. Is the answer that we should wait to tell our story until we know we will get the comments, affirmation, and understanding we desire? Why is it that when we share our story sometimes God brings others to affirm our testimony, and other times we go out on a limb and hear crickets?
I don’t honestly know.
But I do know that whether we are welcomed and congratulated and told how much they appreciate our story or if we are left feeling out there in the middle of the ocean with no life raft to hold onto after, we still share our stories.
Final Thoughts:
Listen to me, when I tell you these things:
A response or lack of response does not negate God’s goodness or glory.
Hard things are sometimes hard for others to hear, and they don’t know what to say or how to respond.
We share out of obedience (God nudges us the share, or in my case, we are asked to share)
Allow the Holy Spirit to speak through you instead of trying to speak what you think you need to say. (Usually, when we are apologizing for our emotions, thoughts, and experiences, we are playing into satan’s schemes. These actions can reflect a deeper pride issue)
Trust that if He’s placed you in the position to share that He is using your story in some way in the hearts of the audience. (His intended audience, not yours.)
Using these few points above when determining what to share or not share in our story, are there any parts you would discuss differently?
How would you share your story differently if Jesus was in front of you?
That’s my challenge for you today, friends. When sharing your heart of your testimony consider what you might highlight or choose to expand on as if you were in front of Jesus and not in front of others.
After all, the only opinion that matters is His.
Want to take the next step in writing out your story of transformation?
Then download my “Writing Your Testimony Guide” here (with some other bonus exercises included!)