The Power of Testimonies (Men’s Meeting with Daniel Garner)

By Jim Martin

If you had the privilege of attending the men’s meeting on Saturday, February 22, then you were treated to a wonderfully edifying and challenging message by Daniel Garner as he shared lessons he has learned over the decades from being a husband, father, and leader in his family (you can listen online if you missed it). What a gift to hear the testimony of God’s grace pressed into a man, often through hard circumstances, to conform him into the image of Christ.

As a husband, father, and leader, here are a few points Daniel made that stood out to me:

• “A turning point in my life came when I began to ask the question [about whatever the situation was], ‘I wonder what God thinks about that?’”
• In the time when his law practice had failed, Daniel recounted the brief but powerful advice of a friend who said, “You gotta have a death to have a resurrection!”
• When challenging us practically as men to bear up (without complaint) under the difficult jobs God often puts before us: “Sometimes our job is to shut up and keep rowing!”
• And finally, when reflecting on lessons learned over the decades, “When you get to the point of saying “YES” to God, you have put yourself in the place of his blessing!”

More than anything, what impressed me most about was that there is power in stories we can share of God working His grace into our lives.  Fellowship with other Christians is intended to edify (build up).  Daniel’s is one of literally hundreds in our church.  Each man, chosen by God and determined to follow after Him, has a story to share of the grace of God working in him.  None of our stories is perfect – we all have our failures.  But because our story is really HIS story, it will build others up.

We closed the meeting yesterday with the challenge for each man to make time over the coming two weeks to meet with two other men in the church for the express purpose of sharing each other’s testimony.  Even if you were not at the meeting yesterday, I hope you will accept this challenge and discover afresh how God’s grace is alive and well among the people you see at church each week.  Let’s not wait for the next big meeting to experience the power of the testimony of God’s redeeming grace!