"A test is simply an opportunity to get a testimony."

A thought by Mark Batterson, (2013-09-24) from his book, All In: You Are One Decision Away From aTotally Different Life (Kindle Location 401). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.

I am having a problem with my hip. It is bothering me when I walk. This morning I thought I would walk down to the Starbucks that is close to me. I thought that I would protect myself. I should shouldn’t I at 65+? But I didn’t.

I took the bus instead to my normal Starbucks to see my friends and then make the long walk home. I am not going to give in to the pains of being old. I have too much to see and experience even at 65+.

There is my testimony of getting up and doing on this day. You see for me to live the remaining years of my life not as an invalid then I have to get up and get out. If I sit before the TV all day then I will truly become an invalid but I have determined not to do that.

Now for every dream and every goal in life there will be days that your resolve will be tested. It will be really difficult to get up and do something.

Mark tells of an incident at the Battle of Gettysburg “in what ranks as one of the most improbable victories in military history, eighty Union soldiers captured four thousand Confederates in five minutes flat. What seemed like a suicide mission saved the Union.”

Joshua Chamberlain, the commander who gave the order to charge even though they had no ammunition and were greatly outnumbered, in his later years would reflect back on the war with these words: “I had deep within me the inability to do nothing. I knew I may die, but I also knew that I would not die with a bullet in my back.” The key phrase is “the inability to do nothing.”

You don’t have a testimony to share if you do nothing. I am retired but I live with the inability to do nothing. Life is too short as it is. There is still too much to accomplish, to do and there will be tests but they are simply an opportunity to get a testimony.

Mark says, “God tests us for two primary reasons. First, it’s an opportunity for God to prove Himself to us. Second, it’s an opportunity for us to prove ourselves to God.” That’s where the testimony comes in. We can tell what He has done for us and one day He will share what we have done for Him, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant.” That is the testimony I am living for.

So are you in the middle of a test?

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