It truly breaks my heart to see or hear of people making the mistakes that I have made. It doesn’t matter if the person is younger or older than I am, I simply cannot stand to watch someone I care about trip over my old stumbling blocks. If I could, I would help everyone I know avoid the pitfalls of life wherein I have fallen. Sometimes you hear people say, “Do as I say, not as I do.” That statement is seen as hypocritical and it is because you cannot expect someone to stop certain behaviors that you are not willing to extinguish from your life. Nonetheless, I firmly believe in attempting to curb the errors of those we love by saying, “Do what I say, not what I have done.” The issue with feeling comfortable enough to say this is that you have to be willing to explain your past and unmask your inner blemishes.

Like many teenagers, I truly thought that my parents had never done anything wrong in their lives. I felt that they couldn’t possibly know about the tough moral choices I was facing or the peer pressure that I was under. My parents were perfect, smart and saved. Plus, they had been married all of their lives, so they definitely could not have dealt with relationship issues. It wasn’t until very recently that I found out that I was very wrong. Sometimes, in an effort to protect those we love, we feel that we should not expose them to any darkness in our past. However, by hiding our true selves, we are not protecting them. In fact, we make them uncomfortable and unwilling to communicate when they have a similar problem. If we cannot use our past experiences to try to help those we love, then our missteps are in vain. I heard someone say that if you learn from a mistake, it becomes experience, but if you don’t learn from a mistake, it becomes a failure. I have found that using the lessons I have learned about love and life to help others is essential to healing. It helps me forgive myself and others, and keep moving forward. 

Some people are afraid that they will share vulnerable information only to have their valuable advice rejected. Don’t be discouraged if someone doesn’t listen to your advice; we plant the seed and God does the watering. But, no one can ever learn from you if you hide behind an image of yourself that you want people to know. Peeling back your layers is not only a blessing to the person you are potentially helping, but it also serves as praise for the God who has carried you thus far. I know that there are certain mistakes that some people have to make for themselves before they learn to live differently; still, how would it feel to find out that you could have prevented a catastrophe in someone’s life by simply sharing your story? The only perfect human being was Christ, so we should stop pretending to be infallible and start using our victories to be instructional. Ms. EV 

Sharing the Faith - No matter who you are, you can share your faith in Jesus. Take the Woman at the Well as an example. Once she met Jesus, she couldn't help, but spread the Gospel. 
“Out of 100 men, one will read the Bible, the other 99 will read the Christian.” ― D.L. Moody 

John 4:28-30 (The Message): The woman took the hint and left. In her confusion she left her water pot. Back in the village she told the people, "Come see a man who knew all about the things I did, who knows me inside and out. Do you think this could be the Messiah?" And they went out to see for themselves. … 39-42 - Many of the Samaritans from that village committed themselves to him because of the woman's witness: "He knew all about the things I did. He knows me inside and out!" They asked him to stay on, so Jesus stayed two days. A lot more people entrusted their lives to him when they heard what he had to say. They said to the woman, "We're no longer taking this on your say-so. We've heard it for ourselves and know it for sure. He's the Savior of the world!"

This Woman was the Wrong Kind of Person
She was a woman and a Samaritan. Yet, she did not take on the defeatist attitude that many adopt that says, "I’m a minority; nothing I do can ever be as good." She had a bad relationship track record, but she did not say, "I’m divorced (or single) how can I speak about love?" She took what she knew and she shared it with others.

This Woman had the Wrong Kind of Past
She was a sexually immoral person. Think of the kind of names would we call this woman today -- maybe not out loud--but what would people think of her? Are you too worried about people to focusing on who you were or do you want them to know who you are? My pastor always says, "Satan deals in your past, God deals in your future." and, "When Satan starts attacking your past, it’s because he’s running out of ammunition." Plus, this woman was not the first of her kind. God used others just like her. Remember, Rahab the prostitute, she saved her whole family by helping the Israelite spies in Jericho. (Joshua 2) and she became part of the lineage of Jesus. This doesn’t mean that you should not value your body as a gift, and save yourself for marriage, but it does mean that, even if you have made mistakes, all it takes is one decision to change your life and grow in God, and He can use you for amazing miracles.

This Woman had the Right Kind of Persuasion - Know your value.
You don’t have to hide your life to give a testimony - It’s not about how many Scriptures you know; it’s about how much of the goodness of God you know. God can use anybody. He used Pharaoh to get Israel out of Egypt; He used Saul to help David to the throne; He used Satan himself to get Job to a higher place of praise, and no matter what you have done, you have got nothing on Satan, so let God use you. Your testimony can simply be, "Come see a man who knows everything about me, and He loves me, He saved me, and He keeps me from falling. 

I have done a lot that I’m not proud of, but when I think of all the things I didn’t do, places I didn’t go, and people I didn’t encounter because of God’s grace, all I can say is:

Amazing Grace shall always be my song of praise
For it was grace that bought my liberty
I do not know just how He came to love me so
He looked beyond my faults and saw my needs
I shall forever life mine eyes to Calvary
To view the cross where Jesus died for me
How marvelous the grace that caught my falling soul
He looked beyond my faults and saw my needs.

If this Samaritan woman can lead others to Christ, why should be so ashamed of ourselves that we cannot share our faith with others? Or is it that we are not ashamed of ourselves, but ashamed of the Gospel? Ms. EV