Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.- 2 Corinthians 1:3-4.

Every life tells a story. But for those in Christ, our stories are never merely about us. They are part of a greater Story—His story of redemption unfolding through ordinary lives, unexpected suffering, and steadfast grace.

Do you have a story to tell? We all do. In fact, we have many things in our past, present, and even future that form the greater story of our lives. As I prepare for our next ministry podcast, I ponder the stories of my life and how God has used them to bring me to where I am now—not in a worldly sense, but to something far greater, something eternal wrapped up in knowing Him more.

Through the years, I’ve learned that this is the point and the greatest blessing: knowing Jesus more intimately and being sanctified by His ardent love through the Holy Spirit. Without the trials in my life that make up each of my stories, I never would have come to know this greater reality and truth. My stories might have simply been self-centered accounts of striving for things of this temporal world and gaining nothing of lasting value.

I pause to contemplate the depth of each of our stories and what emerges from our difficult seasons. Scripture tells us to consider it all joy when we encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of our faith produces endurance. And we are to let endurance have its perfect result, so that we may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing (James 1:2–4).

This is the sanctification journey we are all on, leading us more into the image of Christ. Not only does endurance emerge when we look back on past seasons and see God’s faithfulness in the midst of them, but a heart of praise grows as well. Many lyricists have captured this beautifully, just as the Psalmists did, lifting up words of praise to God for seeing them through difficult journeys.

Today, we benefit from these enduring hymns that echo realities in our own lives and become something of an anthem for our faith. Two lyricists in particular have always held a special place in my heart, and God has used their stories to help me in my own journey.

You may have heard their stories before, but these testimonies always bear repeating.

First is Horatio Spafford, a Chicago businessman who lost his only son to illness in 1871. Then in 1873, his four young daughters drowned when the ship they were sailing on—the SS Ville du Havre—sank in the Atlantic after a collision. While sailing to join his grieving wife, who survived, Spafford passed over the spot where his daughters had perished and wrote the words to It Is Well with My Soul as a declaration of faith and peace amid overwhelming sorrow.

I have personally clung to those lyrics in my own times of despair, and his story has brought comfort to me in knowing the same God who met him with unsurpassing peace is the same God who meets me.

Fanny Crosby is the second lyricist whom I greatly admire. She was one of the most prolific hymn writers in history, authoring over 8,000 hymns despite being having no vision from the age of six weeks when a misguided medical treatment left her permanently blind as an infant. Yet rather than dwelling in darkness, Fanny’s heart overflowed with love for God, producing beloved hymns such as Blessed Assurance, Praise Him, and To God Be the Glory.

But perhaps even greater than the testament of her hymns is the testimony of her spoken words. About her blindness, she is noted to have said:

“It seemed intended by the blessed providence of God that I should be blind all my life, and I thank Him for the dispensation. If perfect earthly sight were offered me tomorrow, I would not accept it. I might not have sung hymns to the praise of God if I had been distracted by the beautiful and interesting things about me.”

Oh, to be such an inspiration in the face of adversity—to view blindness itself as a gift. She would have wanted no credit for any of her thoughts or lyrics, however, as she attributed all praise and glory to God. Fanny and Horatio both experienced the nearness of God in profound ways and could not keep it to themselves.

As their story was HISstory, so is our story HIStory.

And though most of us are not lyricists, and our praise may never be set to music, we still have the gift of voice. We can share the same message of what Christ has done in our lives. We are called to share our stories because we are called to bear testimony to our Savior.

And oh, how many testimonies I have with which to praise Him!

I thank God for giving me a godly mother to teach me about Jesus and prayer at a young, tender age. Some do not receive that gift as early as I did, but in my story, those seeds planted in childhood proved profoundly necessary when my father unexpectedly died when I was just fourteen, especially in the aftermath when his death led to a deep depression in my mother, who could no longer teach me about Jesus in her bitter grieving.

Looking back on that season now, I see how faithful God was to stay near me, even when I was prone to wander—prone to leave the God I loved as an older teen and young adult and take up the ways of the world. He kept me tethered in every wandering. His grace kept me bound to Him even when I didn’t know I needed it.

I thank Him for my long season of childbearing difficulties, when secondary infertility left me unable to have another child. I praise Him continually for how that story became the greater blessing of adopting my daughter, a gift that will forever keep on giving.

I thank Him for the seasons that followed with tremendous family loss… the deaths of my husband’s parents and my mother, followed by three of his siblings and one of mine, plus two nephews and one niece. Fear still tries to creep in about the reality of our genetics, but He meets me there, and my focus has shifted from life here on earth to a greater longing for eternity, where I will be forever in His presence and joyfully reunited with those I love.

And there are many more parts of my story I am equally grateful for, including the shyness and insecurity I have carried since childhood, because they make me rely on Him more and remind me that it is only He who enables me to speak boldly.

It was only through Him that I could submit to moving away from everything and everyone I held dear several years ago, to leave my comfort zone and move two hours away in obedience. There, He was my comfort, my familiar, my companion, my foundation, my deliverer, and my guide as He called Ardent Ministry into existence.

And now He is leading me back home as the ministry begins its next chapter as a non-profit.

I smile, and my heart is flooded with joy as I recall the many parts of my story and the greater reality that it is His story. And like Fanny, I would never trade these difficulties for a life without those trials, because through them I have come to know Christ more.

Through these trials, I have been comforted and received the gift of comforting others with the comfort I myself received from God (2 Cor. 1:4).

Through these trials, I have found a voice of praise.

This is my story, this is my song, praising my Savior all the day long.

Sharing my story shares Him. And what a beautiful gift it is to tell of how Jesus met me with His ardent love in the midst of suffering, trials, and adversity.

So what’s your story? We all have one.

Is your story HIStory?

If so, don’t keep it to yourself. Tell of the gifts borne through your trials. Tell of the faithfulness you have seen. Tell of the God who met you in sorrow and carried you through.

Because when we share our story, we share His glory.

And perhaps someone else, hearing your testimony, will come to know the ardent love of God through your witness and receive the blessed assurance that Jesus is theirs.

Ardently His,
Leah

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