I recently had lunch with a friend and she shared about a hard thing she was walking through. She was leading her team at work through a task that she felt very unprepared and unexperienced for. She was working hard to lean into what God was calling her to do and handle the situation appropriately, while doing good work at her job and sticking to her personal convictions. She said one of her co-workers encouraged her by telling her she was the girl for the job! He had no doubt that she was in the right place at the right time and she could step into this task. She shared that God used her co-worker’s words to confirming to her heart that she was the girl for the job. She said now that the task is done and she can move forward she was thankful because now she had experience in that area. She’s a better employee because of this experience and know’s it will allow her to serve better and be more equipped in the future.
The reason I’m sharing all of this is because I realized I’ve always defined “experiences” as negative. I look back and see parts of my story that are hard and painful and define them as “experience”. I see scars and even wounds that are still healing and label it “experience”. At the same time I look back over pieces of my story that are beautiful and healing. I don’t put those parts in the experience category. I realized at that lunch table that I have given that neutral word a negative definition, and it’s not a good thing.
Merriam and Webster has several definitions to the word experience but the one I’d like to share is this: something personally encountered, undergone, or lived through.
Experience: something personally encountered, undergone, or lived through.
Merriam and Webster Definition
Based on this definition, all of my life is experience. I have experienced the blessing of being pregnant. My body has experienced growing another living being and I have labored and given birth. I have experienced the joy and excitement of moving into a new home, over and over. I have experienced flying and traveling to different countries and parts of the world. I have experienced three continents and touched three oceans. I have experienced God and seen his beauty in different ways and in different seasons. I have received pictures from God and experienced peace that can’t be explained.
All of the good and beautiful things for whatever reason never got labeled in my heart and mind as experience. I’m again reminded that words matter and they carry weight. I’m reminded that labels can be dangerous because I label something and put it in a good or bad category. Is that really helpful though? Am I being kind to myself when I take something that I’ve experienced and say it’s all good or all bad? Is it limiting God and the journey He has brought me on?
In the book of Joshua, there’s a verse that says that the nation of Israel served the Lord while Joshua was their leader. It says the leaders followed the Lord because they “had experienced everything the Lord had done for Israel.” This feels so encouraging to me! The leaders of Israel had experienced things with God. They saw what He had done and they could remember real actual times when God showed up because they were there. It wasn’t a story they had heard. Experience is how we see God’s faithfulness. It marks times when we can see how God has loved and cared for us. It gives us ways to grown and refine our faith, stripping out lies or half truths we’ve come to believe.
“who had experienced everything the Lord had done for Israel
Joshua 24:31
I say the phrase “uniquely equipped and specifically gifted” a lot. God gave me those words last year when I was doing a study on John 10:10, God giving us life abundantly. It’s a phrase that has given me so much hope. This whole topic of experience being not just hard and heavy but beautiful has deepened the phrase for me. Last year I was wrestling with some things that had happened to me. I see that part of my healing was admitting that God can redeem hard things. He has brought beauty to very specific wounds and I’m so thankful for that. I’m also seeing that another layer of healing for me has been God graciously using those experiences for the good of others. He has allowed me to heal, and now He’s using the healing in my life for healing in other’s lives. After this conversation I’m seeing that this happens not just with wounds but with blessings as well. God graciously allowed me to travel outside of the US for the first time when I was in high school. It touched my soul to see other cultures and began a journey of traveling and seeing God through different eyes. God has used those experiences and lessons I’ve learned to strengthen my faith and solidify my belief that God is good and God loves me. He gave me those experiences to uniquely equip me to serve in the way and places that He put me.
So let me close with some encouragement. Is there a particular experience that makes me you feel shame or guilt? First, if we’re talking about sin God is waiting for you to confess. He is waiting for you to lay it down at his feet and experience forgiveness and healing from your sin. Bring it into the light and don’t hide in the dark. Second, if we’re talking about something that happened to you because of the choice of another person God can redeem those wounds. God can bring healing and peace to that experience and you can walk into freedom. Spend some time praying through what happened and be honest with God. Reach out to a safe friend or mentor if the wounds feel fresh and raw and you need some help processing. Get counseling if you need it! Then, pray that God would show you how you are uniquely equipped because of that experience. On the other side of the conversation, is there a particular experience that makes you feel blessed and content? Spend some time thanking God for those experiences! What a beautiful gift from Jesus. Reflect on how your experiences equip you to serve those around you. God has given you those experiences for your good, and to be able to serve the people around you. Whether you have a formal ministry or not. If you’re a wife or mom, God has given you unique experiences to be the wife and mom that your family needs. If you’re a single woman just starting into adulthood, God has given you unique experiences to be the employee and co-worker that your company needs. If you’re a teen, God has given you unique experiences that He wants you to use to strengthen your faith and serve those around you. God is not waiting for a certain age or season of life. He wants to use you right now, right where you’re at. God is mighty in you!
Abigail Denton 