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Just say yes

Guys are much worse about feeling the need to be self-reliant, after all, that sounds like a good thing, right? Like most guys, I was so proud of my ability to rise to each occasion that presented itself. It was just what a man did.

Then life slapped me down hard. I lost my dad, brother, job and marriage within a couple of months of each other along with a cornucopia of other difficulties. At my age finding another job that was comparable was all but impossible. I sank into depths of depression never encountered before, thinking about solutions no sane person should ever entertain.

Then I read “In the Eye of the Storm” by Max Lucado. In it he made the point that we see God best from our knees, and sometimes when we aren’t there, he puts us there. It was a shock to realize I had always been depending on myself, my own strength, when I should have been depending on the One that was equal to any challenge. I was not learning what God wanted me to learn and my difficulties would continue until I did.

I learned to say yes to God. When asked to do things at church I didn’t think I was qualified or able to do, I said yes, cringed and stepped out in areas that were way out of my comfort zone. My writing began to reflect my faith, I began to substitute teach in Sunday school, and started singing in the choir and doing specials as duets with my wife. Yes, God was faithful and as soon as I started getting right with him he began to heal my life including leading me back to my high school sweetheart and a strong Christian marriage.

When given a chance to talk on this topic as a testimony, we like to sing a song called “The Answer is Yes” that is a perfect match for this topic. For the most part, the ladies have known this all along, that they can be strong wives and mothers and still rely on the men in their lives without it being a negative for them. Far more of them also understand the even greater need to rely on God than on the men in their lives or themselves. They get it.

Guys, however, have placed such a strong importance on being strong and macho, had it imprinted on us from the male influences in our life from the time the doctor held us up and paddled us on the rear, that relying on anyone other than ourselves is a sign of weakness. Over and over I hear stories of men who had to be bludgeoned to their knees before they came to realize depending on God was not a weakness but a strength. Count me in that number.

Now I say yes, shudder and shrug as I step into some area outside my comfort zone trusting God to not allow me to be too badly defeated or embarrassed. He continues to be faithful, enabling me to meet every trial . . . much better than when I was doing it out of my own ability. Who knew He has been waiting to do that for me all along?

Terry Burns

Full writing testimony at testimony.htm