Someone Needs Your Story

• By candidasullivan
• September 28, 2026
• No Comments

Do you have a testimony? 

So many times in my life, I have wished someone would sit beside me and tell me they had been through what I was going through and that I would make it through it too. One day, feeling so defeated and alone, I wanted to hear one testimony of victory from someone in a situation similar to mine. 

As the enemy spoke words of defeat, I longed to hear words of victory. 

My aching soul needed the hope that comes from testimony. I googled and searched until I found someone with the words I so desperately needed to hear. I don’t remember his name. I don’t remember what he sounded like or even what he looked like. But I remember the hope that his testimony gave me. Someone else’s testimony became evidence that the voice of defeat wasn’t the only voice I had to listen to. As I navigated the pain of my situation, I held onto the hope. 

When we go through things and God takes us from struggle to victory, the experience creates something powerful. If we share only the victory from where we are today, without uncovering the pain, we skip the powerful part. 

The powerful part is the pain, shame, and impossible situation the Lord delivered us from. The pain isn’t the powerful part by itself. The power is seeing what God did in the middle of it—how He met us there, carried us, changed us, forgave us, strengthened us, or brought us through. God met us in the shame and pain. And that’s where we need to meet others. 

People have told me that when they read my books or blogs, it feels like they are reading my diary. I’ll admit that some of what I have shared over the years has been incredibly hard to share. But then I remember how badly I needed a testimony. How I have clung so tightly to things people have shared with me through the years. 

The more people open up and share with me, the more I realize we are all the same. We all have struggles, shame, and pain we would rather not share. But I want people to know they are not alone. 

Perfectionism is an illusion. No one can live perfectly. We sin. We mess up. But the beautiful part is that God can use my pain and shame to help others. He has grace for it all. 

I asked God so many times in my life to remove my scars. To give me a miracle to transform them. God didn’t change them. He changed how I thought about them, and that transformed me. 

When my books were published and I visited schools and spoke at conferences, God showed me how He could use my scars. In my vulnerability of sharing my pain and shame, others shared theirs with me. 

Some told me I said what was on their mind and in their heart, but they didn’t know how to say it. That’s powerful. 

But imagine if I had pretended to have faith and strength. If I had shared a more comfortable version of my story. And left out all of the pain and shame. I would have missed an opportunity to connect in a powerful way, and perhaps even left them feeling worse. Because I wouldn’t have been truthful about my experiences. 

I don’t believe we have to tell everyone everything. Some parts of our stories are private, and some wounds need time to heal before we share them. But when God leads us to share, I don’t want fear or shame to make me present a version of myself that makes it look like I never needed Him.

Sometimes we get tired up in living perfectly that we fail to see those we hurt by not being completely truthful. I am not better than anyone. I have sinned. I have struggled. I have failed. But my failures are not greater than His grace. If there is anything great in my story, it is my God.

That’s what I want to share. If I have anything great to share, it is how great my God is and how beautifully He helps me. God comes to me in my weaknesses and gives me strength. 

I believe the greatest testimonies are those where we share the pain and shame and then how God helps us with it all. When we show others how desperately we need God. 

2 Corinthians 12:9-10 KJV

⁹ And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

¹⁰ Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.

Sweet friend, maybe you’ve been ashamed of parts of your story. Maybe you’ve wished God would erase the scars so no one would ever know what you’ve been through. Me, too. 

You don’t have to tell everyone everything. But don’t automatically assume the broken parts of your story are useless.

Someone may be where you once were.

Someone may be searching for the words you once searched for.

Someone may desperately need to know they’re not the only one.

And perhaps God can use the part of your story you wanted to hide to point someone toward Him.

Your testimony doesn’t have to say, “Look how strong I am.”

It can simply say, “Look how faithful my God has been.”