#tls09 ... Wess Stafford: Leveraging Your Past

Whew. Wess Stafford was by far the most difficult talk to listen to, but one of the richest hours of the conference. Wess is the president of Compassion International, but his talk was about his own painful history of childhood abuse and how he's allowed the Lord to take his pain and turn it into a passion for freeing children from poverty in the name of Jesus Christ.

Stafford calls his testimony, "a story God redeemed and leveraged for good." He stands, telling his painful tell, and states, "by God's grace I am still usable in His Kingdom ... God has crafted each of us with a story of brokenness to redeem for His glory."

Then he asks the questions, "What's your cause? Does it move you to tears? What is it that moves you passionately?" As someone who truly doesn't cry easily -- I know you don't believe this about me, but it's true -- this was tough for me. "Don't live without a passion that draws you to tears -- don't lead like that."

As someone who's currently working on a new Bible Study series about the glories of being "in Christ" I thrilled when Stafford said, "We have worth because of Who gives us worth." Amen!

In addressing the issue of forgiveness for those dealing with a painful past, Stafford says, "you may not forget what you have forgiven, but you will never forget what you cannot forgive." He goes on to say that unforgiveness is the primary avenue satan uses to gain access to believers' lives. Stafford says forgiveness is giving up your right to revenge.

Speaking about allowing God to redeem a painful or destructive past, Stafford said, "Sometimes we limit the definition of the word redemption. Sometimes we are not expansive enough to know what else He can redeem."

And, finally, my favorite quote of the entire two days ...

"My prayer is that as Jesus wipes the tears from my eyes, He'll also have to wipe the sweat from my brow because I worked until I was wonderfully interrupted by His trumpet call."