Share Your Story: Victoria

At Woodland, we believe that our imaginations are a powerful way to connect with God in prayer. Victoria is a podrishioner who shared her story about how she learned to deal with a painful memory through imaginative prayer:

I live in Norway, and a few years back my chiropractor suggested I start listening to a guy named Greg Boyd who was a pastor of a church in the States. I was hooked by the first sermon!

I heard Greg speak about imaginary prayer in several of his sermons and decided to buy his book Seeing is Believing. I have always had a very vivid and active imagination so this really resonated with me.

I have had this recurring memory from when I was a teenager that really bothered me. I was probably 16 or 17 and went to a church in Oslo with metalheads and rockers and they were all in their early 20s. They were so cool! One Sunday the pastor opened up the floor for people to come up and speak if they felt God giving them a word. I had been given a necklace by my dad with a heart on it that said “I love you” and I really felt God prompting me to get up there and speak. You know that uncomfortable feeling you just can’t shake? So I got up in front of everyone and said that my dad gave me this necklace but that God had written “I love you” on all our own hearts and that he wanted us to remember that. He wanted us to know it could not be undone in any way; it was carved in there.

And that was that, but whenever that memory has come up in my adult years it has really bothered me. Remembering being so young in front of all of those cool musicians and artists, I felt so stupid and just wanted to crawl out of my skin.

So I decided to ask Jesus to help me rewrite this memory.

We stood together at the back of the room and looked at teenage-me standing in front talking. And Jesus said: “That girl is so tough! To get up and speak in front of these people and say exactly what I wanted her to. Can you see she is glowing?” And there I was with this aura of bright light around me and all of a sudden the bad feelings were gone. Jesus thinks I am tough! And that awkward teenager was exactly who he wanted to use to remind the others of his love for us.

I know this was not a big life-changing memory filled with trauma that God fixed, but not feeling like crawling out of my skin every time I look back on it is amazing. And to know that Jesus thinks I glow and am tough is also pretty badass, because that does not apply only to the teenage girl at that stage, that applies to the woman I am today.

Thank you to Greg for writing a truly inspiring book and to the rest of the team for all your good work and teachings. I love feeling part of the church even though I am an ocean away.

We’re glad you’re part of us, even from an ocean away, Victoria – thank you for taking the time to write! If you have your own story to share please contact us here.