My friend Michelle has the heart of a missionary. Sure, she’s been on short-term mission trips to Haiti, and she even used her nursing skills on the field by serving with Mercy Ships for a year overseas. But, Michelle also shares her redemption story everywhere she goes if someone will listen.

Recently, she broke her ankle and spent a few weeks unable to venture out much. If you know Michelle, you’d realize how hard that was for her. She doesn’t slow down, and on the weekends you will usually find her hiking a trail in her new home state of Arizona. Now that she lives half way across the country, we keep in touch via social media quite a bit.

During her down time, Michelle started chronicling her long-rehabilitation on Instagram. She posted pictures of each new cast, and once Instagram rolled out their new “Stories” video feature, she streamed video live from her doctor’s office. I started watching her every night as I’d eat a snack on my couch after work.

She is brave, I thought. I wonder how many people are actually watching this along with me? She is just being herself and taking us along for the ride.

A couple of days later, I pushed play on a video of Michelle and expected her to fill me in on her progress, but instead she wanted to share her story.

Michelle explained that a co-worker had asked her how following Jesus had changed her life, and so she testified how yielding her life to Christ had transformed her story from trauma to triumph. Asking God to forgive her sin and re-direct her life was the best decision she’d ever made. God had taken her shame and condemnation and replaced them with new-found peace and purpose.

Michelle’s bold choice to proclaim God’s redemption in her life on Instagram has challenged me. I mean, what am I so afraid of? Why do I fear sharing my story?

I’m sharing “4 Ways to Make Jesus Known on Instagram” at Missional Women.

To read the rest of this post, join me here.