Sharing your testimony can feel like the last thing you have energy for on a cancer journey. However, one man in the Gospel of Mark shows us why it may be exactly what Jesus has in mind for you... and why it heals the one who tells it.

The Man Who Wanted to Follow Jesus

In Mark 5, Jesus steps out of a boat and meets a man nobody could help. He lived among the tombs. Night and day he cried out and cut himself with stones, and no chain could hold him. Everyone had simply given up on him.

Jesus didn't give up. He set him free, and before long the man was sitting there, dressed and in his right mind.

Then something happens that I love. As Jesus gets back into the boat, the man begs to go with Him. Honestly, who could blame him? He had just met the One who changed everything. Why would he ever leave His side?

Yet Jesus says no.

Go Home and Tell

Instead, Jesus gives him an assignment: "Go home to your own people and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you" (Mark 5:19, NIV).

Notice where Jesus sends him first. Not to a stage, and not to strangers. Home... to the people who knew him before, who had watched him suffer, and who needed to see what Jesus had done.

Now notice what Jesus tells him to say. Just two things: how much the Lord has done for you, and how He has had mercy on you. That's the whole outline. There's no speech to write and no polish required. So if you've ever thought, "I wouldn't know what to say," Jesus already handed you the outline.

Sharing Your Testimony Heals the One Who Tells It

Here's something I've watched happen with every guest on our podcast. They agree to tell their story to help someone else, and it does. But afterward, nearly every one of them tells me it helped them even more.

I think the man from Mark 5 would understand. Every time he told it, he went back to the chains and the tombs... and then he got to say, "But look what Jesus did." In the same way, sharing your testimony takes the pain you've been carrying and turns it, out loud, into a story about Jesus.

That's also why holding it all inside is so heavy. We wrote about that weight in keeping a cancer diagnosis to yourself, and it's the reason facing cancer alone was never God's plan for you.

His Story Went Further Than He Did

Mark 5:20 says the man went away "and began to tell in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him. And all the people were amazed."

The Decapolis was a region of ten cities. Jesus sent him home, yet his story traveled far beyond it. Later in Mark's Gospel, when Jesus returns to that region, crowds come to Him. Many believe this man's story had gone ahead of Him.

That's what your story can do, too. You may tell one person, and they tell another. You may never know how far it goes, but Jesus does. As Psalm 107:2 puts it, "Let the redeemed of the LORD tell their story."

If You're Not Ready Yet

Maybe you can't say it out loud yet. That's okay. Not yet is timing, not failure. When you are ready, start small by sharing your testimony with one person, or record it on your phone for your family.

And if you'd like to share it more widely, our Share Your Story page is always open. You can also hear how my own story turned in When God Changed My Life.

You Are Never Alone

Jesus hasn't only done something for you. He has had mercy on you, and He's with you right now. So whenever you're ready, go home and tell. Sharing your testimony is how His mercy keeps reaching people you may never meet.

No matter what you are facing on your journey with cancer or in life, remember: you are NEVER ALONE. Jesus and the Holy Spirit are always with you and ready to help. All you have to do is ask, then give it all to Jesus and let Him go to work.

Listen to the Podcast - Why Tell Your Story - It Will Heal You First