Living the Journey

On the Thursday of the soulwinning week during The Challenge II, I noticed a girl I had never met studying a textbook. I knew that the Holy Spirit was prompting me to share the Gospel with her. I went over to her and invited her to a Bible lecture. Then, I began to ask her if she thought she was a good person and to begin to introduce the Ten Commandments. She seemed convicted, and I shared my testimony and left her with two tracts. However, I had a feeling that it had not gone well.

I went home that night and began to look at the podcasts on the Journey website. Mr. Garvin’s and Pastor Pierpont’s message were especially inspiring. I felt encouraged that I did not need to “bring someone to the Lord”, but rather that I just needed to show an interest in them and be willing to share God’s work in my life. My mother and sisters encouraged me that I had sown a seed that day in my classmate’s heart, and I did not need to feel defeated.

The next day, I was scheduled to have lunch with a friend that I had known for two semesters. I purposed to try to learn her story, as Pastor Pierpont suggested, and to let God’s love flow through me.

During this time, I began to focus more closely on the amazing passage in the Song of Solomon 5:8 through 6:1. I prayed that God would enable me to inspire others to follow the Lord as the Shulamite did. The Shulamite talked rapturously about the joy of God, and His beauty was evident in her life.

I could not have imagined how wonderfully my prayer would be answered!

While I waited for my friend that afternoon, the Holy Spirit instantly quieted me and led me to be still and enjoy His presence. I left my time of prayer sure that I need to fellowship constantly with my Lord, and not worry about how I would witness to my friend.

As we started lunch, I tried to encourage her to talk about her story, and her interests. I was prompted to be less opinionated but to receive her ideas and to allow her interests to express themselves. Then, I remembered the FORM acronym Pastor Pierpont mentioned, and decided to ask her about her religion. She told me her grandmothers had been Catholic and Protestant, but she didn’t really understand what it meant to be a Christian.

So I began to share my testimony, but a most unusual thing happened – God’s presence and His love became so near and precious to me. My heart just began to bubble up, and I overflowed with love for my precious Lord, and all He had done for me. I talked not just about how God had drawn me to himself, but also about His love for me and His amazing actions in my life. At one point, she said, “That’s amazing.” And from my heart I answered “Yes, it is! Isn’t He amazing?” They weren’t just spiritually correct words; it was the reality of God overflowing in my life.

Rather than directly asking her questions, God began to weave the law and the gospel message into my testimony. I talked about my trust in my works, and how God showed me I needed to rest on His work alone. Pastor Pierpont had said that our testimony should be as short as possible; but I overflowed with my story of God’s working. She seemed to be desirous of knowing God and I encouraged her to seek God. I know that He will find her.

I felt so freed by knowing that I was not “closing a deal” and that God had others whom He would use in her life. As we parted, I was encouraged and still enraptured by the beauty of my Lord and the way His love had flowed through me. I felt ministered to by His Spirit and knew that He had revealed Himself to both of us – that God had been present and done His work. I had just been the instrument.

~ Sarah

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 19th, 2009 at 9:20 pm and is filed under The Journey Continued. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.