I'm Telling!

Wrapping up the series, “Stuff Christians Do,” the pastor talked about the call for Christians to share their faith. As I listened to the sermon online, I couldn’t help but think about my situation in this past week….

We had planned to go to Pennsylvania, in the area where the founder of White’s Residential and Family Services found the wealth to begin this amazing ministry to children, teens and families. Dana, my husband, was going to be able to share with the people in the town of Jim Thorpe, how lives were still being transformed by the dream of a man that they knew primarily as an entrepreneur and inventor. Josiah White’s dream, dating back to 1849 when he came to Wabash, Indiana, was to bring hope to kids whose lives seemed hopeless.

After our work in PA was complete, the plan was to continue on to Washington D.C. and attend the wedding of our nephew and his bride. As it turns out, the trip got cut short because I was having a difficult time with arrhythmia. My heart beat was either too fast or too slow and I was too tired to talk. If you know me, that doesn’t happen very often!

Upon the recommendation of the doctor, I ended up coming home in the middle of the week and spending the night in the hospital to undergo tests and make sure that I wasn’t at risk for something life-threatening, and thankfully, I am NOT. However, there would be No wedding. No family. No week of relaxation we were both so looking forward to.

You’ve probably heard someone talk about how our disappointments are often turned into Divine appointments. Well, that is exactly what I feel happened to me in that hospital. In a twenty-four hour period I was able to share little bits of Truth, small bites of the message of Jesus with two x-ray techs, 2 EMTs, 4 nurses, 1 nurse’s assistant and a doctor. I didn’t quote scripture. I didn’t site chapter and verse of the message I shared in a sentence or two. I just let God’s love flow from me to them and wasn’t afraid to tell them that the part of my heart that really mattered was getting healthier every day.

So many people try to hide their decision to follow Jesus because they don’t know what to say or fear offending or are afraid they will be asked a question they don’t know the answer to. I have a remedy for that. Just be YOU. That’s all I was doing. I am not a preacher or evangelist or pew jumpin’, Bible thumpin’ kind of woman. I am just a woman who has been loved and showered with amazing grace… a woman who is happy and content with the life God has given me… a woman who loves the Word of God… a woman who is anxious to give the same hope and help to others as I have received… a woman who is flawed and says dumb things and talks when I should be quiet and sometimes quiet when I should talk. I haven’t been to seminary. I can’t remember a lick of Biblical Greek (sorry Prof. Atkins), but I have a story. I have a connection to God that is my very own. It brings me peace. It gives me joy.

Of course, the fact that everyone was working on my heart with all their poking and prodding did open doors for me to share some issues of the heart. It gave me the opportunity to simplify the message as Jesus did, and tell them that if we would simply follow Jesus directive to love God and love others, the world would be a better place. It gave me the opportunity to let them know that, even when you feel lousy, you don’t have to be grumpy and sad, because the heart where Jesus lives is going to live forever. Did I say those words to anyone? No! I just smiled and cared about them and their lives. When you do that, people just start to talk to you and then you never know where the conversation will go.

Jesus was kind to the woman at the well when the culture would have dictated that he judge and flee. Jesus was a friend to those He taught. Jesus taught by living what He believed. When we do that, opportunities will come for us to plant the right seed at the right time that someone else will water and cultivate. Or maybe you will be the one to cultivate the seed planted by another. Fix your heart and mind on Jesus and walk with Him. He will guide you to be one who changes the world… for someone… someday. What you were given may be personal, but it is not private. It is meant to be shared. That is the very way God designed our faith to be. You may be the one to plant the seed that will transform an entire family or change the trajectory of a marriage or even save the life of a downcast soul. 

Don't be afraid of what you don't yet know. Be afraid, rather, of what might be lost if you don't share what you do know.