Rising Up in My Soul...

I posted the lyrics to this song yesterday on my FB, but I just love them so much I need to post them here too. The song is "When the Saints" by Sara Groves. My favorite part (I will put in bold print) of the song tells of those who have gone before us...those saints that fought the good fight of faith, and suffered well for Jesus.

Over the last ten years the Lord has been opening my eyes when it comes to suffering for our faith...how it is tied to my faith/believer's faith. Most of my life I have really tried not to think much about suffering for Christ, but I can't get around it... If I am a Christian, there will be suffering... I am realizing to that in the suffering there is to be found a deep intimacy with Christ... The Lord has released blinders from my eyes, and now I am trying to take His truth and make it my reality...It is hard, but I know it will be worth it.

I actually have a lot to say about this subject and what I have been learning... As I learn, I hope to be able to share it here on the blog...OK, on with the song... Enjoy it too...


Lord I have a heavy burden of all I've seen and know
It's more than I can handle
But your word is burning like a fire shut up in my bones
and I cannot let it go

And when I'm weary and overwrought
with so many battles left unfought

I think of Paul and Silas in the prison yard
I hear their song of freedom rising to the stars
And when the Saints go marching in
I want to be one of them

Lord it's all that I can't carry and cannot leave behind
it often overwhelms me
but when I think of all who've gone before and lived the faithful life
their courage compells me
And when I'm weary and overwrought
with so many battles left unfought

I think of Paul and Silas in the prison yard
I hear their song of freedom rising to the stars

I see the shepherd Moses in the Pharohs court
I hear his call for freedom for the people of the Lord

And when the Saints go marching in
I want to be one of them
And when the Saints go marching in
I want to be one of them

I see the long quiet walk along the Underground Railroad
I see the slave awakening to the value of her soul

I see the young missionary and the angry spear
I see his family returning with no trace of fear

I see the long hard shadows of Calcutta nights
I see the sister standing by the dying man's side

I see the young girl huddled on the brothel floor
I see the man with a passion come and kicking down the door

I see the man of sorrows and his long troubled road
I see the world on his shoulders and my easy load

And when the Saints go marching in
I want to be one of them
and when the Saints go marching in
I want to be one of them
I want to be one of them
I want to be one of them
I want to be one of them

"Jimmy" (Repost)

I decided to repost one of my old entries as it kind of goes along with my last 4 posts about sharing your faith... Plus, I don't have much on the old brain right now, so a repost will work fine...


I definitely paused when deciding whether or not to publish this post. Why? In the past, and sadly even today I have drawn attention to myself to get praise or feel affirmed by others. If you are reading this you know I decided to publish this entry :) I guess my hope in publishing the story is to challenge and encourage others that may act and think like me.

If you knew me, you would know how I struggle at times with being a walking contradiction. I don't like this about myself!!! My heart wants to do one thing, but my mind (and hang-ups) don't pursue the path of my heart. I could go on and on with giving you examples, but I will camp on one for today to explain what I mean.

One thing that really gets to my heart is the plight of the homeless. You know the people you run into everyday that hold up signs asking for help, work or food. Now I know not all people that hold up a sign asking for help are homeless, but I would figure that a good many of them are indeed homeless. Any time I come across someone that is asking for help or money I want to do something. Often I dig down deep into my purse to find some money, and in many cases I have given someone a dollar, or maybe five if I have it (between you and me, when I have money I could always give it).

I want to help so much more, but here is where my mind stops me, or shall I say my Fear stops me. I am just going to be honest here... Many times I am afraid to get close to what I call the homeless. Why? In short, the answer is my SIN. I think thoughts like, "What if they are sick?", or I take a look at them and see how dirty and sometimes, smelly they are, and I don't want to get to close out of fear of catching what I perceive or imagine they might have. I hate that part of myself!!! I want to love people, all people like Jesus did and does. I know I am no better, but my mind doesn't always go there with me. My heart just wants to help the homeless, and I just want to either hug them or love on them in someway, but I do not.

Recently, I have been challenged to tell the people I encounter in this way about Jesus. What good is $20.00 to someone who may not know Jesus at all? Someone that is lost and going to Hell. That is a big question I have been asked, and one that I have really been thinking about lately.

In the past I have said "God Bless You" to those that I have given money to. That is a good practice to tell people "God Bless You", but so many people, even non-Christians say "God Bless You", and in our society today it seems like it has become a catch phrase, something we say very casually without much thought to what the statement really means. I even thought that in radical cases people have even labeled themselves as gods.

A friend challenged me to ask strangers, which in this case would include the homeless, if they knew Jesus. Jesus does change everything. This has not always been easy for me, but it is something I have been convicted of in the past. OK, so I gave you all this back story to get to my real story (I hope you are still reading).

Yesterday, while in a supermarket parking lot I saw a man on a bicycle. I pretty much settled in my mind that he was homeless, or at least in a very extreme living position. From a distance, I saw him approach a woman heading to her car. Part of me wanted to help this man, but part of me wanted to hurry inside the store. I chose to hurry inside the store.

From what I saw I think the woman either ignored him or probably quickly gave him the "NO" answer to whatever he was asking her. He was not so close to me, so I thought I would make it inside the store without him seeing me.

I got out of my care and hurried to the doors, but just as quickly I heard someone behind me say "Excuse me." I knew who it was. I turned to see the man on the bike, and he asked me if I had a dollar so he could buy some sugar. I had never heard that one before, but I wanted to give him something, so I told him yes. I reached inside my bag and found a dollar and I gave it to him and he graciously told me thank you.

In that split second I was trying to think of something valuable to say to him. There was so much to say, but nothing came to me at first. The man then asked me my name, and I told him my name, and then I asked what his name was too. He said his name was Jimmy. He was smiling at me. Here is where I knew I needed to say more than "God Bless You", so I blurted out something like, "Jimmy do you know Jesus?". He replied something like, " Sure do-He's my friend-he's every body's friend."

I didn't exactly know what else to say, and I started to say something when I noticed that Jimmy started to cry, and he wiped his eyes. WOW, what an awesome moment that was for me. I can't remember exactly what my last words to Jimmy were, but after his tears I closed our conversation and told him goodbye.

I entered the supermarket feeling so many emotions. I fought back tears as I walked down the grocery store aisles. So many thoughts entered my head.
- I wished I had said more about Jesus.
-I prayed that Jesus would take my few words, and speak to Jimmy's heart.

One of the thoughts that buzzed through my mind was the fact that Jimmy asked for a dollar to buy sugar. What homeless person is going to buy sugar? I thought about how people say that many times when people are asking for money, that they will end up using it to buy drugs or alcohol instead of using it for what they really need. I have kind of adopted the belief that it doesn't really matter what they end up spending the money on. They will one day answer to God what they have done, but I just need to do as I feel led in situation like this one.

In this situation I did think Jimmy was lying, and that he probably would spend the money on something different. However, I didn't really care so much about that because I know Jesus can speak to Jimmy's heart if He chose to.

I got in line to purchase my item, and as I sat my item down I heard someone behind me say my name. I turned to see Jimmy in line behind me. Guess what he was holding? A big bag of ice, and a small box of SUGAR packets. He quickly showed me the sugar packets. I think in some way he showed me the sugar to prove to me he really did what he said he was going to do with that dollar of mine. You can imagine how humbled I felt in my heart at that moment.

I asked Jimmy what he wanted the sugar for, and he told me that he likes to drink ice tea. Me too... I wanted to do so much more to help, so I asked him if I could buy his two items. He told me that he got the sugar from the Dollar Store next door. He did that the minute I gave him the money. Humbled more.

I bought him the ice and he profusely thanked me. Jimmy's countenance looked cheerful. We talked a bit more. Jimmy asked me where I was headed and he told me where he would soon be going. I don't remember all we said, but I ended the conversation telling Jimmy that I would pray for him. Then I left the store.

I have a feeling Jimmy doesn't get talked to very often, or that he is probably isn't treated as if he matters much.

I don't want me sharing this story to come off as a look what I did story, because honestly I didn't do too much. My flesh wants to praise myself for doing a good deed, but my spirit rejoices that God used me in a small way to make Jimmy smile, and maybe even for a moment Jimmy didn't feel like an outcast.

God showed me something huge yesterday. Honestly, what are the chances that Jimmy would show up in a line behind me with a box of sugar in hand? Moments earlier I was thinking why didn't Jimmy come up with a better line than he wanted to buy a box of sugar. God was so gracious to me by allowing me to encounter Jimmy with that sugar. It just confirmed to me once again that I am not to worry about the results of what I feel God is leading me to do. I am just to obey.

I probably will never run into Jimmy again in my life, but I can rest assured that if Jesus is after Jimmy's heart heart than he will know it. I can also rest assured that God will use everyday events like this situation to humble and make more pure a wretched sinful heart like my own.

I have had a wonderful vacation so far with my family, but I think my experience with Jimmy will stay with me for a long time. It maybe one of my best memories from this year's vacation. Thank you God for meeting me and Jimmy in a supermarket parking lot.... YOU ARE GOOD!!!

God Showed Up at TGIF (Part 4...the final post :)

OK, I have full confidence that I will finish up my story today. However, I have had such a good time remembering some of the experiences that have happened to me. As I age I forget things, so blogging has helped me document those important life events I don't want to forget. Again, if you are reading this post for the first time, scroll down and catch (Parts 1, 2 and 3).

OK, the last post talked a lot about how I had my own hang ups about how things should go when I go to a Christian conference. I still have my issues, but God has showed me that I just need to get over my sinful self and think about others.

Part 2 of this story is kind of where I stopped talking about what happened at TGIF's. My friends and I had just shared the gospel message with our waiter JR. He listened to us, and as I stated I think he was genuinely thankful that we shared the "good news" with him. He promised us that he would go home and think about what we said, and read the literature that we left with him.

At this point I was beyond thrilled about what had just happened at our table. On the other hand, I was getting a little anxious about the time factor. It was around 5:30 and the conference started at 6PM. Plus the fact that we had to meet two other women that I had invited to go with us to the conference made me a little more nervous. As the group coordinator I didn't want to let anyone down. BUT, I truly knew what was happening at TGIF was more important than me making it to the conference so I could see and sing with the Praise Team (Part 3 really goes into detail on this subject).

While I was thinking about all of this, something unexpected happened. JR brings his female cousin that also worked at TGIF to meet us. She was so polite and sweet... But in my mind (I think my friends too), we were wondering why JR wanted us to meet his cousin. Again, I felt like this maybe another opportunity the Lord was placing in front of us. I wondered if JR wanted my friends and I to share the gospel with his cousin too. At the same time I was getting nervous about how much time we had left to get to the conference. As small talk was passed around our table I was in a mental war as of what we should do. Do we dismiss ourselves and go to the conference, or do we share the gospel with JR's cousin? Not knowing what to do, I decide to go to the ladies room (that is always a good option when you don't know what to do, and you have had too many glasses of water :)

So I went to the restroom and tried to refocus myself...Taking that break helped a bit. To my surprise when I return my two friends are engaging JR's cousin in a talk about Jesus. WOW!!! I find out later that my one friend told JR's cousin (let's call her Tessa) that we were just talking with JR about Jesus before he brought her to our table. My friend asked Tessa if she knew about Jesus... Then much like what I did, my best friend began asking Tessa questions about her life and what she believed about God. I will say that although Tessa was as sweet as can be she had a different reaction to the things of God. Without taking too much time to go into everything we talked about, Tessa really didn't know what she believed. She sort of believed in God, but at times maybe not even so sure there is a God. My friend once again, did a wonderful job at answering some tough questions.

Things were winding down again, and we thanked Tessa for listening to us, and asked her to consider the things we said. My friend again left Tessa some information that she could go home and read that would further explain what we had been talking with her about. Although, Tessa did not respond as favorably as JR did, my friends and I were thrilled about what had just happened at our table.

Something neat happened as my friend and I were walking back to the restroom. I saw Tessa talking with two other employees, and she had the booklet opened that my friend had given her. She noticed us, and we kindly said hello. I got so tickled that she was telling the other employees about what had happened...NOW she might have been saying how there were three crazy ladies talking with her and asking her a lot of questions, and that would be OK. Whatever she was sharing with the other employees made me happy because it means she was talking about it...

Later, my best friend said something like, "no conference could be better than what we had just experienced". I so know what she was talking about... We were living out what we believed... All of us left there excited, knowing that we were just planting little "seeds" for Jesus, and in His timing He would do the reaping according to His good will.

The conference was very good, but I truly will remember what happened at TGIF's when I think about that weekend. I have a long way to go when it comes to sharing my faith...Since that night at TGIF I have missed opportunities to share my faith, but I try to use those times to challenge myself the next time an opportunity arises to tell other about Jesus.

Thanks for sticking with me through these posts... I hope they encouraged you in some way...

God Showed Up at TGIF (Part 3)

I think today I will finally finish my story... we will see :)

If you want to read parts 1 and 2, just scroll down a little and you can be informed on what has happened so far...

So the story leaves off where my friends and I were thanking JR for listening to us (sharing the gospel). As things were winding down with JR, I was getting a little nervous about our time frame. Me and my two friends were due to meet two other women at the conference site at 6PM. Looking at my phone, I saw that it was around 5:30 PM. OK, here is where I need to tell another background story so you will know all the thoughts that were racing through my head.

My best friend and I (she is the one in this story who shared the gospel with JR) went to a Christian Women's conference together about 2 or 3 years ago. This event was huge, as I think there were 10,000 women in attendance (and more at a satellite site). Both my friend and I have had the wonderful opportunity over the last 1o years to go to many different Christian conferences, many of them we attended together. I would say that both of us had always gleaned something from every conference we have been too. Actually, a few of the conferences I attended were huge turning points for me in my walk with Jesus... spiritual markers.

I will speak for myself here, in the beginning when I started going to Christian conferences they were like major events...like a spiritual shots in the arm. I had a lot of expectation when I went to the conferences that I wanted to come away totally a different person...totally changed for Christ. As I have matured, now I see I put too much expectation on what the conference would do for me... The conferences should have been encouragement along the way, not my main source of change. My daily relationship with Christ should be where the most change happens.

By the time I went to this conference with my friend I had a better understanding of what I should expect from a conference. I wanted to listen to see if God wanted to show me something during my time at the conference. BUT I still did have my little ideas about how things should be at the conference... I wanted to be on time for sure. I wanted to sit close so I could really engage with worship and the speakers.... I just wanted to have the perfect little conference experience. However, this time I would have a bit of a wake up call.


First of all, my friend and I were running a little late to the conference, and as you can imagine a conference that was sold out with 10,000 women in attendance would cause a little bit of traffic congestion. So on the outside I am playing it cool, but on the inside I am a little stressed. In my head I am thinking..."there goes our good seats". My friend and I press on, and finally find a parking spot. Things are good now.

However, as we are walking to the conference center entrance my friend and I come across a homeless man. AHHH... this is where things get a little tough. You see I have such a heart anytime I see someone that is homeless or asking for help or money. My heart is always drawn deeply to do something. Sadly, fear and not knowing what to do has kept me from helping more times than I liked to admit.

There were many women still on their way into the conference, my friend and I included, and we walked right past this man into our happy little arena filled with brothers and sisters in Christ. As I walked by, both my friend and I were convicted that we should stop and talk with him, but we just didn't know exactly what to do. Also, in my head the conference had already started and I didn't want to miss any of it.

Right here, I will say that I don't know that there were not other women that day that stopped and talked with the homeless man, but from my viewpoint and that of my friend all we saw were a bunch of Christian women (us included) that were passing this man by so that we could go to a Christian conference and learn more about Jesus. Something was wrong.

My friend and I entered the door of the arena, and I think we went straight to the restroom. I could hear that the worship had already begun, so we were late. However, the weight of what my friend and I just did...walk by a man who needed help and needed Jesus... was heavy on us both. I think my friend said something about how ironic it was that all of these women are here to go to a Christian conference, and yet we all walk by and don't share the love of Christ with this hurting soul outside (paraphrasing). I so agreed in my heart.

I then asked my friend if she wanted to go back outside and talk with him. She quickly agreed and we both went outside to talk to the unknown homeless man. Nervously, we approached the man and talked with him for awhile. I wish I could remember everything that was said, but basically we told the man about Jesus. He told us he did know Jesus, but he has just been in a bad place for a long time. We encouraged him as could, and we even prayed with him. I don't know what that experience did for that man...I don't know where he is today, but according to his reaction that night I do believe that he felt Jesus loved him and didn't forget him...even in a sea of 10,000 women.

My friend and I went back into the conference and we were really late by this time... We had to sit at the tippy top of the arena...I mean tippy top, we were the last row of seats. We were way high up, and both of us probably didn't engage with the speakers as we might have if we were closer, but there was something in us that day that was filled with joy because of our experience with the man outside.

I tell this story not to "toot" my own horn... to brag that my friend and I witnessed to the man when no one else would. Maybe that man was put there by God that night just so my friend and I would be challenged to step outside of our comfort zone and practice what we had been preaching.

That night my friend showed me that it was not about us going to a conference to get our spiritual tanks filled up, but that the experience with the man is what it was all about...living out what we have been taught at all those conferences. It didn't matter that we were late and missed all of worship, and it didn't matter that we had the worst seats in the house, but it did matter if we passed a man who needed to know the love of Christ in order to go get a good seat at a conference. God used my friend and a homeless man that night to open my closed eyes... I love Him and I love her too.

Alright, I guess there will be a part 4, but I promise part 4 will be short :)

Submission DOES NOT EQUAL Slavery

Disclaimer: This post is about being a submissive wife...right now I will say that I still have a long way to go to be the submissive wife God wants me to be. There are thousands of other women who are better suited to write this blog post, but I figure that there too are many women just like me that have struggled in being submissive to their husbands, so I share my story in hopes of encouraging others...

OK, I really wanted to use the not equal symbol for my title, but I couldn't find it on my keyboard :) I know my title is a bit bold, but I really find it true most of the times when I mention the word submission as it applies to a wife. Now I am not surprised at all when women that are not Christians do not understand what being a submissive wife means. In today's society I think women who do not follow Christ can get their ideas from what the "world" says a wife should be. Although, I know there are many women that are not Christians that really for all intents and purposes submit to their husbands, and easily could be labeled a submissive wife.

I guess my surprise comes when I mention being a submissive wife in Christian circles and I get the talk about how we shouldn't be slaves to our husbands. Like I said in my disclaimer above, I am no expert in the arena of being a submissive wife, but I am learning. I fail more than I would like to admit, and on a bad day you may not be able to tell that I have come a long way in this area, but I still press on. I think there are probably a couple reasons I come across the "slavery talk" when it comes to submission. One...I think women just have not been taught what being a submissive wife really looks like in real life. Two...Women just don't want to be submissive (this is where I was for a long time...In Sin). There are definitely more reasons, but that is not what this post is about.

I felt the need to write this post because a couple of things happened while I was on vacation that got me thinking about this subject. The first thing that happened was someone quickly linked something I said about how a wife should treat their husband with the idea that I was saying the woman should be a doormat...I didn't refer to anything like that... I think I said something about how a women should respect her man and not say anything bad about him. BUT it was the second situation that happened that really stuck with me and made me want to write this post.

While on vacation, my hubby and I took the boys to a restaurant to eat dinner. The restaurant was pretty empty. We sat toward the back of the restaurant (I wondered if the sight of 3 rambunctious boys made the server sit us in the back :) There was only one other couple in our area, and if I remember correctly the young couple had 3 girls with them.

We enjoyed our dinner and our kids were finishing up eating their dessert. The other couple got up to leave, and as they walked by our table the father was holding his little girl by her feet and swinging her. I think he let her go (not dropped her) and she was on the floor. The woman who I assume was his wife said something like, "Seriously, what are you doing..." He said something about this restaurant being a place to have fun. She then replied (I am paraphrasing here), "Grow up, you are embarrassing me. These people (talking about us) are trying to eat dinner." Again I don't know that I got all her words correct, but she basically said what I quoted above. The other thing that got to me was her tone with her husband...it was so cold. It was like she was mothering him.

Right away I felt sorry for the husband. A wife should not do that to her husband. I have been that wife, a million times and more. Maybe I didn't scold my husband in a restaurant in front of others, but I have surely demeaned him in front of others more times than I can remember.

-I have been sarcastic with him

-I have told him what to do

-I have acted like his mother

-I have been embarrassed of him because of the way I thought he made me look

-I have corrected him in front of others

I could go on with this list, but I don't want too...I will wrap it up here and nail it down to one big statement. I have not RESPECTED my husband the way God calls me to.

After the couple left the restaurant I said something to my husband about how sorry I felt for the husband, and the first thing that my husband said was although the wife did do something wrong that basically can cut to the core of a man's soul, she was right. I was shocked by what my husband said...he was defending the wife. I thought my husband would be so glad that I noticed what the wife did wrong, and my husband was telling me what the husband did wrong. My hubby said that in theory his wife was right. The husband was not taking into consideration the other guests in the restaurant and how they might feel by his antics. (SIDENOTE: We could care less that the man was playing with his daughter, but we realize that some patrons would have a problem with this...whether they were right or wrong).

My hubby went onto say that the wife probably thinks that how the husband acted was a poor reflection on her, and what kind of mom she is. Right or wrong, I still thought it was amazing that my hubby was trying to look at things from the wife's perspective even though he disagreed with how she treated the husband. I just want you to know that this little experience shows how the Lord has grown me and my husband in our marriage. I was looking at the situation from how the wife mistreated the husband, and my hubby was trying to imagine how the wife felt even though she was wrong in how she demeaned her husband. WOW!!!

Our God is amazing, and I am thankful that He opened my eyes to how I treated my husband. There came a point in my life that I wanted to get serious in my relationship with the Lord, and my sinful actions as a wife to my husband were keeping me from growing deeper with Jesus. I had to face the sin in my own life and own up to my part of how I was not treating my husband the way God called me to, regardless of how my husband was treating me. So I determined to go a different way...God's Way, and the most amazing thing happened.... My husband began to change too, and he started becoming the man of God that I wanted to submit to, even when it was hard to submit :)

Although my hubby and I don't do this marriage thing perfectly and sometimes not even well, God has become the center of our marriage, and He is changing us into a couple that we could not have imagined we could ever be. To Him be the Praise!!!

God Showed Up at TGIF (Part 2)

This post, although titled differently is Part 2 of my last post. A disclaimer before I begin... The title of this post reads "God Showed Up..." In all reality God always shows up...He is always there, but sometimes I don't always sense His presence, but on this particular day I just knew His presence was near.

If you have not read my previous post, you probably should take a few minutes to do so...that way this post will make a little more sense. After my experience of giving out a gospel tract to the woman at the McDonald's Drive Thru, I knew that things needed to change with me being more bold in sharing my faith with strangers. I was so thankful that my friend challenged me by pushing me out of my comfort zone at McDonalds, but I knew this experience was only a small step on a very big ladder for me.

The day after my experience at McD's, my friend and I were headed to a Beth Moore conference in St. Louis. We were going to the conference with 3 other women from my Church. My friend and I were driving to St. Louis with one of the other women, and the other 2 were planning on meeting us in St. Louis.

My 2 friends and I arrived in St. Louis and checked into our hotel...we were hungry so we decided to go the TGIF that was located inside of the hotel. Our waiter was super outgoing, friendly, and adorable. Ok, I can say adorable because he was in his early 20's and I felt more like a mother figure to him. I noticed that our waiter, let's call him J.R. seemed to linger at our table longer than waiters normally do. I began to have a sense that this maybe one of those times God wanted me (and my friends) to tell JR about Him. Sensing this I began to ask JR questions about his life. JR was very forthcoming and really shared more detail about his life than I expected. Actually, he shared very personal things about his life. Once he really opened up about his life I felt convicted all the more that I (we) needed to tell JR about God.

JR had mentioned that one of his dreams was to be a singer. It was not too long after that, that I asked him to sing us a song. He quickly obliged. To our shock and enjoyment he sat down at our table and sang us a song he used to sing to his younger brother at bedtime. JR had a beautiful voice and we were quite impressed. My mind was racing, and pretty much after this I knew that I had to say something about God...This was an open door if I ever had seen one when it comes to sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ.

I forget all the details, but pretty much after JR sang I said something like "So JR, my friends and I are here to go to a Christian women's conference, so I just wanted to ask you, do you go to Church? He then said he did, and then I said something like, "Does your Church teach about Jesus?". He replied that he did know about Jesus, and then we talked a little more. Again, I so wish I remembered everything that I said, but I don't...but it wasn't too long after that JR said something about being a "good person". It was then, that I kicked (a light kick) my best friend (the one that challenged me to give a tract away at McDonalds) in the leg under the table. I wanted her to take over, and she is so smart that she realized what my kicking her meant.

My awesome friend, then went to work leading JR through some tough, but needed questions. She then was able to share with JR about what Jesus did for him on the Cross. I just knew that the Holy Spirit was working through her... The really cool thing is that I could sense that the Spirit was working in JR's heart too. It was almost as if I could see the wheels turning in JR's mind, as my friend shared the good news about Jesus. I think JR realized that it would take more than just being a "Good" person to get him to Jesus. JR responded so well, and he was so polite. I think he appreciated what we were sharing with him. My friend gave him a booklet that shared more information with him about being a Christian. I thanked JR for listening and told him that we were sharing this message with him because we care. I really think he believed us. I ended up even giving him a hug (that's me the hugger).

There is another really cool thing that happened that night at TGIF. If I tell it now, I need to give you a background story too, so I will end here for now, and continue with a Part 3 of this story soon.

I also want to say that I only shared what was going through my mind that night at TGIF. I am sure that each of my friends could write their own story as well.

Christina, if you read this please share what was going through your mind that night too.

Stay tuned for Part 3..

Pushed Out of My Comfort Zone (Part 1)

I have to break this story down into separate posts, or else I think readers will see the post and think too long and say goodbye :) I have to go back a little bit to set this post up so it will make more sense to you.

I was introduced to Jesus at the age of nine and this year I will be 40... This fact tells you that I have had knowledge of Jesus for about 30 years. I accepted Jesus as my Savior at age nine, but feel I really did not understand my decision of what it means to be a true follower of Christ until my 20's. BUT regardless of that fact, I have always known that as a Christian I should be sharing my faith on a regular basis. During the past 30 years I have shared my faith, but here and there, and not on a regular basis...not as Jesus would want me to.

Over the last 5 years I have been convicted of the fact that I don't share my faith with others...that I don't share the good news of the Gospel with others... If I get real honest with myself I would just have to admit that I am down right scared to share my faith boldly, and if I am even a little more honest with myself I have been ashamed to share my faith. The bible has much to say about those who are ashamed of Jesus, and it is not at all good...it is terrifying.

In the past I have put too much stock in the approach of sharing my faith only when asked about it by others, or else when there are those NEON FLASHING moments in life that tell me that this is a good time to tell whomever about Jesus. There have been instances in life where I have brought up God with others, but only once in awhile. Things needed to change in my life, and I really felt like the Lord was showing me my sin in the area of telling others about Him.

One TV program that helped me during this time was "The Way of the Master" hosted by Ray Comfort and Kirk Cameron. I could probably write a whole long post about this show, but for time sake I will just say that God used this program to show me my lack of love for those who are dying and going to an eternity without the Lord...which is Hell. Wow, it is weird to use that word anymore...I don't hear people (even in the Christian circles) talking about Hell anymore...Even I don't like to say that word to people, but Hell is real, and a place that none of us want to go when we die.

I know there are some out there that think "The Way of the Master" approach is bold and it can turn people off, but the reality is that sometimes we have to be bold...and that may put people off... The Bible is clear too that many will reject Jesus...so we shouldn't be surprised when people reject Jesus...reject us.

There are those that say we should evangelize using "relationship evangelism" (build relationships with others first, then witness). I am not ruling out this approach at all, as there are those people that the Lord will put in our lives to build relationships with and hopefully they will come to Christ as we share our faith with them. BUT how many people do we come in contact with that we will never really have a chance to build a relationship with??? More than we could ever count... When I have my eyes open to this fact I see a whole world out there that I come in contact with daily (that is if I leave my house).

OK, all this to say the Lord has awakened me to my lack and sin in the area of sharing my faith, and He is awakening me to the world around me... I am only at the beginning stage, but my eyes have been opened to those around me that do not know Christ. I do know Him, and I have a responsibility to share what I know about Jesus... I don't have an excuse anymore...not like I ever did.

I knew that I couldn't keep this post short :) So I will wrap up here with an experience that happened to me a couple of weeks ago... My best friend came to see me from New York, and I will say that she also has been on a similar journey as myself with God opening her eyes to the fact that she should be sharing her faith as well. The only thing is that she has been on this journey a bit longer and the Lord has been challenging her to share her faith boldly. She has been pushing herself out of her comfort zone for the last couple of months when it comes to witnessing to others. She has really encouraged me in this area more than she knows.

A couple of weeks ago while she was visiting we went through a McDonald's Drive-Thru. As I paid the cashier I said something about witnessing to the cashier, and then my friend told me to give a tract to the employee at the next window (I already passed the cashier)... All of the sudden I just panicked and said that I couldn't...My friend then told me that I was going to do it... I had too (not in a bossy way, but in a down right challenging and convicting way)... As I waited to get to the second window, I realized how crazy I was acting... I knew my friend was right... I had to give that employee a tract...how could I be ashamed to give a simple tract to an employee??? I was afraid, and I knew that I had to do it. I mean, if I can't give a tract (publication with the message of Jesus on it) to a stranger, how would I ever actually have a conversation with someone about Jesus. I was convicted to the core, and although I was still nervous I gave the woman at the second window the tract. This was a turning point for me, and soon I would be challenged once again in the area of sharing my faith, only this time I would be doing more than just giving a tract away.

I will end for now, and pick up with Part 2 of my story titled, "God Shows Up at TGIF".