Recently we received an e-mail prayer update from dear friends whose husband has cancer. They had made a trip from their home to Texas for treatment for the cancer. The story they included in their e-mail greatly encouraged our hearts in how the Lord uses the vessel yielded to Him and bold enough to be obedient. We thought this story would bless your hearts as well and might motivate you to, “sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear” (1 Peter 3:15).

“Driving home, we thanked God for keeping us safe from a close-call accident. Then a few miles before getting back to the house, we stopped at a gas station where we ended up meeting a young couple in their twenties, whose car had broken down. My husband went over to see what he could do to help but was unable to get them going because it was overheated.

As he was coming back toward me, I felt the Holy Spirit directing me to give the woman one of several Scripture cards that someone gave to us before our trip. I was quickly thumbing through them to find which one to give and just prayed to God to have me hand her the right one. My husband brought it over to her.

Suddenly she just came running back to our car saying things like, “You have no idea what this means to me. God has been calling me and giving me signs to come to him, but I’m just never ready. I don’t want to stop doing the things I know I should not do (dr*gs and adu***ry), and I’ve gone to five churches trying to get myself to God, but I never do it. I feel like I’m not worthy because I’ve done so many bad things, and I don’t want to keep letting Him down and being a hypocrite.”

Did I have lots to tell her about me! I shared with her how I felt the same way when I learned that Jesus loved me, and I said I thought there was no way He’d ever want to forgive me for all I had done. I told her about my dr*g addictions and the abo**ions I had had and that I was not worthy of His love, but THAT HE LOVED ME ANYWAY! He changed my life, in spite of all the poor choices I had made. I encouraged her through my tears NOT to WAIT to let Him into her heart. I explained that it is because of our sin that He had to die on that cross, but that that was not the end. Yes, He died to be that sacrifice so that we could one day be in the presence of God when we go to heaven, but first we must let him in to cleanse us.

I explained that the road was not going to be easy for her but that God would fill her with His Holy Spirit to give her strength to change her life. I said there’s no way people can fight “sin” without the Spirit. We simply do not have the power to do it on our own. That’s why we NEED GOD IN OUR LIVES! It’s like treading water your whole life and God’s reaching out to you to save you from drowning, but you just keep on treading. Eventually you will tire out and drown.

God kept pressing it on my heart to keep her in her place of pain because He was doing work in her heart. I kept praying as I spoke with her for God to soften her heart so that she’d let Him come in. I’ve never spoken to anyone before like I spoke to this woman. God gave me all the words to say, and I had all the bad life experiences to be compassionate to her because I myself had been in her shoes . . . I had made the same mistakes that she had made but now was living proof that THERE IS A BETTER WAY.

After lots of hugs and tears, she said to me that she was ready to pray and give her life to God. She said, “I don’t know what to say.” I said, “I really don’t know all of what to say either because I don’t usually do this! But let’s just work through it together.” So there we stood in the middle of a gas station, crying out to God for forgiveness and to accept this wandering soul into His everlasting kingdom. It was incredible! Never have I felt so close to God to have Him speak through me. I kept thanking her and telling her how we and others had prayed for God to somehow use us on this trip to further His kingdom and that she was a direct answer to that prayer.

You may think that is all, but you’re wrong. When we looked over to see where the men were, the two of them were kneeling on the ground praying!!!! Guess what . . . HE GAVE HIS LIFE TO THE LORD, TOO! A total separate conversation that I still haven’t heard the details about, but with the same ending results. PRAISE GOD! God took these two people, who had hit rock bottom in their lives, and had prepared their hearts. We were merely the instruments to set them on the right road. Both my husband and I were just in awe when we left them and said, “I guess that is why God sent us to Texas . . . to bring two more people to Him.”

Amen and amen!!!

“That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.  For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation,” (Romans 10:9-10).

(Please note: astricks (*) were added due to some internet filters mis-categorizing the blog because it included the words.)