Throughout the course of our living here in this area of Lima, I've spoken to, counseled and shared Jesus with 2 girls at the park where we take our dogs. You read about one of them in my last blog entry. She decided to choose death.
Since then, I've been going over and over in my head what I had actually shared with her when I met her, checking to see if it had been sufficient, if I had shared Jesus with her or not. Suicide is so selfish and its ripples go really far. It affected me and I had met her only once and it made me wonder if I was at fault for not doing enough.
But I know I did what I could at that time and a little after. I'm learning that I can lead a person to the living waters of Jesus but it is up to them to want to drink from it.
Free will.
This story is about the 2nd girl. She asked Jesus into her life the very first meeting at the park. I text messaged her at Christmas and exchanged greetings but then never heard from her until a week ago. The first time, she had been really depressed and had asked God to send someone or an angel to talk to her. Guess who God sent. She was so in awe that God answered her prayer literally. But even though she received Jesus into her life that night, she wasn't ready to be discipled or go to church.
The second time around, she cried out to God to bring someone to talk to her to counsel her in doing things the right way. God is so funny. He coordinated that night for me and hubby to walk the dogs super late to meet up with her as she was entering the park. We talked for an hour while poor hubby and the dogs sat around, hungry. She wanted to meet me again and I told her I would bring her a bible.
Yesterday, we met and I started teaching her key verses from the bible about her identity and what Jesus had done for her and basically, at the end of it, I very directly said that she knows what some of the promises of God says about her and it depended on her what she does with the information. It could sit in her mind and never be used or she could believe it in her heart and walk in it. She decided to go to church with us tonight.
Her verdict after church tonight? "This is not like a Catholic church at all! It's like one big concert!" She decided she wants to go again. She's planning to go tomorrow night for the young adults meeting and I will meet her again next Tuesday at the park.
One chose death. The other chooses life.
We all have a choice.
Since then, I've been going over and over in my head what I had actually shared with her when I met her, checking to see if it had been sufficient, if I had shared Jesus with her or not. Suicide is so selfish and its ripples go really far. It affected me and I had met her only once and it made me wonder if I was at fault for not doing enough.
But I know I did what I could at that time and a little after. I'm learning that I can lead a person to the living waters of Jesus but it is up to them to want to drink from it.
Free will.
This story is about the 2nd girl. She asked Jesus into her life the very first meeting at the park. I text messaged her at Christmas and exchanged greetings but then never heard from her until a week ago. The first time, she had been really depressed and had asked God to send someone or an angel to talk to her. Guess who God sent. She was so in awe that God answered her prayer literally. But even though she received Jesus into her life that night, she wasn't ready to be discipled or go to church.
The second time around, she cried out to God to bring someone to talk to her to counsel her in doing things the right way. God is so funny. He coordinated that night for me and hubby to walk the dogs super late to meet up with her as she was entering the park. We talked for an hour while poor hubby and the dogs sat around, hungry. She wanted to meet me again and I told her I would bring her a bible.
Yesterday, we met and I started teaching her key verses from the bible about her identity and what Jesus had done for her and basically, at the end of it, I very directly said that she knows what some of the promises of God says about her and it depended on her what she does with the information. It could sit in her mind and never be used or she could believe it in her heart and walk in it. She decided to go to church with us tonight.
Her verdict after church tonight? "This is not like a Catholic church at all! It's like one big concert!" She decided she wants to go again. She's planning to go tomorrow night for the young adults meeting and I will meet her again next Tuesday at the park.
One chose death. The other chooses life.
We all have a choice.
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