During our Washington trip, we got to spend some quality time with Micah’s mom. She is an amazing lady – prayerful and faithful always. And she has a knack for sharing the Gospel with everyone, everywhere, in a way that is warm and not pushy or forced.
This is her secret. She just tells people about her life. Plain and simple. She knows God has been good to her, so when she talks about herself, her past experiences, and her hopes and goals for the future, God is woven into every conversation she has. Her life has not been easy by any means. She was a single mom to four kids. She has had the strangest medical problems that have left her on the brink of death multiple times – rare spider bite, unexplained infection, dental surgery gone awry. This lady has some stories, y’all. But in every single one of them, the moral is the same. God is good. He has been merciful and gracious to her. He has been her provider and comforter in every trial. You can’t walk away from a conversation with Micah’s mom without pondering who God is…
My SIL, MIL, and me on our way to STOMP.
And this is what we are called to do. Tell of God’s goodness to others. All the time. Once, early in His ministry, Jesus healed a man possessed by demons {Mark 5}. Jesus cast out demons often, but this time was interesting because the man was possessed by not one but a LEGION of demons. When it sensed what Jesus was about to do, the legion begged to be sent into a herd of pigs when it left the man’s body. Jesus granted permission and as soon as the demons entered the pigs, the whole herd of thousands ran over a cliff and fell into the sea. The healed man was amazed, of course, and he asked to follow Jesus and become one of his disciples. It seemed like a reasonable request from a man with genuine faith.
But Jesus responded with “no.”
Instead Jesus gave the healed man clear instructions: “Go home to your friends and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.” {Mark 5:19}
That’s it. Go home to your friends and family and talk about what Jesus has done for you. And so the man went and proclaimed Jesus all over his hometown.
And that’s what many of us are called to do as well. Of course, some are called to be missionaries in faraway places. And some are called to specific ministries of teaching and preaching to large audiences. But most of us? We’re called to tell our friends.
We aren’t called to spend time frozen in fear over how to present the Gospel with the right words to the right people in the right timing. We are called to talk about God’s goodness in our lives. And if we are truly loved by God and see His providence and grace in all the minute details of our lives, it shouldn’t be hard to talk about him.
So let us talk of all the normal things… of home buying and new jobs and fluctuating interest rates and healthy pregnancies and being healed from sickness and growing in patience and learning to forgive and serving others and being encouraged by strangers and working and resting for the glory of God.
He is good. Tell everybody.
Really loved this post and was encouraged by it! Sharing about my faith always seems to hard for me, but I just love how your mother-in-law lives that out by telling her story!
Very encouraging post! We have been talking about sharing the gospel in our small group, so I emailed everyone this post today! 🙂
I absolutely loved this post. You're so right about how easy it should be to share the gospel. So encouraging and easy to do. So thankful for your writing 🙂 I'm sharing this post!
Love this: "she has a knack for sharing the Gospel with everyone, everywhere, in a way that is warm and not pushy or forced."
I pray that my words would be full of grace and seasoned with salt so that I, too, can share the gospel with candor and love. It is something I definitely need to work on doing more of, though.
thanks for such wonderful encouragement and what a blessing your mother-in-law is!