I wrote a post earlier in the week, but I wasn't sure about it so I didn't post it. Now I'm glad I didn't because a remarkable thing happened to me today...
Let me back up to yesterday. Yesterday I was very discouraged about my environment. I'm the only Christian in my department at school. And that's fine. I'm sure lots of people share that experience. People talk about the "myth" of the bible in my classes and how Jesus Christ isn't a historical figure. I never appreciate their error, but I can usually persevere. Yesterday, however, we had a social gathering of sorts to kick off the semester. People talked about things I didn't want to talk about as a Christian, drank things I wouldn't drink as a Christian, acted in a way I just wouldn't act as a Christian. Fine, no big deal, that's my every day. But then something happened that really bothered me. It bothered me so much, in fact, that all of the other things that I usually just let go began to bother me too. I told my friends I had to leave (before the party was over) and when they asked why I told them that I was going to church and that I didn't want to be late. That made everyone very confused and uncomfortable. Confused and uncomfortable. These people know that I'm a Christian and yet, they don't know how to respond to the fact that I'm acting like one.
That made me very sad. I began to think to myself "Maybe it doesn't even matter to them if I'm a Christian. Maybe the fact that they flippantly reject the Bible is a product of me doing nothing--being nothing different. Maybe I'm wasting my opportunity here."
And then I thought of Ezekiel and how he was commanded to be the watchman for Israel--he was responsible for them. He had to give them the message. Had I not followed his example?
I didn't know if all of those thoughts were true or if I was just being dramatic, but I knew that the best way to handle those sorts of feelings was to pray. I prayed that I would do better. That I would have opportunities to talk to my friends and my peers and that I would take them and run with them. I prayed that I would be given courage to be exactly the person that I needed to be to make a difference, regardless of how I had done in the past.
This where what I want to share with you begins. That absolutely worked. Prayer worked. God worked in my life. And it was a wonderful thing. The more I think about it, the more wonderful it is. The Creator of the universe listened to me begging him to give me the chance to share him with other people, and he granted my request. He let the world continue to exist today, he allowed me to continue living, he let me get to school safely, he let my friends get to school safely, and he opportunity. Because of Him, I get to share this story with you now:
Today one of my friends came to me and asked me what she called "a personal question". She wanted to know how it was for me as a Christian person to study Islam so closely like we are this semester. God opened the door for me in that moment to talk about his gospel and his goodness and why it is that I want people to believe in him, and why it is that I believe in him. And he has continued to open doors so that I will have opportunities very soon to talk with my professors about my faith as well.
What an awesome God I serve. In my weakness he gave me strength and opportunity. That's not me at all. That's zero percent me. Yesterday I said to myself "They don't care about my faith. This is an impossible scenario." When all the while Christ was saying to me "With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible." (Matt 19:26)
Let us praise God's power, his acute awareness of our needs, and his willingness to answer our prayers so that we can serve him more effectively.
“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!" Matthew 7:7-11
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