At the beginning of this year, my husband David and I decided to pray for more diligently for opportunities to share the Gospel as well as boldness in sharing it. Once a week, we have a day that we really focus on these prayers. Today, Wednesday, was that day. Concerning other prayer requests, we have really been able to see God’s kindness, grace, and faithfulness, and today was no different.
Wednesdays and Thursdays are my off days so I usually use them to do chores around the home like doing laundry. This morning when I went to load the laundry card in our apartment complex’s office, the machine wasn’t working and there was a repairman fixing it. I decided to run an errand and come back to read and do some other chores in the meanwhile. After doing a few things around the home, I finally went down to the laundromat and got my clothes washing. As I was walking out, I noticed an older woman walking up, peering through the door. I walked out and she commented that she was trying to see how much it cost to wash and dry your clothes. I informed her, but let her know that she had to get a card issued through the complex. As she stood there, she began to tell me that she was visiting her grandson there. This led to my asking her where she lived. After about ten to fifteen minutes of conversation, I’d found out about her family and found out that we’d lived in some of the same places / areas. She currently lives in Pennsylvania; I lived there for 3 years. She has a daughter moving to Dallas; I was born and raised there. She has family in Houston; my husband is from there. During our conversation, she mentioned that she’d lived here in Austin previously and had actually lived on a street nearby. That street happens to be the street that my church is on. As I shared that with her, she immediately knew where it was. After some time, she mentioned that one of her family members was a teacher. Yet, another thing in common. I let her know that I was a teacher at a private Christian preschool. As the conversation went on, I asked her if she was a Christian. She’d mentioned a few things about church so I thought it was a good question.
Me – “Are you a Christian?”
Her – “I guess so; I was baptized when I was 14. I don’t drink, smoke, I try to do the right thing, I raised my kids to do the right thing…”
Me – “Those things are all good things, but those things don’t make us Christians.Have you heard of the Gospel?”
Her – “Yes, it’s the 10 commandments & all of the people who wrote & made up the Bible”
Me – “Well, the 10 commandments are a part of the Bible, and the Gospel is explained there as well”
I took that opportunity to share the Gospel with her. I told her that we are all sinners, we’re all born disobedient toward God, and that we deserved hell. I told her that Jesus lived the life we should have lived, yet died the death we should have died. I explained that when we trust in Jesus, we receive His righteousness and we receive eternal life. Earlier, during our conversation, she’d mentioned that she couldn’t wait to see all of her loved ones in Heaven, but she’d mentioned God as an afterthought. “Mary, the best thing that is in Heaven for the Christian is Jesus! We get Jesus! And unless they trust in Jesus too, though it would be nice to see them all there, some of our family members will not be there.” As our conversation wound down, I invited her to our church on Sunday.
Now, there are some important things I must mention. I am naturally shy and introverted. When I started dating my husband, a lot of that diminished & I have grown in these areas. He is naturally quite outgoing and gregarious. He seems, to me, to be gifted at talking to people, lacking fear. I tend to often feel awkward and intimidated. David & I had a conversation a couple of weeks ago about me having to work harder to overcome my natural tendencies by God’s grace and the power of His Spirit. Today was an answer to our prayers toward that end. Sharing the Gospel with her was not as hard as I’d made it to be. God granted me the boldness I’d prayed for. I saw her as someone who needs Jesus and my heart was saddened for her. I cared about her. I listened to her. I wanted to know who she was. She wasn’t someone to check off of my list. She was a sinner, like I am, in need of God’s great grace through the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
David has often encouraged me to do life intentionally when it comes to having Gospel conversations. Any moment could be opportune. What I thought was going to be just doing laundry today was something much more.
When I’d told him about my conversation with her, he shared that he’d prayed this week about this very thing for me. How gracious is God to answer my love’s prayer in this way. I am thankful for the opportunity to be obedient to God’s command to share His Gospel, and I pray that I would have many more chances to tell people of God’s great love to us sinners that was shown by the sending of Jesus Christ. I pray that I would continue to grow in my fervor and boldness and urgency.
For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
(Romans 1:16 ESV)
A Learning Wife 
Very encouraging, babe!!
Thank you, Love :-)