Our Bible Work term in Sonora may have ended, but my heart for the people I’ve met hasn’t left. When Melina and I first found out that we were going to be Bible Work partners, I thought about the things I wanted to see God do and I specifically prayed that God would use me to reach someone like me. However, throughout the three months that prayer request seemed to have slipped my mind.
Honestly, it’s hard to measure success sometimes in ministry because we work on a delayed gratification system. We don’t always have the privilege of seeing the fruits of our labor. I remember praying one day during our time in Sonora and saying, “Lord, I don’t need to see the results, it would be nice, but I know that You will do what You know is best in Your perfect time.”
The very last night of Taj’s Revelation Seminar, seemed like another night. I didn’t really think much of it. During the seminar’s Melina and I were placed in the lobby that way if anyone came in late or left early, we were able to be the smiling face to greet them. This night Emily and Mike happened to come. Since they live so far away they weren’t able to come to all the meetings expect on the weekends. Instead Taj, gave me mp3 of his sermons to give to Mike so he could listen to them on the way to school every day. It was a blessing to see how quickly Mike and Emily were growing, and I was aways excited when they were able to make it to the meetings. Sometimes Anakin gets fussy so Emily will come and hang out in the lobby with Melina and I so Anakin can move around.
It was right when Taj was ending his sermon. He decided to give another appeal if people wanted to give their life to Christ and enter into the waters of baptism. Emily and I moved to the back door because we wanted to see who was going up. Then I gasped and grabbed Emily’s arm, “Emily! Mike is going up!” Emily then turned to me and said, “oh yeah, I’ve been meaning to ask you, can you tell me about re-baptism?”
As Melina and I drove home that night, I was like a kid in a candy store. There was a smile on my face that was impossible to wipe away. As we talked about the decisions Mike and Emily were making, Melina brought up something, “maybe that’s a reason why God had you get re-baptized, cause now you were able to relate with her.”
Suddenly my prayer request that I had forgotten about popped back into my mind. Last November I had gotten re-baptized. Although I’ve always been in the church, there was a time that God didn’t have my whole heart and I wanted to give it to Him. When Emily asked me about re-baptism, I was able to share with her why I decided to get re-baptized.
As I think back on our time in Bible Work, I would’ve been satisfied without seeing results, but God is just so loving that He decided to answer my prayer request just because He wanted to.
Several weeks later, I received a picture from Sheila of Mike’s baptism and it just reminded me that God loves answering specific prayers and reminded me why I love doing this work. The best reward in the world, is being able to help lead someone to Christ.
The rest of the stories of Sonora are still being written and my prayer is that in heaven I'll be able to see and hear how they ended.
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