04/23/2024
WOW! You just can’t make this stuff up! I LOVE watching God work. This is not a share or cut and paste of someone else’s story. The is a true story of God’s greatness that happened to Tammy Lynn Bonnerand I just a few days ago.
We had several guests this past weekend at Spirit of Grace. One of them was a sweet 79 year old lady that drove down ten hours by herself from Charlottesville, VA. She has lived a hard life and is fiercely independent, having raised two daughters completely on her own while working as a schoolteacher. Our guests usually check in late in the evening, Tammy feeds them breakfast the next morning, and then they are off on whatever adventure brought them to town. Although we have a two night minimum stay, we don’t normally get to spend a lot of time with them, so we try to steer the conversation to Jesus whenever we can. As we sat talking with her Saturday evening, it became quickly apparent that she had not ever been around church and by her own admission had never even cracked open a bible. In a moment of stark honesty, she said that she didn’t know if she was going to heaven and really had no reason to believe she was. That bothered me a lot. I told her that she didn’t have to wonder and that we could settle that right then. We had a wonderful discussion about God’s word and His plan for salvation. She prayed a simple prayer to receive Jesus as her Savior. Ain’t God good!?
She was SOOOOO excited. She was supposed to get up Sunday morning and drive back to Virginia but instead came to Bethlehem Church with us. As we stood in the lobby waiting for the sanctuary to open, some dear friends from our small group saw us and stopped to talk. BTW, we had seen them in the sanctuary numerous times before but had never once run into them in the lobby. We told them her exciting news and “coincidentally” they used to live right by Charlottsville and went to a wonderful gospel centered, Jesus preaching, church less than thirty minutes from her house. What are the odds? By the time we sat down for the service, she had found that church online and texted her friend in Virginia that they were going next Sunday. Ain’t God good!?
I am so proud to go to a church where I can confidently bring a guest any Sunday and know they will hear the gospel. Jason Britt did not disappoint. It was baptism Sunday and he explained that baptism doesn’t save you but is just an outward proclamation that you have accepted Jesus for the forgiveness of your sins and have committed to follow Him every day of your life. He likened it to the parade in Athens that follows Georgia’s National Championship win. The parade is not the win but a celebration of the win. She got to see person after person, young and old, make that proclamation and commitment. The message was in Romans, the most basic of gospel messages and it was as if God Himself had tailored that milk just for our new “babe in Christ” friend (1 Cor 3). As we got up to leave, she looked at me and just said “WOW”. Ain’t God good!?
My dad was 89 last June when Jesus took him home. As we cleaned out his house, I came across a bible that I had bought him years earlier. I read the inscription I had written to him and remembered explaining the gospel to him and praying with him, my dad, to receive Jesus as his savior. It was in plain sight on my nightstand Saturday night but would have probably been eventually put in a box or on a shelf somewhere to be only occasionally noticed but never read. Our new friend said that she didn’t have a bible, so I gave it to her. You would have thought I gave her a kidney. She saw the inscription and knew it had belonged to my dad so of course she refused at first but finally, reluctantly, emotionally, accepted. She said, “I know this bible is special to you so I guess I will have to read it now”. LOL – whatever works. It was raining Sunday morning and she insisted on a plastic bag to put it in. She said it would ride in the front seat with her. When she got home, she texted Tammy that her and “Jim’s dad’s bible” had made it safe. She is starting out her Christian life already cherishing God’s word, before she even discovers all the wonderful things it has to say to her. Ain’t God good!?
When we have these brief conversations with our guests, we often wonder how much of it “sticks”. They leave excited but jump back into their lives and Satan immediately tries to steal the Word from their heart (Mk 4). Without follow up and a support system, it is easy to fall right back into the same old routine. It was as if God Himself stepped into this situation and orchestrated the whole thing. The time alone Saturday night to talk to her was a divine appointment. Her being so receptive to the gospel at that time was God ordained. It being baptism Sunday and the message speaking so personally to her heart was nothing short of miraculous. God already providing her with a fellowship of believers to plug into by arranging that “chance” meeting in the lobby is absolutely amazing. God turned sad circumstances around dramatically to put His word in her hands because He is just that cool. The fact that God uses you and me to spread the Good News of the Gospel and let’s us see Him work in people’s hearts is humbling. GOD IS GOOD!!!
