On a Thursday night a few weeks ago, I gave a talk at our UCI Cru weekly meeting about Jesus being Lord and what that means for our lives. Apparently, God used it as a tool in the life of a freshmen girl who was listening. Below is the story in the words of Erin (top row, second from right in picture above), who came to South Africa with me this past summer.
“Jackie (top row on the left in picture) has been coming to our Bible study since last quarter. She is super sweet, kind of shy, and asks really good questions. On Monday after Bible study, she mentioned that she was going through a hard time and was having trouble sleeping. Shawnda [Campus Crusade staff]and I prayed with her and gave her some suggested reading. On Thursday night after our weekly Campus Crusade meeting, I followed up with that conversation and checked in to see how her week was going. She said that she was doing better and sleeping well. Then she told me about how she related to the talk that evening when the speaker shared that all he cared about in college was academics and getting good grades. She confessed that she was the same way. She asked about doing good works for ourselves versus doing good works for God and how God uses us. I remembered then that Jackie wasn’t there for our very first Bible study when we talked about the Gospel. I grabbed a ‘Knowing God Personally’ booklet [a tract that presents the Gospel], sat down with her, and started going through it.
“She was really engaged and I could just see God working. She was getting it—concepts were clicking and lights were going off. It was beautiful! After going through the 3rd point in the booklet I asked her, “Why do you think Jesus had to die? Why couldn’t He just be a good teacher and tell us that we were bad, and then forgive us?” She admitted that she didn’t know. But after explaining that the wages of our sin is death (Romans 6:23), she fully understood. She said that even though she had been going to church for quite some time, she had never heard the Gospel presented in this way.
“After discussing the last point and reading the prayer of response to her, she decided to give her life to Christ! Jackie has been coming to our Bible study faithfully for almost four months and I just assumed that she already knew the true Gospel and assumed that she already knew God personally. I was wrong to assume but praise God that He knew what was up the entire time! I am super excited that God chose to use me even though I didn’t really feel like I was fully prepared to share the Gospel with her!”
I’m thankful for Erin pouring into her fellow students in such significant ways. Thank you for your prayers and giving that allow stories like this to happen!