By Jaclyn Hoffman, Operations Manager for Biblical Training @MBCTysons
Growing up, Catie went to church on and off with my friend Stephanie and her family, but when Catie reached high school, she stopped attending. About two months ago, Stephanie’s mom asked if I would meet Catie for coffee because she was interested in going back to church. We met and immediately became friends. We started hanging out and playing basketball, and I invited her to start coming to my small group. She also came to church with me.
One night, before small group, she came over because she had questions about her life and the Lord. She’d been dealing with anxiety and depression, so we talked about her thought life and how her emotions and feelings seemed to fluctuate so frequently.
She was only happy when her circumstances were good.We discussed how to find hope and the only true joy in Jesus Christ despite our circumstances. I told her that believers have something to live for that gives life meaning and purpose. She said she wanted to have that purpose and more peace in her life. At the end of our conversation I asked, “Do you want to ask Jesus to be your personal Savior?” She prayed to receive Christ that night.I had always thought that after leading someone to Christ, I would take her to Christianity 101, go through a book, and poof—she’s a disciple! But that’s not how it’s been. She doesn’t want to go through a curriculum, and she’s not used to hanging out with Christians yet. She’s not following my neat little plan! What she wants is to live life with me, to see my messy life and realize that just because I’m a Christian, that doesn’t mean I have everything together.
I’ve learned that as we strive to be bold and share our faith, if we have the incredible blessing of seeing people come to know Christ, we can’t be disappointed if the new believers don’t seem to want to do what we think they should do. We must accept that the process may be messy.
Don’t force anything. Trust the Lord.He is now their Father too, and He will take care of them. He’s simply going to use us in His process.
