A Pebble in Their Shoe

A Pebble In Their Shoe

A friend of mine is a missionary in North Africa. She sends update emails periodically to share what God is doing in her ministry, and I am blessed to be able to share some with you this week.

A Pebble in Their Shoe

This week's devotions are written by my friend Jessica Hermann, former director of our college ministry at Great Hills Baptist Church.

- Pastor Danny

A friend of mine named "Elizabeth" is a missionary in North Africa. She sends out update emails periodically to share what the Lord is doing in her ministry there. She has to be very careful because of the security risks of serving in this part of the world. She uses another name and doesn't share the exact city or country she is in while writing these emails. Furthermore, many words have to be edited for security, using words like "gathering" for church, "siblings" to refer Christians, "fishing" for evangelism, and "Book" to refer to the Scriptures. The work is risky but worth it.

I have been so encouraged by reading Elizabeth's emails and hearing all of the ways that she is being a light in a place where it is very difficult to share the Gospel. I asked her permission to share some of her stories with you, and she said yes! So this week, I will be sharing some of her stories. I hope you will be as encouraged and challenged by them as I have been. Here's the first one:

A couple of weeks ago we got to do a "fishing push"! We dedicated two days to going out into the harvest and sharing the good news. It really just looks like sitting with people in parks, going into little shops, or conversing while we run errands like getting a car repaired! In total, we got to fully share with 76 people!

I was really grateful to get and sit for a couple of hours with a couple of women and their daughters. We talked about the differences in our beliefs on how to receive forgiveness, guaranteed eternity with our creator, and who JC is. We really connected, and they are eager to have my friend and me over soon to their house! I am hoping that conversation will continue with other members of their family that will be present. As we were leaving, I realized that one of the women had tear-filled eyes. "You're crying, are you okay?!" I asked her. "You are just so nice, I just see that you are so nice," she replied. I know she was seeing the Spirit in us. We had lifted that morning that people would see his glory on us. His freedom and grace have such a stark contrast with what people experience in their beliefs here. Sometimes, it's like a magnet to people. We know our joy sends them home thinking about truth. I'm looking forward to seeing these new friends again soon!

A few weeks later another email came with an update to the story:

Maybe you remember my story from last month of the women we met in the park and one was teary when we left. They invited us over, and it was the most wonderful time! Between the two of them, they have 8 daughters. They guys left the house, and we giggled with them for hours! It was so strange, even one of their daughters hugged me with tears when we saw her. I notice in new ways that our kindness toward people is something they rarely feel, it is so striking to them. I love that they feel the love of God through the HS in us! They brought out courses of meals, just soooo delicious! We laughed and bonded, and towards the end of the meal, we got to revisit topics about JC. I was so happy when one said, "Oh yeah, it's like you said at the park, if we believe in him we have everlasting life." They of course are still persistent that we believe the wrong book and hope for the day when we turn to their belief. But we call it "leaving a pebble in their shoe". The way we question their train of thought about their holy book, the true Word we share with them, our assurance of relationship with our Maker - we know these pebbles stay bothering them! We agreed next time they are coming to our place to try some TexMex! :)

These stories remind me of Psalm 97:11: "Light shines on the righteous and joy on the upright in heart." Will the joy that you have in Christ be a "pebble in the shoe" of someone who doesn't know the Lord?