Okay, today I'm going to do something on this blog that I don't like to do. I'm going to mention somebody by name. I think I've only done it in one post before this, so it's kind of a big deal. Anyway, on with the post.
Last night at Salt, a friend of mine--who happens to be a CA and the tall member of a local duo--brought a girl from his floor. I met her back when they were filming their entry for the Den Makeover. Her name is Emily, and she isn't a believer. I was excited that she actually came, after some of the comments she made about Salt when I first met her--I won't go into those here.
During one of the "prayer breaks" during worship, I threw up a quick "God, reach her." prayer. Occasionally during the message, I glanced over, worried that I might see her checking the time. If she was, I didn't see it. When the message ended and the final worship began, she was just sitting down, looking straight ahead. My first thought was "Missed."
After the worship, I went and had this conversation with her. "What'd you think?" "I'm not sure, I'm still processing." I still don't know how I concealed that in my head, the Hallelujah chorus was playing, but I somehow managed to. "Well, I understand..." "Yeah, it's my first time here." "Yeah. My first time, it took 10 days to process, so I know what you're saying." We talked for a little longer, and went our separate ways.
The prayer request is this: Pray for Emily. Pray that God softens her heart. I know most of the people reading this were praying the same thing for me about a year ago.
You got it man. It's cool to see where the Father has taken you. I love the purpose he's given you and the heart for others. I will definitely pray for Emily!
ReplyDeleteAwesome post! I was so happy she went too! You couldn't have said a more perfect word to her. She definitely had her world shaken last night, and had a lot of mixed feelings about it. I don't think she could have come during a better message to hear, though. It was truth as boldly as Mark could preach it. I'll let you know of any developments. Keep praying!
ReplyDeleteUPDATE! Emily wrote a full 1200 word document on her thoughts on Salt and Christianity, and was all geared up for a sort of atheist vs. christian debate with me when I asked her to talk about it. For some reason, I felt God wanted me to wait a few days, so I didn't talk to her until Tuesday afternoon (5 days after Salt). She began the conversation asking, "Why do YOU believe in God?" I answered it as best as I could, drawing from as many personal stories and examples as I could, and when I was done, she was speechless, and said everything she wrote was worthless. She said she wanted a few more days to digest everything, and felt that the last few days she had just felt inexplicably "drawn to want to go to Salt again." Your prayers have been so needed and so powerful! If you, or anyone else, could just talk to her about what God has PERSONALLY done in your life, I think that would have more of an effect than the smartest theological argument.
ReplyDeletePraise God!! Way to go guys! James, it's exciting to hear how God led you in your response to her and he really blessed it. I'll be praying for her.
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