We were walking through a community here in the DR when a young boy hanging out in front of his house caught my eye. We weren’t planning on stopping there, I’m not even sure how the conversation got started. I think he asked our translator who we were and what we were doing as we walked past because let’s face it: a group of white girls dressed in colorfully patterned skirts tend to stick out quite a bit.
Before I knew it, our translator and one of my teammates were standing on the other side of his fence and talking to him. All of his friends and family were hanging out around us, but no one else joined in the conversation.
We told him we were working with the local church. We didn’t really say anything else. We didn’t have to.
“I want to accept Christ,” He said. “I was just waiting for a sign from God.”
Talk about a divine appointment.
“Well, I think we’re that sign,” we said.
That wasn’t the only time where we didn’t even have to mention the gospel before the people we were talking to were ready to accept it. We’ve had so many instances where God would lead us to a person that was so, so ready to accept Christ, they just needed a push. They just needed to know that God was thinking about them enough to send a random person to go talk to them and ask them about their day.
You know that verse that goes, “the harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few”? Well, this is what that verse is talking about. The harvest is plentiful, and it’s so ready for us.
If you’ve been keeping up with my blogs, you know that evangelism would never be my first pick if you asked me what kind of ministry I’d want to do. But that’s okay, because that’s where God has me right now. And honestly, I don’t really need to do anything. I just need to be willing. He’ll do the rest. And He’s proved that over and over and over again.
Here’s the other thing about “the harvest”: it’s in the Dominican Republic. It’s in Costa Rica. And Africa. And Asia. But it’s also in the U.S. It’s in your city, in the house next to yours, and in the produce section of your grocery store. It’s all around you.
The harvest is plentiful. The workers are few. So be a worker, because each of us is called to be one. And if you think you’re not cut out for it, I’m proof that you don’t need to be. Just be willing. Besides, who I am to keep this wonderful gift to myself? Why wouldn’t I want to share God’s love with everyone I see?
Here’s a challenge: How can you step out and share God’s love with someone else in your own community this week?
Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”
Matthew 9:37-38
Thanks for reading!!
