Bon Jour from Paris! The world race has begun! What seemed like a dream 6 months ago is finally here, and I’m excited! After a week of more training, parents launch, lots of traveling to our first destination; Team one [my team] and Team Authentic love are settled in to a place together, 16 of us in one house [an ENFPs dream]. My team and I spent a few days looking for ministry opportunities with the refugees, and have been able to work with a organization called “Solidarities” serving tea and coffee to the refugees. We also, start each day with Worship and “ATL” which means to ask the Lord what He wants us to do for that day.
[Meet my team- Preston Bates, Matt Kane, Matthew Morgan, Catherine Read, and Shea Hendry] AKA “Team ONE” based on Ephesians 4:4-6
I want to give you a deeper look inside my heart and how I have been feeling since arriving in Paris. Transitioning from sharing the gospel in America to sharing it in Paris has been quite challenging. There are so many different people groups from Somalia, Algeria, Sudan, Eritrea, Afghanistan, Iran and the list goes on and on. I have struggled with language barriers, and feeling like I have nothing to pour out with my words when I encounter people who don’t believe in Jesus (mostly Muslims). It has left me with this feeling or thought “Do I really know Jesus?” I know it was a total lie from the enemy, but when the words don’t come out of your mouth and you can’t explain why you believe what you do; it leaves you feeling like you just failed God and missed an opportunity for a seed to be planted or for someone to come to know Christ. For me, there is no worse feeling in the world than that. Not to mention, I begin to doubt who I am and the gifts God has given me. When you are faced with conversations of people who believe in God but only see Jesus as a prophet, how does one explain that? So, I invited Jesus into teaching me how; praying that He would come along side of me and lead me in these conversations, because I hadn’t felt Him leading me.
We [Team ONE] went to Sacre-Coeur; a huge cathedral that overlooks the entire city of Paris. The view is incredible, and there are tons of people everywhere. Catherine and I sat in the shade on the steps overlooking the view and I began playing the guitar as best as I know how and trying to sing a song to the Lord. Regardless of my beginner guitar skills and the repetitive chords I played, this man beside us asked me to play Rihanna “Work” haha. I am definitely not that good nor did I even know the words, but that one small door opened up a conversation to share my faith in Jesus to a Muslim man.
Catherine and I asked him questions about who he is, his background and listened to his own different viewpoints about Christians & Muslim religion, a lot in which I would actually agree on. After he finished talking, God started putting in my spirit question after question to ask him. Why do you believe in God? His response to my question was that “most everyone in Turkey believes in God, some are Jews and very few Christians”. “I know a lot of Muslims and even other religions believe because they were raised to believe what their family does, but I want to know what makes you believe in God?” I asked. He then started talking about “because God created us, we should be good, doing good things to go to heaven, doing favors, living right” etc. It was in this moment when I felt my passion, purpose and confidence rise up and I got to share Jesus and Gods plan with this man!
After sharing Gods love for Him and my own personal experience with Jesus, God had one final question for Him “Have you asked God if Jesus really is the Son of God? He was a little taken back that I would ask Him a question like that and then answered no. “Why not?” and he couldn’t really give us an answer. “Could we pray together right now and ask God to show you if Jesus is His son or not” and he was like “Here? Now?” and if you could for a second imagine how pumped I got when he said that. My joy and excitement burst out “YES! HERE! NOW! We can talk to God anywhere and anytime! And you know why I am not afraid or care what people think? BECAUSE JESUS CHANGED MY LIFE, HE GAVE ME BOLDNESS AND AUTHORITY, AND I AM FREE TO LIVE FOR HIM AND TELL EVERYONE ABOUT WHO HE IS AND WHAT HE HAS DONE! I AM NOT AFRAID BECAUSE I HAVE A RELATIONSHIP WITH HIM!” suddenly this guy in front of us, turns around and is like “YES!! Thank you for being bold and sharing your faith, I too am a Christian and Jesus changed my life!” We made a connection with him, which was awesome! Then, we invited this Muslim man into prayer with us, and asked Jesus to reveal himself to him.
As we started praying together, this rap music started blaring louder and louder, while this strong smell of weed came sweeping past our nostrils through the air it was nothing more than a huge distraction. So of course, I got louder and louder then started singing out my own song to the Lord ha-ha. As we finished praying, I asked the man “Did you feel anything?” He responded “yes” and was quick to make an exit. This story doesn’t end in a salvation prayer like one would hope, but what it did end with was hope and an experience that he will never forget, seeds planted and I know God was all over that conversation. It was a beautiful experience and one I will never forget. By the way, those guys blaring their rap music heard about Jesus too! I went right up to them, got offered to hit a joint with them [duhh I said no] and introduced them to lecrae music and then shared my faith! That’s right, we blared Christian Rap at Sacre-Coeur, no shame!!
There are two things I want you as the reader to take away from this story. One, each and every one of us are on our own path to discovering God and understanding who He is. You must respect each other in that journey. Don’t force what you believe, but discover God together. Allow God to reveal himself. Are you pointing them towards the Kingdom of God or towards your religious practice… Christianity? Judaism? Mormonism? Muslim? Not once did I invite the man into following christianity, I invited him into going deeper in his faith and discovering what a relationship with God could look like on a personal level.
Two, Faith in Jesus is more than just head knowledge. It is heart knowledge, an experience. Don’t just believe in God because you go to church or because your family raised you that way. Truly seek to discover who God is, and allow Him to reveal himself to you in a way that will be unforgettable. That’s something that no person can take away from you. The whole point in Jesus dying for you was not just so your sins can be forgiven, but so you can have your own personal relationship with Him!
I’ll leave you with this final thought…What is holding you back from stepping out in faith and asking God to show himself to you?
