I wanted to preface this story by saying that the inspiration to write a blog comes few and far in between, but after experiencing this amazing God moment the other night, I couldn’t help but share it with y’all.
The story actually begins about a week ago when two of my teammates and I went into Rio Dulce to get some time away, have WiFi to get stuff done, and to sit and relax by the lake. We were nearing the end of our time at Sun Dog cafe when a young man approached our table with “grasshoppers” that he was shaping out of grass. To be honest, when he first came up I wasn’t much interested in talking to him as I was busy doing something important and I knew he was looking to make some money by selling his grasshoppers. He introduced himself as Anthony, “Tony,” and he made conversation with the other girls as I sat and listened. His English was pretty good so it made it easy for the girls to have a conversation with him. After a bit we learned he was originally from Nicaragua and was trying to travel to the U.S. with the money he made.
One of my teammates eventually decided to purchase one and he ended up giving us two more in addition. I am extremely cautious of giving people money, as advised by our leadership, and I also wasn’t certain I should, so we told him “thank you” and he left, but something didn’t sit well in my spirit.
Later that night after we returned home, the Holy Spirit convicted me. He reminded me that I could have used that opportunity to tell Tony about Jesus, but instead I was too worried about what I “needed” to do and I let it pass me by. My heart was broken. Why was I on this trip traveling around the world if I wasn’t willing to share Jesus with as many people as possible? Why wasn’t I noticing people and their true need for Jesus? Was my selfishness crowding out the work God wanted to do? I asked the Lord to forgive me, and if He sent Tony my way again, I would share Jesus with him. I didn’t have to wait long…
A couple days later our team was heading back to our ministry house after dark and I was riding back with the short-term team from the Keys along with my team leader, Meagan. The Keys team decided to stop in town at a pizza joint sitting on the side of the road. As we were waiting for our pizzas to be cooked, up walks Tony. I remember thinking, “this can’t be happening…God you’re so good.” I proceed to introduce Tony to my friend April from the short-term team and we start asking him if he knows Jesus as he was wearing a cross necklace.
We learned that he’s a Christian and believes in Jesus, but he wasn’t in the Word, praying or really trusting in the Lord. April and I took turns just showering him with encouragement and love. We got to pray over him and entrust him to the Lord. After that encounter I’ve seen Tony once or twice more in town, but for some reason it’s only been me that’s noticed and no one else on my team.
It was incredible that the Lord arranged for me to be in that van to stop and get pizza; the other girls who initially met Tony didn’t need to be there because it wasn’t the Holy Spirit who convicted them, it was me. That we also had the time while the pizza cooked to talk and pray with him. Another amazing thing that Meagan brought to my attention afterward, when she walked in on our conversation with Tony, was that April and I were discussing in the van just 5 minutes before how we wanted to be an encouragement to men. We had discussed how sad it was that there wasn’t very many men involved in the church and missions, but that we both didn’t feel very equipped or capable to minister to men. After we settled back in the van, Meagan looks at us and says something like, “You guys just got to minister to a man. God used you and you made it look easy.”
I am just so in awe of the Lord. He doesn’t give up on us. He doesn’t say, “all you get is one chance, don’t screw up!” He relentlessly pursues us, whether it’s by people loving us or by using us to love others. I know now that money wasn’t what I was supposed to have given Tony; I was supposed to have given him another opportunity to choose Jesus, to walk in relationship with the Creator and Savior of the world. And I was given that second chance.
Jesus is the author of second chances, re-dos and re-writes. His grace is enough for me, Tony and all of you.
Please be praying with me for Tony to come to the point of completely surrendering his life to Jesus; that others will come into his path and continue to show him how much he’s love and pursued by the Lord.
