I see your heart. I value your words. I appreciate you listening, and now I see a difference. I see the tears welling up in your eyes. I see a joy in your smile that I didn’t see moments ago. Keep seeking the one who sets you free. Don’t let anything hold you back and know that you are loved. All of Heaven is rejoicing over you. Welcome to the family.
Your sister in Christ,
Nettie
You’re probably thinking okay what in the world was that all about, right? Let me explain…
Yesterday I was discouraged. I was about to go to sleep last night and couldn’t contain the words inside my mind and heart. I sat up from my bed and said to my teammate Ashlyn on the other bunk, “I just want to see one person come to Jesus.”
It’s so discouraging to share the gospel and receive a response of “that’s great” but no heart or life change. No amazing “ahha” moment of the reality of who Jesus is and what He has done for us. But today on thanksgiving, God answered that prayer in a radical way that I can’t claim the fame for.
I was supposed to do ministry in a different part of Romania. Then one of my teammates Ethan, challenged me that if I felt called to do local outreach to just ask if I could go. Ask, hmm I thought okay. My dad always told me never be afraid to ask… and I’m sure glad I did.
After asking our host, plans were changed. My teammates Ethan, Jessica, myself and our translator Anna went to do local outreach. I was praying in my mind as we walked past the church along the streets of the village. I had no idea what to expect, but I was expecting God to move in mighty ways.
We made our first stop at the park. That’s where it all started with a conversation. There were three men sitting on a bench and several standing around them. We started some small talk with them. We explained where we were from, why we were in Romania and then what we were doing while we’re here.
They seemed very interested to listen at the beginning. Hours were passing us by, and a few people came and left. There was one man though, that didn’t take his eyes off of every word that was translated. He was definitely interested.
This man grew up in the Orthodox faith. Orthodox follows religious practices but misses having a personal relationship with Jesus. He grew up with a knowledge about Jesus but never asked Jesus to be the Lord and Savior of his life.
All three of us along with our translator explained the reality of our sin, Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection and what a personal relationship with Jesus looked like. The concepts were hard for the man to understand and language barrier definitely wasn’t helping. When mentioning the Holy Spirit cleansing us from sin and living within our hearts, the man’s eyes lit up.
The reality of being sealed with salvation upon confessing, believing and receiving in making Jesus Lord of His life, his demeanor changed. (Romans 10:9-10)
We asked the man if he wanted to pray to accept Jesus into his heart his response was “da.” Which in Romanian means “yes.” I was leaping with joy as I was praying and hearing him repeat back a genuine prayer of asking Jesus into his heart. It was nothing I said, but all the work of the Holy Spirit changing his life. He looked up at me after praying with tears in his eyes and said, he had peace in his heart.
The amazing thing about this whole story is that a few months back, I felt like the Lord was asking me to write a blog post titled “Dear John.” I knew it was going to be something about a letter of salvation but had no idea what it would look like. After the man prayed and asked Jesus in his heart, I wanted to ask what his name was. So before we headed back to the church, I asked our translator if she could ask the man what his name was. He gave me a bright smile a huge hug, looked at me and said, “my name is John.”
(John is pictured to the left of myself. Shortly after John came to Jesus, the man on the far right with the leather jacket accepted Jesus in his heart too!)
