Stories

On this page, you will find real life examples of people who were prompted by God to reach out to another during the course of their busy day. My hope is that these stories will inspire you become a person who is moved with Jesus’ compassion for those searching in your community. 

A Willing Servant Steps Out at the Gym

 

Sometimes God steps in and uses us in ways that can come as a big surprise to us. That’s what happened to me.

 

I belong to a gym and have worked out there for years. You already know the gym is a great place to develop relationships with people that you might not see regularly outside of the gym. In fact, my gym friends and I always laugh whenever we run into each other in real life (where we actually dress up and wear makeup!). Through the years I have become friends with a woman named April. We walk on the treadmill together side by side for 45 minutes to an hour almost every day. As we all know, working out goes by much faster when you have someone to talk to, so we love to talk and share our lives with each other. As I got to know April, I could sense that she was searching for something. I wasn’t sure how to approach her about God, so I began talking to her about my activities at church and my family’s involvement there. Soon she began sharing with me that she and a friend were visiting churches trying to find that “something.”

 

She shared that they had visited several churches, but she still was not satisfied with her search. I knew the missing link she was searching for was a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. This opened the door to talking to her a bit about Christianity and the different denominations. I began to think of different ways to help my friend. One idea came to me and I asked her if she ever considered attending a Bible study. She said, “No, that’s too intimidating.” My next idea was to suggest she attend an informative class on Christianity, maybe something similar to a new Christian’s class where one could learn about the Bible. Our youngest daughter at that time worked for a Christian organization called Alpha USA. I knew a little about the program and knew that anyone could attend. It was a format where people were free to ask questions of any kind and it sounded like a very welcoming environment for my friend.

 

I told April about the class and asked if she might want to attend. To my surprise she was very interested! The next step was to find a church that was hosting an Alpha class soon. I called my daughter to help find a class in the area and to my surprise no classes were scheduled at any nearby churches. And to make matters worse, one of the Alpha leaders actually suggested that I do the class in my home for my friend! They said they would send me the videos and all I had to do was show the video and follow the leader’s instruction guide. I began to pray, “Lord how can this be happening, you know I am no evangelist, can I really do this?”

 

I loved my friend, and really wanted her to find what she was looking for and accept Jesus as her Savior. Since I could not get anyone else to step in and lead the class it left no one else but me. I ordered the videos and invited my friend to my home. She said she would come and by the way, was it ok if she brought a friend? Of course I said “Yes.” I also thought thanks a lot LORD, now I’m responsible for not only my friend but another person, what if I mess up? A lot of insecurities came into my thoughts, but since I had said “Yes,” I had to go through with it. We picked a date and they came to my home. Each week we viewed one video and each week they had the opportunity to accept Jesus. Week after week I didn’t see much progress in them accepting the Lord. Finally after viewing about six or so of the videos, April’s friend turned to her and said, “Have you prayed and invited Jesus Christ into your life? I have.” My friend April and I were both surprised. April said she was not ready yet but was still searching. I am not sure at what point but before the series was over, April also prayed to accept Jesus as her Lord and Savior. It was pretty amazing to realize that these women accepting the Lord did not have much to do with me at all. I just needed to be available and willing to provide the opportunity, God did the rest! You see God was already drawing these women to Him. I really learned a lot, it’s not about my ability at all. A great evangelist is not needed, but rather a willing servant. That even I can do.

 

If you too have a story of outreach you would like to share, please email me at: 
tiffany@purposesofhisheart.org