That's Nice, I'm a Buddhist...

"That’s nice. I’m a Buddhist."

That was her response when I shared the gospel with her in my sister’s Tennessee backyard last summer.

Four months later, she tapped out a text to her AA sponsor. “The readings and meditations aren’t working anymore. I feel so lost. Who is God?”

Except the text didn’t get sent to her sponsor. It got “accidentally” rerouted to me in California. Thus began an almost daily conversation about the gospel, the Bible, faith, and all matters of life.

As our friendship grew, she shared 46 years worth of unimaginable abuse and loss. Sexual abuse, suicide, alcohol & drugs, homosexuality, and violence were the themes of her life. If not for the AA program and the community she found there, she would not have lived to send that text.

She told me she was ready to try church. Hours of reading through church websites led me to direct her to the church family that would fully embrace this vulnerable seeker of truth. The director of the women’s ministry gave a hug and her cell phone number on the first visit.

“I can’t deny that all of this is real. God is chasing me, and I want to stop running from Him. Tell me again what I have to do to become a Christian,” was what she started our phone call with after three months of taking about Christianity.

She prayed that night- not a manufactured, “repeat after me” prayer, but a raw confession of her sin, genuine repentance, and a full surrendering of her life to Jesus. It was one of the most beautiful prayers I’ve ever heard.

I flew to Tennessee to see her be baptized by the women’s ministry director who has discipled her for the last six months. After a video of her sharing her testimony, she stepped into the baptismal, and the whole congregation gave a standing ovation - not for her, but for our overwhelmingly kind God who is mighty to save.

Friends, take every opportunity you have to share the gospel and don’t be discouraged when you’re met with, “That’s nice.” Jesus is still actively seeking and saving the lost, and participating in His redemptive work in people’s lives is a marvelous delight.

-Nancy

July 14, 2022