Kristen; A willing vessel

Meet Kristen. She is a one of our student leaders that loves Jesus a lot. I can't wait to see how God uses her for His kingdom this next school year. 

This summer she went on a summer project. A 10 week missions trip (either in the states or overseas). Summer projects are like a spiritual greenhouse. A ton of growth spiritually and emotionally happen as students take big steps of faith in the context of community.

I want to share with you (in Kristen's words) a cool story of how God used Kristen to build His kingdom. 

"It's week seven of project and we are focusing on being Unashamed of the gospel! In Romans 1:16, Paul writes: "For I am not ashamed of the gospel for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes...For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, 'The righteous shall live by faith'." We should not be ashamed of the Gospel and what we believe in because everyone needs salvation. This week we are challenging ourselves to not be ashamed and to push through the fears when we are around non-believers of sharing our faith with them.  

Today was probably one of the coolest moments I have had my entire time here!! I went to campus for evangelism, as usual, ready to talk to random strangers about the Gospel. Jesse and I were partnered up this week to share together and he suggested that we read 1 Corinthians 2 (I strongly recommend you read it if you need inspiration before sharing the Gospel! Or pretty much any chapter in the book of Acts. :)  ). So after reading that we were ready to go share, knowing that the holy spirit is working through us, and that our words are nothing if we don't submit them to God! We were rejected the first few times that we tried and I was a little discouraged. We finally found someone who was willing to talk and he ended up being a Christian! We had a good talk with him before he needed to leave to study for a midterm. 

   We then walked around looking for someone to talk to, and it was my turn to pick someone so I saw a girl ahead sitting alone at a table. I asked her if we could talk to her about her philosophical view on life and she said yes. She told us that her name is Lusi Lu (I don't think you can get more adorable than that!).We started by using Solarium (cards with pictures on them that we use to ask people about where there life has gone, what they believe, and how they see different things in life) and soon realized that her english was not good at all. She came to America from China a few weeks ago, and so we had to make sure to speak clearly and slowly. We found out that her religious past included going to the temple and paying money in order to earn blessings, and doing good works in order to get into heaven. So we then shared the Gospel and what we believe with her. She was a little confused so Jesse went through it again to make it more clear. She understood what we were saying and said it all made sense and that she wanted to believe it. She asked several questions and eventually we got to the point where we asked if she wanted to believe what we did and become a Christian. She said yes. Pretty much exploding inside I continued to explain how it worked. She just wanted to know how she could have what we had. She was desperate for love and happiness and hope in an eternity with God! So we asked if she wanted to pray to God to accept Him into her life and I had her pray after me. She was so happy after our prayer and I could not have been more excited with her! We answered several more questions and explained what it meant to be a Christian every day to her and then invited her to our on campus Bible Study that we have after we share. She said she would come and meet us there! So Jesse and I said goodbye and practically beaming with joy ran to go pray for her! We wanted to find a bible in Chinese for her as soon as possible but when I texted her asking what dialect she wanted she said that she would like one in english. So we ran to the campus bookstore and got her a Bible before our bible study! 

   She came and had so many good questions about the passage we read (Matthew 18:1-5). In the middle of our study a girl nearby asked if we were an on-campus group, we said that we were not exactly but that she could join us. She said she would love to and that she had her bible with her! She ended up being a super strong Christian from campus and by the end said she would love to take someone like Lusi Lu under her wing! If you don't see God in this yet than reread this story! I mean how more planned out could this get! We got both girls connected with the team that is on campus every day and made sure that they had connections with believers after we left! 

   Today I am so in awe of God's planning. He uses us as vessels, if we are willing, in order to bring glory to His name! If I bring one thing home from this trip it will be this. Everyone needs God and we just need to be willing and ready to go out and share it!"

Have you enjoyed this? Want to have occasional missional stories sent quietly to your inbox (about once a week)?   

Don't forget to check out my home page.


You also might like:
Giant Blog Hop List
My Life is Awkward
What Well are you Drawing From?
Disregarded and Deserted 


I'm over at The Better Mom, Women Living Well, Internet Cafe Devotions, We Are That Family, New Life Steward, Raising Homemakers, New House New Home New Life, Proverbs14:1, Raising Mighty Arrows, Intentional.Me, Denise in Bloom, Leaving a Legacy, Thankful Thursday, Reflections of His Grace, To show them Jesus, Shanda Oakley, Finding Heaven Today.