Testimonies

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When looking at the six excuses for not sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ with others, I find that my two highest are the ones that are the hardest for me. Due to my sexually abused background, I sometimes find it hard to speak to people about things I believe they will immediately reject hearing from me. I have no problem with the last four as they are not true for me today as they once were in the past before I was saved. See the six excuses below, listed from hardest to easiest, and my explanations of why I have listed them in this order.

I’m afraid of being rejected because rejection was a big part of my past that I still have a problem with in overcoming. When I want to tell a person about Jesus, I can get tongue-tied and nothing will come out, as if my brain gets locked and won’t produce the words I want to say. It frustrates me because I know this person is not saved and I want so much for them to not only be saved, but to know Jesus as I do.

Sharing with certain of my coworkers has not been too much of a problem. I have evangelized to a few of my coworkers when they ask questions about why this world is in such bad shape. Some of them can’t trust a God who lets bad stuff happen, and some of them say that they are too young to need God in their life. I so want to evangelize to a Jewish women I work with, but I know of her disdain and hatred for Christians, especially her saved brother. I want so much for her to see that Jesus is the Messiah she is waiting for, but the evil that drips off of her lips when she talks about her brother shocks me enough to just want to walk away from the conversation, because I feel as if I am being persecuted for her brothers “mistake.”

I’m afraid of what my friends will think only in that all of my friends at this moment are Christians. I haven’t had a best friend since before I got saved fourteen years ago, and the Christian friends I do have I only get to see at church on Sundays. It’s hard for me to make new friends because of my past, as I was a loner then and have gotten use to somewhat remaining one today.

I’m afraid of losing my friends (see above) and relatives only in that I have evangelized my entire immediate family after I was saved. My two children were saved through going to church with me and hearing me talk about Jesus when I was going through the divorce. My younger sister accepted Jesus after eleven years of talking with her about her needing Jesus in her life. Unfortunately, my father, mother, older sister and brother do not feel that they need Jesus in their lives. There is nothing more I can say to get them to think any different at this time.

These last two, I don’t know enough and I don’t know how, are not a problem for me. I have been studying the Bible, writing well-received articles about the Gospel of Jesus Christ, reading many, many books on the Bible, Christianity, prophecy, and Christian living. I know the subject and know how to present it, now I just need the courage to open my mouth more often. That is not to say that I don’t show Jesus by the way I act and the way I treat people. I am usually known as the one to call on when a problem needs to be solved, because people know that I will satisfactorily solve the problem even better than expected.

The desire in my heart to evangelize is great. I want the whole world to know the love and mercy of Jesus Christ. I have visions of speaking to arenas full of lost people as Billy Graham still does to this day. I especially want to evangelize those who have been sexually abused as children so that their lives can begin now and not later in life when they are ready to deal with the issues the abuse brought into their lives. Someday, I pray that this vision will come true, God willing.

References

Fay, W., Shepherd, L. E. (1999). Share jesus without fear. Nashville, TN: B&H Publishing Group.

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