JULY 9 “ARE YOU AN EVANGELIST, PT II”

 I have here just a short version of Francine River’s testimony


...Meanwhile, our marriage was falling apart. We thought being closer to family would help, but the only way to move to Northern California would be for Rick to start his own business. So we sold our home and gave away everything that wouldn’t fit in a small rental. Rick headed north and moved in with his parents while looking for an office. I stayed in Southern California until the children finished the school year. Only one rental was available, and Rick grabbed it. It didn’t take long to find out we had landed in between two Christian families. A boy of about eight was waiting to help us move in. We saw him as a pest; he turned out to be an evangelist. “Have I got a church for you!” he said. Neither of us was eager to go, but with the stresses of starting a new business, moving, and our marriage crashing and burning, I was desperate enough to try anything, even a small church unattached to a denominational hierarchy. At that first service, several members introduced themselves. They made me feel part of their family. The pastor taught straight from the Bible, including providing historical background and explaining how the Scriptures apply today. I feasted and drank deeply. I brought our three children. Rick wanted no part of it, so I asked the pastor if he’d be willing to teach a home Bible study. Rick agreed to attend. Baptized together on the same day, we soon found ourselves in God’s transformation program. The first thing God did was take away my writing. Frustrated, I didn’t know why the old ways didn’t work and why everything I wrote now felt hollow. I was still reading romances, but they didn’t satisfy. I prayed God would give me a passion for his Word. My prayer was quickly answered: romances all started to seem dull, while Scripture came to life. As I turned my will and life over to Jesus, I found the love I had been seeking, that soul-changing, life-giving, ever-faithful love that we all long for. Are you an Evangelist?  Many will wonder, who was the great and mighty Evangelist God used to reach someone who would become such a prominent writer, to reach millions, was it Billy Graham that called her, showed up at her door step? No, it was an 8 year old boy with an enthusiasm for what God was doing in his life and in his church. Evangelize simply means to propagate, to spread and we only propagate and spread what we are enthused, excited about, are you an Evangelist?

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