Rejoice!!! (Pray hard.)

Last night at VJ (our last one on the GAP Team!) a few girls came up to me, having heard the conversation Kat, Ives, and I had with their friends at lunch club on Thursday. They were asking questions about going to hell. Ives and I pulled out the Bible and had almost verbatim, the same conversation as the day before.

As we talked, two girls from Thursday's lunch club came up. Leah and Cassie. Slowly, in the midst of conversation, everyone left except them. (Praise God, the Gospel was shared again to even more who came, heard it, and left. The Kingdom of Darkness is still plundered in them hearing!) Leah and Cassie kept asking questions about what it means to be a Christian and how to become one. Ivy and I just kept repeating ourselves, "Put your trust and faith in Jesus, and live for Him."

Ivy spent a few minutes sharing about the JOY we have in Christ. How we aren't perfect after we're saved, but how God is our help. I have never heard her articulate something so clearly and with such joy- the Holy Spirit was using her!

In God's kindness, I ran into one of the pastors in the copy room while I was doing something for Elso's graffiti section of VJ. I asked how else I could word the answers to the questions Leah and Cassie were asking to make it more clear. He encouraged me to ask them if they wanted to become Christians right then and there.

Lewis (an intern next year) spoke for the first time last night. He mentioned that we don't know when we're going to die and talked about two of his friends from high school who died unexpectedly at young ages. This really affected the girls. I was sat in between them and we talked about it after the message.

Leah said she was kind of scared of dying, but not really because Jesus paid for her sins, right? And looked at me to assure her. I said, "Well, are you a Christian?" She sort of looked around not knowing how to answer. I said, "Do you want to become a Christian?" She and Cassie nodded emphatically. I said, "Right now?" Again, eager nodding. I asked again, "You want to pray right now to become a Christian and give your life to Jesus?" They said yes. I said, "I don't want you to feel any pressure..." and they practically interrupted both saying, "No, no, we don't; we want to!"

So, I prayed with them. They weren't sure how to pray- they'd never talked to God before...so I told them they could just repeat after me.

Afterwords, we went and got my Bible and sat at a table, and Leah eagerly was flipping through the pages reading bits I'd underlined and asking questions about them. She seemed hungry for it. Cassie was glowing with a huge smile- telling practically everyone who came to the table that she prayed.

They both said they're coming to church tomorrow morning, and Ivy and I have planned to go out to lunch with them after- get Leah a Bible (Cassie has one) and talk to them more about what this means. (...and yet, I still am learning what this all means...)

I have been sobered by my reading of Future Grace that just believing truth doesn't make us saved. So it is with joy, wise caution, hope, and excitement that I ask you to pray for these girls. Pray that their confession would be genuine. Pray that God would help Ivy and I. Pray that they would be numbered among the faithful on the Day of Christ. Pray for revival in Bettws High School.

Thank you for your support, and your prayers...they are making a difference!