If you are a follower of Jesus, you have the most important news in all the world. It needs to be shared. Think about it, if you had a cure for Alzheimer’s or cancer, wouldn’t you share that? You would be a very good friend if you shared that news, right?
Back in the 1950’s one such friend entered my mother’s life. She told my mother about the Friend who could bring the cure for her sin problem.
Atlanta, Georgia, was the place this would happen. But let’s start at the beginning.
My mother was placed in the Georgia Baptist Children’s home at age four and lived there to adulthood. After leaving there, she lived in a boarding house in Atlanta, where she began her career working as a secretary. It was in that boarding house she met the woman who would bring the cure for her sin problem.
Granted, my mother had grown up in this Baptist home for children, attended church every week, and was the beneficiary of abundant blessing the whole time of her residency. But it would be as an adult life in this boarding house that she came to know Jesus as her personal Savior.
Ms. Evelyn was the friend that brought that good news to my mother, and she would be a household name all through my life.
Telling my mother about Jesus and her need for Him was no easy task for Ms. Evelyn. My mother was convinced of her goodness. She couldn’t understand why she needed a Savior. But Ms. Evelyn lovingly helped her see her need. And one day, my mother surrendered her heart and life to the One she’d only heard about up to that time.
From that point on, she knew Him personally.
Throughout the decades of my life, my sisters and I have exchanged letters with Ms. Evelyn and had a visit on several occasions. Her eternal contribution to all our lives, through our mother, was not lost on us. We’ve always understood that Ms. Evelyn told my mother about Jesus. It was my mother’s decision to make, of course, but we are grateful(eternally) for the messenger!
This week, my mother moved to another state. On the way, she was able to stop in Atlanta to visit 91-year-old Evelyn. Each had not seen one another in some years. They enjoyed a short visit.
My mother is our only living parent, and her mind is getting smaller every day. One day she won’t be here to pray, and neither will Ms. Evelyn. But because of these most significant events, we the children are pray-ers, and we the children have passed on our faith in Christ Jesus to many.
This is a story for any Christian who thinks you are getting nowhere with that person you’ve been sharing Jesus with for so long. Don’t give up. Remind the one you are communicating with that none of us is good, and we are all in need of a Savior.
As it is written: “There is no one righteous, not even one…Romans 3:10
They have all turned aside; together they have become corrupt;
there is none who does good,
not even one. Psalm 14:3
Stay with it. When one person comes to saving faith in Christ Jesus, a heart is forever changed, generations impacted, eternity secured in heaven, and their world filled with hope by the dearest Friend… the One with the cure for sin, Jesus.
For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Romans 3:23
© Valerie Rumfelt
Valerie Rumfelt 