Editor’s note: In a recent sermon, we heard a challenge to “talk about Jesus with others.” Then, we were challenged to have conversations with at least two people. We would love to hear your testimonies. Please email your stories to jtm@calvaryhouston.com.
In 2004, a coworker and I both left our jobs. We began sending each other employment leads even though we knew we were both competing for the same positions. We were aware that one of us might get hired and the other might not.
I applied for a job in Sugar Land and suggested that my friend apply also. She was hired and I was fine with that.
One holiday season I went to the shop to help them out. During that time the owner came to me and told me that she thought she might have made a mistake. She wanted me to work for her, and that would mean letting my friend go. That was difficult to hear, so I prayed about it. My friend and I had worked together for years, so I couldn’t take her job.
Two days later my friend called me and said that the owner was letting her go. She told me to take the job. That was even harder hearing her say that, but I really felt led there, so I took the job. In the meantime, I had been asking God why he would allow my friend to lose her job and put me in her place. I felt like I had nothing to offer this shop owner.
After working there for awhile, I was able to see so much love in this woman. She never had a cross word to say. One day, I asked her if we could pray before starting each work day. She didn’t want to do that. So I asked the Lord why, and if she might be afraid of something.
It turned out that she was offended by the idea of Christians talking about God but not living like they knew Him. What I didn’t know was that she was watching me – the things I said and did.
One day she asked me to pray for the business because things weren’t going so well. We prayed, but in the mean time God was working on her. Christian ladies started coming into the shop and visiting with us and just showing the love of God to her. Together we would talk about the Lord. I was able to pray with so many people who came into the shop. My boss was simply taking it all in.
However, the more we prayed for the business, the more business began to drop off. Then one day she came to me and told me that it was time to close the shop. I told her it would be okay. She was looking for something and didn’t know what it was. I knew it was God missing in her life, but I couldn’t tell her that. All I could do was pray for her. She told me that perhaps she was meant to open her shop if only to meet me. I told her, “No, it was to meet God.”
We’ve remained friends through the years, meeting up frequently to catch up on each other’s lives. After Pastor’s Jeff’s challenge to us to share Jesus with two people that week, I called my friend and invited her to dinner to do just that. She began to cry while telling me that over the years she has watched me grow and become closer to God. She wanted what I had.
She knows today that she was meant to leave the corporate world to open her shop, because it was there that she came to realize what she was missing – a relationship with Jesus Christ. It was in that season that she learned how much He loved her and was calling her to Himself. Had I not followed through on Pastor’s Jeff’s challenge, I would not have known how God was using me in her life to bring her closer to Himself.
