Oh my Word!!!

Soooooo...........where shall I start this one?? Are ya ready? You are, you want to hear it all??? My randomness?? Ok good, here goes!

First a little background to set this up. Sean, my sweet and dear husband whom I love so very much is, if you know him, very passionate about Jesus. By nature he is an extreme guy and is over the top in any and every thing that has his attention. Thank God that obsession has become Jesus and telling others about Jesus for nearly 7 years. Thank you Jesus.

So for years he has encouraged me to share my faith boldly and present truth to those walking far from Christ. Honestly I have hid behind the verse, "many parts form one body, so it is with Christ...if the whole body were an eye or an ear what good would it be...." ya know where it talks about being gifted differently. "But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be" from 1 Corinthians 12. [Please as you read those verses give it an arrogant air...as one who knows it all. I totally took it out of context.]
 So I'm like if God wanted me to be an evangelist He would've made me one but He didn't, He's asked me to pray for and encourage people and that is my gifting and I'm comfortable (sometimes) in that so...good. Sean you be the evangelist, God has me as discerning, given words of knowledge to intercede and pray, lift up, encourage. We are good! Good, great, we know our place! Nope. Not so much.
Geeeeeez!!!

So we have had this wonderful conversation for a long time, I've had people back me and its been great. I have had times where I have discerned that God wants me to share my testimony and speak into someones life and good, great invite them to church and maybe I'll encourage them, right? Cause that's what I do, but you know what? I've in my nearly 7 years as a Christ follower only seen one person converted to Christ, born again because of my sharing. Not to say I haven't planted many a seeds. Over times of sharing my testimony its made me really say "ya know God is in control, if they are His they will come to know him and its not up to me what I say or don't say." I have even considered not sharing my faith because I've been so jaded watching people walk away from the truth so much. So let Him control it all! WRONG. Ok yes, He is in control, yes. He is God of the Universe! But He has commanded me to GO AND TELL! GO!!!  Not just to say "Hey ya know this Jesus guy really gave me the warm fuzzies and I don't live a horrid life like I use to. I don't get drunk beyond belief, I don't fall into heinous sin like I did before and its great cause it works for me."  I have had people that I've shared my testimony with say "that's great I'm glad that worked out for you. That's good, we all need to get to that point of growing up sometime." No, that's not it. We all need a Savior.

So how did I go from keeping my head stuck in the sand to saying whoa......Sean is right? Yeah I can't ignore not only the great commission (Matt 28), Mark 16:15 "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation", "as the Father has sent me I am sending you" John 20:21 and the one I tried ignoring from when I was newly converted Isaiah 6:8 "the voice of the Lord saying whom shall I send? Who will go?... Here I am send me!" Will I have that same mind set and say Here I am send me, I will go? I have been so afraid of being real about sin, afraid to let a little uncomfortableness set in and let others hear their need, as well as mine, for a Savior. To know the God who sent His Son into this world to die a death undeserved on a cross for me, for them. So that they may have eternal life in Him. Romans 5:8, Romans 6:23. Those verses "while we were sinning"," wages of sin is death" always sounded so harsh and uncomfortable and it scared me to know that they are so true that if someone does walk away from that and they never confess Jesus as Lord they will not have eternal life and they will perish. That is scary.

Last night we went to something called Go+Tell from church. Our pastor said alllll the same things my dear husband has said over and over. I had to tell my husband "I know babe, you were so right. Its true." I just wanted to hide from it because I want to comfort all people. My husband said "I love that you love people and want to comfort them but we can't comfort them to hell." That sounds harsh I know. I've been wrestling with it for so long.

But wait, there is hope in Jesus! Show them Jesus, show them the cross, show them out of His great love, Jesus died for them. That is the most loving truth. The most comforting truth, we don't have to perish, we can have everlasting life in Jesus. To love someone enough to tell them about Jesus. Not just suggest a subtle life change but a big time potential for life change. Eternal life change.

So how did I get this revelation? Not only is my husband living radically for Jesus, there are others living and being encouraged to live as radically as my husband has pointed to in scripture. Its not just that my husband is a radical man but my Lord has unlocked my eyes, the eyes I've been trying to cover out of fear, to show there really is radical love in such beautiful truth. He goes before me and clothes me with strength. (Prov 31:25) He makes me bold as a lion. (Prov 28:1) He has made me to be an ambassador of truth. (2 Cor 5:20)