A Little Bible
“I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; Juan 15:5
Sometimes, many times, almost always, fruit grows when you are not looking. We get the chance to plant a seed and when we might think that nothing came of it, we look over to see a beautiful plant in its place. If you are ever tempted to think that your efforts don’t count for much, I want to remind you that when you’re connected to Jesus, the results are in His hands.
Last Saturday my wife and I arrived at the church for an event we would be speaking at. We chatted with a few people and then I stopped at the information booth to find a pen. A middle-aged lady who has been a greeter at the church for several years snuck over with an excited smile on her face. The look on her face instantly made me curious about what she was going to tell me.
“I can’t help but tell you this, “ she said. “I’ve been looking for the opportunity.” She began to tell me about how she started coming to our church. We had never talked to her at length but she remembered us from a long time ago, 12 years ago. Her name is Elva and one day she was visiting her father. While she and her husband were at her father’s home a few blocks from the church, Kelley and I walked up to the house with a couple of teenage boys. We also had our three daughters with us. Sophia was just a baby, the lady remembered, and had to be carried.
She peeked out the door as we talked with her father, who was sitting in a wheelchair. She recalled us praying for him and leaving a “little Bible” with him. She didn’t understand why we were there but remembered us and especially our three girls. We left his house that day and didn’t think much had happened. It turns out that the little bible became a treasure that her father always kept with him and read often.
She told us about being in a terrible place in her marriage, her own depression and just not knowing what to do. During that time in life, her son became a believer in Jesus Christ and shared the gospel with her. A couple of different acquaintances from the neighborhood also tried directing her to our church. The Holy Spirit continued working on her and her husband. One day she saw her husband reading a little book and asked him where he had gotten it. “Your father gave it to me,” he said.
God ministered to Elva and her husband, Carlos, and she was so excited to tell me how much that “little Bible” meant to her dad and then to her and her husband. She vividly remembers her father receiving the Bible and reading it. His Word took root. It took several years, but now her marriage is healed, she is joyful and serves God in her church along side her husband every weekend.
You may be like me and wonder if what you do has any affect on people around you. Please let me encourage you with these words, “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. 1 Corinthians 15:58
