“A little
question, can lead to a lifelong calling.” – Clayton King
The story is
one that I’ve told before, only not with the same connotation. It was January 1994. Six months earlier, I found myself divorced
and raising 2 boys, along with the help of my family. Fortunately, I was surrounded with supportive
friends and family, and immersed in church activities, especially with the
singles department. In other words, I
was content, not looking for a man to make me happy, rather focusing on my
relationship with God, my boys and my friends.
In fact, I remember one day, while taking the boys to preschool, I
prayed out loud with them, “God, I am content with what you’ve given me. If you want me to have a husband and the boys
to have a man in their lives, then you are going to have to bring him.”
Since, I was
an active part of the singles ministry at that time; I was accustomed to making
phone calls, writing letters, and visiting people. When I was approached by my
friend, who would later become my brother and sister in-law, to call Terry and
invite him to come to church, the furthest thing from my mind was a
relationship. I just knew that according
to Tom and Marie, Terry had been actively involved in church at one point, but
had drifted away. They felt like he was
ready to come back, but also knew that someone besides a family member needed to
encourage him to come back.
I accepted
the task eagerly, without hesitation, and began making phone calls to
Terry. The hardest part was that
initially he was never at home. I ran
into Marie at church and she said, “Don’t quit trying.” Finally after about 3 weeks of failed phone
attempts, I called on a Saturday in late January and to my surprise, Terry
answered the phone.
After the initial
introductions and the purpose for my call which was to invite him to come to
church and try the singles ministry, we talked.
(Now for those of you who really know us, you will not find that hard to
believe) We talked for well over an hour
and shared openly about our failed relationships and the effects those
relationships had on us. When our
conversation was over, I again issued the invitation, “How about coming to
church tomorrow?” He said, “I will be there and told me exactly where he would be sitting so that we could meet face to face.
The next
day, there he was sitting precisely where he told me he would be, with those
adorable little boys, Brad & Zach.
After the initial introductions, he asked me where my boys were and I
explained they were in the nursery.
It has been
over 19 years that I issued an invitation to Terry. I was not responsible for his response to my
invitation; I was only responsible to ask.
He responded favorably and as a result, not only did he return to church
and rededicate his life to Jesus, but in the end, he offered an invitation to
me of marriage and my response to him was “yes”.
The point is
this: You never know how your invitation
will affect someone else’s life and you never know how your response to an
invitation will change your life.
As this
Easter Season approaches, my invitation today.
Come and join us at Newspring for our Easter Services. For dates times and locations please
visit: http://newspring.cc/easter/
We will be
attending at the Greenville location and would love to see you there.
Newspring: A place where it’s ok, to not be ok. It’s just ok to stay that way.
