lost sheep :)

wow. today has just been filled with so many blessings. the three of four people who i've been praying for came out to church all in one day. and today's sermon was so relevant to them that in the middle of it i remember just thinking wow.. God really does wonders. i feel like lately God has been presenting me with so many challenges to see whether or not im strong.. or more like willing. i feel like He's bringing me to all these people whom i would never stop and speak to let alone become close friends with and who are struggling somewhat with their spiritual lives. what He thinks i of all people can make of it-- i don't know. i was talking to a friend today who has ultimately stopped believing in God for two whole hours straight just about faith and the awe and wonders of God himself. i felt like it was God presenting me with such a huge challenge-- there i am sitting in front of this person who knows the Bible theology inside out while i'm still on the first pages of Genesis, who's been on mission trips while i've just gone to my first retreat, who's been a Bible study teacher, who's friends with pastors and is connected on deep levels, and there i am- such a newcomer and a new heart to Jesus. It was truly a daunting task. my mind was racing for the right things to say, my heart wanted him to be drawn close and captured by the stories of how God mediated my life. but at the same time i was thinking, what would God want me to say? as we talked i pulled out my Bible and just started reading him passages that i thought were relevant to him.. and as i was reading them i was thinking, will this even hit a note in his heart? do i just look like a fool trying to reel this person in? but in my heart, i knew it was right.. i was once told that if you are doing anything for God, it can never be wrong (jasmine :]) i shared the passage about the temptation of Jesus with him (Matthew 4:1-11) and another one in Hebrews 12:14-15. The latter says "...see to it that no one misses the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many." i think that verse really fueled my heart to continue sharing my own little testimony (hehe) and regardless of my lack of Bible knowledge, i had the knowledge of my heart that i love God, which God has freely given to me. His grace is so great. His mercy is undeniable. His love overflows. at one point i was telling this person that i don't even know why i was doing this- that on a usual instance i would just say hi and bye and we would pass each other and go our own separate ways and live our own separate lives.. but something in me was truly being lit up like fire and i was burning for this person to know God again. it's such an amazing feeling to know that maybe you of all people can make this person change his life around. that this person, like me, can too be saved. maybe it hits me more on a personal level because i've been lost for so long.. just like these people that God continues to reveal to me. i know what it's like to be in that place.. that dark and scary road where everything is so pessmistic and gloomy, where life has no meaning or purpose. and i can't imagine going back there again. it took me so long to find light, and i think it's going to be equally hard if not harder to continue to reach out to people.. to bring them closer to experiencing God's greatness. but in the end, i know it will be rewarding.. like Jesus says, although i might toil and struggle, because i have faith, i will produce many crop and be fruitful. i'll end this entry with this passage i shared with another friend:

"See that you do not look down on one of these little ones. For i tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven. What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine in the hills and go look for the one that wandered off? And if he finds it, I tell you the truth, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off. In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should be lost."
(Matthew 18:10-14)

in all the ways that i can, i will gather the lost and bring them home- and this is my promise to Him. :)