At the beginning of this year God started convicting me to share the gospel with anyone & everyone. One morning in January I was driving down Goodman Road & I was just praying, "Lord, I know you want me to share with someone but I don't know who." Then I saw the lady in the picture above, Yoni, walking on the side of the road. My first reaction was "No, surely God didn't mean for me to talk to a lady on the side of road...did he?" This particular day in January was exceptionally cold and the wind was so strong that Yoni had a scarf wrapped around her entire face. I kept driving along and then I said, "ok, God" and I turned the car around and drove back by this lady. I rolled down my window and said, "hey, could I buy you a cup of coffee? (Starbucks was nearby)" She said she was actually headed there. (Yay! Good sign!) I said I would meet her there. When she walked in Starbucks I gave her a hug and asked her name & we sat down with our coffee. (Remember- this lady is a complete stranger.) I started asking her about The Lord & it turns out she has been walking with The Lord for 30 years! 30 YEARS! She lived in Chicago most of her life & experienced a lifestyle filled with gang violence & dangerous situations. She accepted The Lord in her teens & was brought out of that lifestyle. Here I was thinking I would buy this lady a cup of coffee & share Jesus with her but she was teaching me what it meant to trust The Lord! I was so encouraged by Yoni & her testimony! Yoni grabbed my hand from across the table and prayed over me. Looking back, my encounter with Yoni sparked something in me. I prayed for boldness & was able to sit down with a lady I didn't know and talk about Jesus with her as if she was an old friend. I really cared to hear what she had to say and what her life was like & Yoni saw that & felt free to open up. I'll never forget that day with Yoni & I don't think she'll ever know the impact this first leap of faith had. As I was leaving Starbucks that day she called out to me, "Nicole, keep on shining. Just keep on shining." Sometimes when I'm intimidated, I think of Yoni & her saying "just keep on, Nicole." If I ever see Yoni again I'll just say thank you & then ask her if she wants to grab coffee! So if I could say anything to you reading this I would say stop limiting your sphere of influence to just people you've known all of your life. As you'll see later on in this blog, there are a lot people like Yoni out there that have crazy testimonies & so much encouragement to give. If only we would stop judging people and meet them right where they are...even on the side of Goodman Road.
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