Counting my blessings: 30

People who are bold in their faith in Jesus

Words simply cannot express how thankful I am to have experienced first hand the love of people who are eager to share Jesus' love. I'm not talking about people who will preach to you what they believe or why you should believe it too. I'm talking about people who will lovingly share what they believe, accept that you believe differently, but you can see the combined passion and sadness in their eyes - passion for what they know in their heart and sadness that you don't realize it yourself. The "you" I speak of is really me in high school.

I have several decades-long friendships with people who accepted me for who I was and didn't judge me for being different - and wanting to be different. Some of them may have shared Jesus with me here and there or asked me why I believed differently. I'm sure they all played a role in God's plan for me to know Jesus and have a relationship with Him. God works that way, orchestrating position and conversation to work on some one's heart. But there is one person in particular who was bold to share God's Word consistently and yet never express judgement on me. She told me a couple times that she was disappointed in decisions I had made and shared her different opinions, but she did so lovingly. She invited me to church sometimes, yet didn't preach to me. She shared the love of Jesus in her words and in her actions.

One day this friend gave me a cassette tape with a song on it. The song has played in my head for over 20 years. It told me how badly she wanted Jesus in my heart. Every birthday for years, the birthday card from her contained one simple scripture verse. Not the same verse every year. It was just enough for me to know that she wanted Jesus in my heart. She never gave up hope that one day I would ask Jesus into my heart. She didn't know that I did when I was much younger, I just didn't really know what that meant or what to do with it. It wouldn't be for several more years that I would realize how to let Jesus in and make Him Lord of my life. But I did over a decade ago. I am so thankful that my salvation and eternity were important to her. She blogs at Our Ordinary Life and the song she shared with me is this one:



I've met so many more people since then who are also bold in their faith and I have become bold as well. I pray that I am also loving in how I share it, for the way my friend shared it with me couldn't have been more loving. She has taught me so much over the years and she helped me realize the blessing of knowing people who are bold in their faith in Jesus.

This same friend is also participating in the Counting My Blessings series hosted by Branch of Wisdom. She inspired me to participate as well. Do you know your blessings? Would you like to share them or read the blessings of others? If so, stop by Branch of Wisdom.