Who’s Coming Tonight?

By nature, I am an introverted person. So when I got the chance to host a weekly care group in my home, I was a little anxious. The idea came as my friend, Jasmine, and I were discussing how we could share God with our nonbelieving friends. Many of these friends worked or went to school six or seven days a week and had no time for church. Those who did have time were wary about Christianity. But they loved spending time with us, so inviting them to my home seemed like a good plan. But for me to be the hostess? I wasn’t the charismatic one; Jasmine was. She was the fun one, the one always making new friends. Unfortunately, her apartment was on the edge of the city while mine was conveniently located in the city center. We prayed about it and decided to host this care group together at my home.

And we did! For several months Jasmine and I hosted, and our friends came. We would have dinner, share our experience of God’s blessings, discuss a passage from the Bible, and pray together. Our friends were shy at first but eventually shared their problems and asked for prayer. They began to show interest in God and also began to bring their friends to the care group, filling my little apartment and my life. Then one day, Jasmine couldn’t come to our weekly event. I panicked. How could I do this by myself? I thought about canceling the meeting. Instead, I prayed. “God, this is Your event. You asked us to do this, so You bring the people.” Then I prepared the apartment and waited. Twenty minutes passed. Then thirty. Then my phone rang.

 “I’m at the gate; can you let me in?” Someone had come! Before long, our meeting was full.

 I learned a lot from that experience. Sometimes when God asks us to do something, we depend on other people in the ministry to help us do it. Sometimes we might depend on them so much that we forget God is the one in charge. The people we reach out to don’t come because of us. It is the Holy Spirit that moves their hearts toward God. And the Holy Spirit will use anyone who is willing to be used, even a shy girl like me. Even you. God is the one who calls us. He will never leave us to do it alone.

 R. Bowen.