Thursday, January 29, 2009

Overjoyed Indeed.

My group didn't get very far in our Conversation Club Conversation. On the other hand, it was a jaw-dropping hour of watching God work. We barely touched the first question. "When is a time you have been overjoyed?"

I knew that the other 3 in my group were Christians, which is a strangely wonderful since there aren't tons of Christians in the city...and 3 of them were at my table. We got no further than the first question on our topic sheet before one of them started sharing about some mission trips she'd been on. Each time she serves somewhere for Christ, she is 'overjoyed', she said. How cool, and what a great witness, to have another in the group to share about mission trips! At that point, I sort of let the others find out on their own that they were all Christians desiring to follow God. The rest of the hour just turned into mostly the 3 of them totally encouraging one another. I found that it's difficult for each of them to even share about Christ with their families, as most of their family members think it's crazy and that they are in a sect. They were able to help each other and share ways that the Lord has comforted them. We also talked a lot about evangelism and how that works here and how it can be so hard to share Christ with friends who will think you're crazy. It was really neat to see how each of them are working through these things and how they are relying on God and the Word for help and guidance in sharing Christ with friends. It was great to be a part of such Christian encouragement! We even ended our time with prayer (which doesn't usually happen at a regular conversation club) and as soon as I mentioned praying together, all three of them just got so excited. Just to be united with other Christians and know they aren't alone. Wow. I even got a little teary during the prayer time, just to that God IS working here, even though things take a little longer in this environment. It was so invigorating to be involved in a conversation about serving God with people who want to do that with all their heart. You can see it in their eyes. They are overjoyed.