Allow me to share one of my favorite stories about how the Holy Spirit works in and through us... Back in the summer of 1996, a young freshman in college ventured on a mission trip to Venezuela—her first time out of the country and her first opportunity to put the Spanish she had studied in textbooks to the test. She spent the first four weeks on a campaign with about 20 other students, meeting people, inviting them to the nightly meetings conducted by the local church, studying the Bible with people and learning a lot about herself and a new culture.
After those initial four weeks, she and two other students stayed for another three weeks to follow up on all of the contacts that had been reached during the campaign. The young man that stayed spoke no Spanish and the other girl that stayed, while she was somewhat proficient, contracted salmonella and was in bed most of the remaining time.
So, this young girl, novice-level in her Spanish, and young guy, barely able to say “hola,” trekked across the city, following up on dozens of people who had signed up for personal Bible studies. They would visit a home and if it was a man that had signed up for the study, Michelle, as we will call her, would translate for the young man and if it was a woman who had signed up for the study, Michelle would teach while the young man read his Bible and sipped the coffee all the students had grown to love.
On one such occasion, in the home of a lady who had signed up for a personal Bible study, Michelle was faced with a difficult question she wasn’t sure of the answer to in English and felt even less equipped to answer in Spanish. She said a quick prayer and a few minutes later, realized that she had just given the most eloquent and Scriptural answer to a very difficult question. Actually, she didn’t. She didn’t give that answer and none of those eloquent words were her own. Even if she had been able to answer the question adequately, her Spanish was at a level that the response would have been less than eloquent.
Yes, that was me. I still remember that day vividly. I don’t remember the question the lady asked, nor her name, but I will never forget the light that came on in her eyes as the Spirit took over for me and spoke through me in a way that I had never experienced before. I was hooked. I knew from that day forward that I wanted to use my life in any way possible to allow the Spirit to speak through me to shed The Light to any that wanted to hear the good news of the hope we have in Christ.
Excerpt taken from the final chapter of Human AND Holy, available on our website.
Also, I share this and other stories during a presentation about Iron Rose Sister Ministries at Harbor/Pepperdine Bible Lectures. The video is available via Facebook Live and on our YouTube channel.
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