Stories from all over our city & beyond

During the service on March 30th, I felt a strong conviction about the repentance questions in the handout that was printed in the pews, and how it shows me a better way to help lead our team through a challenging project that’s going on at work. As I read through the questions there in the pew, I started laughing to myself because I was imaging grading myself on each of them with a “red light/green light” system…. and they were all red lights. “Have I looked down on anyone?” – Red Light. “Have I felt unappreciated or ignored?” – Red Light…and so on. I had three coworkers come to mind almost immediately, and decided I’d take a handout for each of them. I’ve had amazing conversations with two of the three today, and they were happy to take the handouts I brought to keep in their office as a reminder. Thanks for providing a useful, sharable handout like this for me to take into the office to spark conversations about Jesus!

My divine platform is teaching accounting at SMU and most days explaining debits and credits and how to read financial statements seems anything but divine, but God can change lives even in the most unlikely contexts. I had an amazing student who had MD, PhD and Executive MBA who then became my TA and a teacher for a class I coordinated. Most importantly, she became my friend. Because she was from a devoutly Buddhist family and had a driven personality, she was passionate about praying to the gold Buddhist shrine that covered the entire wall of her living room. When I saw that shrine for the first time, I remember thinking that it would take an absolute miracle for God to change her heart; it just seemed so daunting and overwhelming to me. After my friend’s mother died of cancer in China during Covid and my friend was diagnosed with Stage IV cancer herself in her 40s, she began to ask me deep, probing, spiritual questions about suffering and death. However, her achievement-oriented approach to life made it difficult for her to grasp that she didn’t have to do anything to earn her salvation. One of the times she was in the hospital, the Holy Spirit prompted a conversation about Psalm 23, and I could tell God was using that beautiful passage to soften her heart. Over time, as we read a book about Psalm 23 and many at Northwest prayed for her, she ultimately came to trust that Jesus, her Good Shepherd, would walk with her through the valley of the shadow of death. She was comforted to know that he understood her pain because he endured suffering on the cross out of love for her. Miraculously, she trusted that it didn’t matter what good she achieved, and that she could freely accept the gift of hope Jesus offers. Miraculously, she confirmed that there was no value in worshiping Buddha. When I visited her for the last time, we had a beautiful discussion about how we don’t have to be afraid to die because our Good Shepherd will be with us. After she died, my husband and I were honored to be a part of her memorial service and only then did we learn her name means “sheep” in Chinese. Through Psalm 23, Jesus had called this dear friend and one of his beloved sheep by name. Praise God for his miraculous work!

I had stopped to visit with a friend and we started talking about his son’s interest in the stars and his telescope and processed into the big bang theory. I told him that it made me sad that they teach that as fact in school when we know it’s still just a theory. I told him that I believe what the Bible says about God purposefully, intentionally creating everything. After conversing about that, he expressed an interest in getting back to church and getting his kids to church. I encouraged him to come visit our church! I am praying that he will and will bring his kids.

A co-worker shared with me about some family trouble she was going through. I was able to pray with her in Jesus’s name to reveal himself to them, show His Love and give her supernatural wisdom to navigate a delicate situation.

In our current sermon series, Talking to God, we’ve been praying for God to lead us into conversations where we can speak His word with boldness. As I prayed, I started thinking about my divine platform and how I long to share more about the gospel with my coworkers. But I also wrestled with how difficult it can feel to bring up Jesus, church, or anything related to faith at work without worrying that I’ll come across as confrontational, pushy, or judgmental.

After a casual typical conversation during the work day, the discussion turned to religion, denominations, and the question what do I belief. The opportunity to share my faith has dropped in my lap and I was able to share how God dramatically entered my life one day in my early twenties and change my life forever. What a blessing!

After the Superbowl, conversation turned toward spiritual matters, and my friend shared more about her upbringing on the fringes of the Catholic church and then the evangelical church throughout college. She shared things that turned her off of organized religion but admitted that she did believe there was a higher power. I was able to agree with her on the brokenness she’d seen, pointing back to the Bible’s response to those things, which she had already alluded to knowing. Mostly though I was listening, praying for her, and thanking God for showing me that she’s much more open than I initially would’ve thought. (And thanking Him that He helped her feel comfortable enough to say those things to me.)

I had been praying for the Holy Spirit to fill me and help me to speak boldly about Jesus, my girlfriend had asked how it was going on February 7 and I said there hadn’t been a clear door into a conversation. Well that very night a coworker mentioned they had prayed before and I felt the Holy Spirit giving me courage to ask questions, listen intentionally and tell him about what the Lord has done in my life.

I had a speech I needed to write for a ministry event and was working on it before some not-yet-Christian friends arrived at our usual hangout spot. I still had a little left to do when they got there, so I joined a bit late. When I finished, one of them asked me what I had been working on, and I was able to share briefly how I was working on a presentation about songs God had used in my life to strengthen my faith and encourage me throughout the years. I just love opportunities like this because no one in this group has expressed personal interest in spiritual matters, but getting the chance to show that God makes a difference in my life gives me hope that one day God will water those seeds in their hearts.

Another conversation with basketball buddy about the peace of God. This was at the Plano rec center with the 50+ basketball group.