One morning at a restaurant, I invited my waitress to our Wednesday evening gathering at church. She accepted and, before I left the restaurant, she had asked all of her co-workers to join her.
Neither she nor I realized what God had in store.
That evening, I asked a new believer to share his story of cocaine addiction, surrender, and a one-time binge that followed, only for him to feel user’s remorse for the first time in his life. My morning’s waitress sat in the front row, listening intently to God’s peace, purpose, and power this man was now experiencing when she stood up and surprised us all.
She looked up at me intently and said, “I have a cocaine problem, and I want what he has.” I asked her if she was ready to fully surrender her life to the Restorer. She said, “Yes.” In front of one hundred people, we read the Bible, and she prayed to God for forgiveness and restoration to authenticity. When the night was over, she had been flooded with names and telephone numbers of others who told her to call them if she was tempted to reuse drugs. With tears in her eyes and mine, we walked downstairs where her two daughters had been enjoying a Bible class to share the news with them. Both girls surrendered their lives to Christ that night.
A few weeks later, we baptized her. She had invited the entire staff from the restaurant to watch as she publicly responded to the Restorer’s invitation to live with a clay heart.
The Apostle Paul wrote: “My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on men’s wisdom, but on God’s power” (1 Corinthians 2:4-5). When a believer shares his story of restoration, unbelievers are drawn to the Restorer. Will you share your story of restoration with someone today and witness the Spirit’s power?
Episode 97: Delivered with Linda McCrary from mitchkrusetv on Vimeo.