“I Sought the Lord”

I have been amazed to see God at work through RUF. Even into November we still have new students showing up to Large Group and Small Groups. In particular I would like to tell you about a girl (let’s call her Sally), who showed up at Large Group in October. She grew up outside of the US and said that she came along because she saw a girl in her dorm reading a Bible. She had never seen one before! The girl invited her to RUF Large Group.

A week later I was on campus on my day off to drop some things off at the library. I walked by a girl on a sidewalk who looked at me a few times and, of course, just as we passed I realized it was Sally- though I couldn’t remember exactly how to pronounce her name, and she was gone. Trying not to kick myself, I dropped off the movies at the library and started walking back to my car, and she is walking towards me again! I took a stab at her name, and she remembered me, and we exchanged numbers.

At the next Large Group I sat by her and in the middle of Ben’s sermon she turns to me and asks, “Who wrote John?” I explained that the apostle John did. Then she asks if John wrote the whole Bible! I explained that the Bible was written over a long period of time and by many different people, some before and some after Jesus. She argued that she thought the Bible was about Jesus, so how could there be stories before him. I shared with her that everything in the Bible points to Jesus, whether before or after he was here. This was eye-opening for me. I had never shared with someone the basics of the Bible. I either assumed they knew the Sunday school answers or they didn’t care.

This week I ran into her, and she started telling me about how she was struggling to forgive people in her life. She felt compelled to, but she was still angry at them. She had to return to studying so we made plans to meet the next day and go over some scripture that talked about prayer and forgiveness. We met for lunch at the cafeteria, and she told me about her life growing up and what she was looking for in her own life. She believes in God, but hardly knows anything about Him, and so she is eager to come to RUF and learn. I shared with her from Ephesians 2 and 1 John 3 to explain the gap between us and God, and how Jesus came to save us because of his great love for us.

I learned so much from meeting with Sally.

1. Don’t assume people believe what I believe or know what I know.

2. I am not able to convince someone of the Bible. God has to be working in their hearts first. I can see that Sally is open to learning, and her willingness to accept what the Bible says must be from God. I am so glad she is seeking!

3. It doesn’t make sense. As Sally pointed out, it doesn’t make sense to forgive someone who is mean to you and is not sorry. It goes against our nature. We need God’s perfected love to do this.