Wednesday, May 16, 2012

for those who agonize over a soul far from God

-by Christy Fitzwater

In high school study hall Robert declared he didn’t believe there was a God.  And my grew-up-in-Sunday-School jaw dropped open.  I had never met anyone who didn’t believe in God before, and it pained me deeply.


So I started praying for him.  The condition of his soul weighed heavily on my own, and I could not stop thinking about him.  He made his declaration the spring of our senior year, and after that we went our separate ways.  But I never stopped praying for him –almost every day for four years.  His atheism was a sliver in my mind, the pain and anxiety for him always rising up inside me. 


I prayed and prayed and prayed.


Four years later I was working a summer job at a grocery store in my home town, and one day I was introduced to a new employee.  Robert.  My heart stopped when I saw his face, and the agony for his soul filled mine.


We were both getting off work at the same time, so I determined to have a talk with him.  Working up all my courage, I started to tell him I had been praying for him.  Started to tell him about God and hoped his heart was in a different place this time.


But before I could get it out he said, “Hey, I have to tell you something that just happened to me.”  He pulled a cross necklace out from under his shirt and told me how he had just chosen to follow Christ.


I just talked to a friend yesterday who was in agony for the soul of her family members who are far from God.  Tears filled her eyes as she talked about them.


Is that you?  Don’t give up.  NEVER give up praying.  Live in agony for that person, and continue to approach the throne of heaven with your request for the salvation of a precious soul.  Be miserably desperate in your soul on that person’s behalf. 

Never give up.  Dig in.  Get your feet planted, and be willing to spend years praying –if that’s what it takes.   

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