We all have a story! We are all on a journey in life, with countless experiences and decisions and encounters that shape us.
It was the year1983. My husband and I were living and working in the beautiful city of Amsterdam, Netherlands, involved in a discipleship ministry to troubled youth. The phone rang long distance, and I heard my mother weeping uncontrollably! Her husband (my stepfather) had just died unexpectedly of a massive heart attack. Would I travel back to the US and spend some time with her? Of course, my heart leaped in sympathy, and I booked my travel for the next day.
While in the airplane, my thoughts were constantly towards my dear mother, her grief, and her need for the Lord’s comfort and salvation. You see, our family is Jewish, and I was one of the only believers in my entire family. My greatest desire was for my mother’s salvation, and I was praying that I would have the opportunity to witness to her, to share the love and comfort of God and to explain the way of salvation. I was just sure this was going to be her time!
While flying over the Atlantic Ocean, I heard a tiny voice on the inside…’Don’t witness to your mother.’ I immediately assumed that this was a scare tactic from Satan and promptly bound the enemy! I thought to myself, of course I’m supposed to witness to my mother! She needs Jesus! Again and again the same voice came stronger to my mind, and I began to be confused. Finally, in desperation, I cried out to the Lord. Surely this can’t be you, God! I know you want to save my mother and bring her comfort! The Lord graciously spoke to my heart that indeed it was Him, but that He had another better plan! He reminded me that His ways are not my ways, and that His thoughts are not like mine! He has perfect wisdom, strategy, and knowledge of how to reach hearts!
I lowered my head in repentance on that plane, asking God’s forgiveness for my rash assumptions. After receiving His assurance of forgiveness, God impressed me with one more thought. Just love her, just show her my love through your actions, and don’t say a word! Well, this was certainly the strangest instruction I could imagine, but I decided that God knows best, because He is God (and I am not)!
For the next two weeks, my mother and I talked, cried, and planned the details of the funeral and her future as a widow. I loved her the best I could, and to be honest, it was difficult not to verbally share the love of Jesus with her! On the way back to the airport, she turned to me in the car and said, “I want to thank you. I want to thank you for just loving me! I know that you want, more than anything, for me to become a Christian, and I want to thank you for not putting pressure on me in my time of grief. Because you just loved me, I see that you really do care about me as a person. Now I will consider the claims of Christianity!” My mouth dropped open in amazement, as my mom used the very same words that God had impressed in my heart in the airplane! Sure enough, my aging mother gave her heart to Jesus the following year, and personally points back to the two weeks we spent together as the beginning of her journey towards God!
This event marked the beginning of my journey of discovery: that my relationship to God in prayer is far more than handing Him a shopping list of my needs and wants! That He desires to speak to us in an ever-deepening personal relationship of listening and speaking. It’s a two-way communication. Understanding started to flow as I searched the Bible for principles and keys to broaden my understanding of how (and why) God speaks to His children.
And His purpose for speaking is to see His Kingdom come to the earth! He wants us to be a prophetic people who can share His heart with the lost and the needy, and call to life their spirit-man by releasing words that only HE could give. He knows the keys to the hearts of every person He has created, and He wants us to co-labor with Him. Listening becomes so very exciting when we realize that we are partnering with God to see His purposes released in the earth! Including our moms!
Adapted from Ears to Hear by Deborah Wiley
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