I know I've already done a post on the importance of being a witness, but after an experience I had today I wanted to come back to that subject...
I was on the bus this afternoon, and had just gotten comfy after managing to manoeuvre my million and one bags into the seat next to me when this middle aged lady came along and wanted me to move into the seat I'd just filled with all of my stuff. My immediate thought was, 'this bus is almost empty, why be difficult and sit next to me?'. Then she started to moan about anything and everything and I began wishing she would sit somewhere else. However as I began to think all of these harsh thoughts towards her, I realised that I was being hypocritical of what I'd written in the 'Being A Witness' post below, so I decided I'd use my thought time to pray for her instead; asking God to bless her day, fill her with His love etc.
After another twenty minutes or so of sitting on the bus and listening to her moan, she suddenly said, 'you've been so kind to let me sit here, and listen to me blabber on about things that are probably of no interest to you' and I realised what a perfect opportunity this was to mention that I'm a Christian, and that I want to do as Jesus did by loving strangers, so I told her exactly that. Instantly her face lit up and she explained to me that when she was growing up she had gone to her local catholic church, but that as soon as she'd left home she'd stopped going to church. She told me how she hadn't been to church in over 20 years but that recently she'd felt stirred to start going again, and that she'd been denying it - almost feeling to proud to admit she needed to go to church again. Before she got of the bus she told me that the fact she'd met me and seen how kind I was because of my faith, had made her decide that she was going to go back to church and become a regular member again. In fact, she couldn't wait for the weekend to come along so that she could go back to her church! Happy days!
What I learnt from this experience was so valuable; firstly that God puts people in certain places for a reason - this lady could have sat anywhere on the bus but she chose to sit next to me. Secondly, that when God gives us an opportunity to mention Him (or our faith, or christianity) we should grab it with both hands. I could so easily have just thanked her for telling me I'd been kind, and left out the part about being a christian, but then she wouldn't have been given the sign she was looking for. And thirdly, that even if we don't feel prompted to talk to someone next to us about the gospel, we can still pray for them without even having to say a word out loud. Who knows what God could do with their day?