I was seventeen years old when the Lord answered one of my greatest prayers

that my mother would come to salvation in Christ. While I had made many attempts at
sharing the Gospel with her in the years prior, she had never been receptive before. In
fact, the day I returned from the church camp, where I had asked Jesus into my heart,
was the first time I had ever told her of the Good News. I began by telling her about the
great love that God had for us when He sent His only begotten Son to take our place on
the cross. I followed up with the news that she would go to hell when she died, if she
did not confess with her mouth, and believe in her heart that the Lord died for her sins.
Nice transition, right?
My intentions were genuine, and I wanted so badly for her to awaken and come to
Jesus. Instead, I think I shocked herfirst, by simply saying the word Hell, and second
by throwing in the whole when you die piece. I was only twelve, after all, and she
insisted that I drop the subject. I had clearly been to a cult meeting instead of a church
camp, as far as she was concerned, and she would not hear another word of this crazy
propaganda.
Over the next few years I continued to pray for her and share Christs love with
her to the best of my ability. After I witnessed the hope drain out of her as she and my
father divorced, I asked the members of the church that I had been attending on my
own, to pray for her, too. We faithfully lifted my mother up to the Lord week after
week, pleading for her very soul. It all seemed for not, but little did I know, the Lord
was at work behind the scenes, preparing her heart for what was yet to come.
Fast-forward to December of that yearI had asked every last one of my friends
if they would go with me on our church ski trip, but one by one they declined for one
reason or another. Now dont get me wrongI loved my church family, but for some

reason I just did not want to go on this trip alone. Something inside kept urging me to
invite my mom. She, of course, gave me reason after reason why she did not want to go
on some church trip, and that I would just have to ask a friend. When I told her that I
had asked every single person I could think of, and that no one else was able to go, and
that I really did not want to go alone, she gave in (side note- I can be rather persuasive
on my own, but when the Lord is on my sidelook out!)
Before we loaded the bus, in anticipation of the day long drive to Colorado, my
mother pulled me aside and told me that she was not going to join us for our little
prayer meetings each night, and that she would definitely not be singing and
worshiping with us. The first night went by, and as she had said she would, my mother
stayed in our hotel room while I went to the bible study/ worship meeting in the lobby
with the rest of our group. We prayed harder than ever for her that night. By the end of
the trip she was going with me to worshipbut just for the fellowship, of course. After
all, she was beginning to like the pastors wife, and starting to notice that a member or
two might not be quite as bad as she had originally decided. We welcomed in the year
2000, as our bus pulled into the church parking lot. We said our goodbyes, and one by
one everyone let her know they would love to see her at church the following Sunday.
Now, she didnt drop everything and run to church the minute it opened that
Sunday, but little by little she began asking how so and so was doing, and saying
things like I really should go sometimejust to see everyone. One visit lead to
another. Finally, after years of me trying to convince her to go, my mother began
attending church on a regular basis, and it was not long before she had accepted Jesus
Christ as her personal Savior! She told me that she had never heard the Word before
she attended this church, and, as believers know, it is hard to resist the Truth when you
hear it presented clearly. I had witnessed my greatest prayer being answered, and

watched as my mothers life was transformed. She met and married her new husband
at the church, and was truly a happy, spirited-filled woman for the first time in her life.
The most important lesson I learned through this experienceas if seeing my
prayers answered before my eyes, and knowing that my mother was going to be with
me in heaven for eternity was not enough, was that Salvation does not always happen
right away. By that, I simply mean that sometimes people will simply not accept the
Gospel the first time they hear it. However, this does not make your efforts futile, quite
the opposite in fact! The act of sharing the love of God, and the Gospel with someone is
important, because it plants the seed of hope in their heart. Salvation is sometimes a
work in progress, and just building relationships with non-believers can be an excellent
starting point for future opportunities to witness to them. Every time they hear more
about the Lord, the seed in their heart is watered.
Next, I learned the power of prayer! The Lord said if you ask and believe it will
be done, than it will. Just as leading someone to the Lord is a work in progress, some
prayers take time, too. Sometimes it is hard to remember that our timing is not Gods
timing, and He ultimately knows what must happen and how and when it will happen.
Our God is a loving God, and it is his desire that everyone return to him, but He will
never make someone do what he or she does not want to do. It is called free will. The
truth is, that the Lord has eternal life and fulfillment waiting for us if we will just ask.
Many people do not know this, and so we, as believers, must fulfill the great
commission by going out into the world and sharing the Good News. The harvest is
many but the workers are few, and so each one of us must take advantage of every
opportunity we have to share the Truth with others, remembering not to loose faith
when we do not witness someone accept Christ immediately, as some were meant to
plant, some to water, and some to grow the seed.