“Honour thy father and mother; which is the first commandment with promise; That it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth.” (Ephesians 6:2-3 KJV)
Mother’s Day is this weekend. I thought I would send some flowers to some of my friends.
I had to make an out-of-state call to order flowers. You could tell by the noise in the background and the hurried voices that this business was super busy!
The lady who answered my call asked me what I wanted to order. After I explained what I wanted, she said, “Let me have our designer call you. She knows how to make unique flower designs, and I don’t want to mess this up.” I agreed, as we laughed and said goodbye.
The flower designer called about half an hour later. We talked a little, as we both tried to communicate what I wanted and what she could do. We laughed, as she explained how she lived in the days when not everyone had electricity and how design had changed so much.
She mentioned that young people drop by the shop to simply talk with her. She said, “I don’t know why they come to see me, but they do.”
“You sound really ‘with-it,’ and they appreciate that you take the time to listen to them.”
“I tell them that they shouldn’t do wrong or get drunk, and they should live out a good day.”
I thought, Oh how sad; she is not telling them about Jesus, so what’s the use of their talk?
“When I talk to young people, I tell them about Jesus,” I responded.
She then shared her belief. I thought, Oh my, I can’t listen to this. She’s all over the place with such crazy nonsense. If there is one thing I am not good at, it is talking to people with beliefs that are really mixed up. Oh, Lord, what do I do?
I was so tempted to hang up the call and just let her think we had been disconnected. But then she would call me back. Lord, I can’t listen to this. I am not good at this.
Suddenly, I had a boldness. I started to talk about God, the Father and Jesus, His Son. “God loves us so much that His Son died for our sins on the cross. That is how much He loves us. He gave His Son for us on that cross. Jesus is the only way to heaven. And listen to me: You cannot decide where you want to go when your life is over.”
“That’s true,” she said.
“You have to make that decision when you are alive. You will either go to heaven or to hell. God is not forceful. He presents Himself as who He is, and the choice to believe in His Son as the only way to heaven is yours. If you want to go to heaven and not to hell, then you will have to talk to God and ask Jesus to be your God and Saviour. The choice is yours.” I didn’t want to take more of her time because I knew that business was so busy, but she was not put off.
“I was at this place, and I bought a Bible I saw. I read it. It is very interesting!”
“The Bible is not a theory. It is God’s truth. Now, if you have read the Bible—the truth—why would you want to look in another direction to the lies?”
“Hmmm, that’s true,” she said softly, thinking about this.
“You have to go to God and repent. You have to tell Him that you are sorry for going in so many directions to other gods. I will help you talk with God.”
“Not on Mother’s Day, you won’t,” she replied.
Even though when she said this, it got my attention, for some reason I ignored it.
“If you want to talk with God and ask His Son to be your Saviour, the choice is yours to make.”
“Yes, call me again. Times are hard. We have good and bad times, and this is a bad time in my life.”
“In the good and bad times, God is there. The Bible says that He will never leave us nor forsake us. Listen, those other gods can’t do a thing. Only Jesus can help you. He is the only One who died on the cross and rose again. Those others did not.”
“Hmmm …” She thought on this.
For a moment, I almost said that I would call her back. But it didn’t come out of my mouth, and, again, I was concerned about taking up her work time. I was not at all in control of this conversation—the Holy Spirit was. “It takes just a few minutes to talk with God and know that you will be in heaven. If you would like to know this now, I can help you.”
“Yes, I would.”
“I am going to pray with you. Would you like to pray with me?”
“Yes, I would.”
I was in unbelief that this was happening. First, she was talking about the other gods that she believed in. I didn’t know what to do or say. Now she was ready to pray to believe in Jesus. This was all due to the Holy Spirit working in her heart, and I just happened to be the mouth piece He was using.
I started to pray, as she joined me. She went to the cross of Jesus to confess her sins, received God’s love for her, and gave her life to Jesus to use for His glory.
“Now you take that Bible you bought and start reading the book of John, a little at a time each day. When you pray and talk with God, open your Bible, and Jesus will talk to you through it.”
“Tonight the first thing that I am going to do is get that Bible and start reading it.”
“Good!”
“It has been interesting to talk with you, Claudia.”
“It has been a privilege and an honor to talk with you.”
We finished with the flower order and said our goodbyes.
“Father in heaven, during my husband’s and my Bible reading and prayer time this morning, the last thing my husband asked of You was to give me new opportunities to tell about Jesus. I thought, How can that happen when I am homebound? Who would have thought that phone call to order flowers would have a soul that was going to be saved for eternity! And I was so ready to end the call, but Your Holy Spirit was at work in her and in me. Father, You answered my husband’s prayer, and today, Jesus, You have a soul that will be in heaven with You! May she have the most blessed Mother’s Day in You, Lord!”