I lived in Southern California for most of my life. In that environment, telling people you were a Christian, sharing the Gospel, or simply trying to live a Christian life, was tantamount to admitting you were not only different but also a bit of a freak.
However, there were still enclaves of Christians to be found. I found some at work, at my children’s schools, at social events. Some were even to be found at church. I say that only half jokingly. Many of the churches there were spiritually dead. Trying to sit through a service, I would fall asleep. I wanted to hear the Word of God and instead got lectures on good works and social equality.
After we moved to Texas, we found that talking about being a Christian is a different experience than doing so in California. People are more receptive to hearing you talk about Christ and what being a Christian means to you.
Because of that freedom, I found out that God had His hand of protection on me during my illness. Doctor after doctor, nurse after nurse told me that they were Christians as well. My surgeon told me he would pray for me. When I responded that I knew prayer worked, he told me that praying for healing worked, too, and that he would pray for that for me.
My physical therapist is also a Christian and that makes a big difference in what we discuss as far as my goals. I am thinking far ahead but we are working with the here and now. He understands my goals and how they work in my Christian life and is helping me to meet those goals. We’ve discussed prayer and healing as well.
It’s amazing how God protects His children in every detail. We have hired cleaners to take care of the house as I cannot do the work and my husband has all of his time taken up with his work and taking care of me as my full time caregiver. We were supposed to have one cleaning crew that my husband had met but instead a young man and a changing partner kept showing up. I liked the guy and would exchange pleasantries with him.
One day, he didn’t arrive and instead, a crew of two women showed up. They sprayed cinnamon scent in our master bath and bedroom that almost made me pass out. What my husband went through to get some of that scent out so I could sleep that night was hours and hours of work. After that, I told my husband I only wanted the young man to head our crew and my husband made sure that was the case.
The next time the crew showed up, the young man was there and told us he would always be part of the crew that came to our house. We got to talking and I mentioned that I was a Christian and he responded that he was too. No wonder I felt so safe with him taking care of our house.
When I was writing my blog post about finding our new church, I mentioned it to the young man. I told him the story of how God had tugged at my heart and how we finally found our way to it. He told me that he had goosebumps on his arms because he was pretty sure of what I would answer. He then asked me what church I was attending. When I told him Chase Oakes, he excitedly exclaimed, “Me, too. My wife and I go to that church.”
We’ve been able to talk every other week for a few minutes about what is going on at the church that my husband and I have never stepped foot in. It helps bring church home to me in a personal way that I have missed.
So, talking about Christ, meeting other Christians, and even finding and/or going to church can be hard or easy depending on where you are located. I’ve lived in an area where living my faith, expressing it, and raising my children as Christians was more often than not mocked and scorned. Now, I live in an area where it is easier and not unexpected to share your faith. In my case, God is bringing more Christians into my life and into my home than I have experienced when I could freely go anywhere I wanted to go.
I know that I am one of the few that are so blessed. It’s a sad comment on the time we live in that we can’t express our faith openly wherever we are. In some places, Christians are persecuted, tortured and even put to death for simply practicing their faith. While every generation has faced great persecution, this is the first time it has been global. It is also the first time we have been able to see, in real time, the daily persecution and trials of our fellow Christ followers all around the world.
In His mercy, God has given us a way to spread the Gospel to the whole world right from our own homes. He’s using the internet as a way for Christians to speak together no matter where they are located. He is using it as a place for unbelievers who are seeking to be able to read of the experiences of others who were just like them and who found salvation through the sacrifice and grace of Jesus Christ.
It’s also a spot where you can look for testimonies (like mine) and historical proof when your faith is being tested. You can find solace when and where you need it. You can find so many translations of the Bible at the touch of a finger so that you can hear the voice of God in the style or language you need. There are wonderful videos of modern and traditional worship music as well. Or, as in my case, you can find your church home through God’s use of streaming and Youtube videos.
While there is so much wrong with the world today and the internet is being used to perpetuate sick and twisted hate and evil, God has taken it and used it for the good. It’s a day when Christians can take a bold stance for Christ and to preach the Gospel that, essentially, places them in front of the whole world.
God has given us this tool and platform. The time is now. The place is here. Today not tomorrow. It is up to us to grasp it and use it to tell others of the redeeming and grace-filled love and the salvation power of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Matthew 24:14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.