Praise the Lord!

I am on cloud nine!  I met with Jesca this morning for Bible study, and I'd be lying if I said that I didn't go in with a spirit of expectation.  In the past few weeks, I've seen lots of spiritual walls coming down around Jesca, and last week she asked me to pray that God would speak to her, and that she would be able to hear Him.  (I didn't tell her I'd been praying for that for the last year already!)  We gathered up our tea, coffee, and Bibles and went to sit on the porch of the boys' quarters.  I prayed, and we began to discuss the third chapter of John, Jesus' conversation with Nicodemas.

Jesca has grown up in the church, and so is very familiar with spiritual things, but the idea of having a relationship with God is completely foreign to her.  Knowing that some very popular verses are in this passage, I asked her if she had ever read the whole passage at once before, and she said yes.  I asked her if God said anything new to her this time.  "He told me that I'm just like Nicodemas," was her answer.  I was floored!  I could almost hear the Father saying, "She's ready-- it's time for Jesca's harvest!"

We talked and talked, about baptism and asking forgiveness.  We read "that everyone who believes in [Jesus Christ] may have eternal life," (John 3:15) meaning that we don't have to be baptized to secure eternity, and we don't have to keep on asking for forgiveness.  Jesus' blood covers our sins once and for all.

That part was a little hard for Jesca to grasp.  She had been taught that any unconfessed sin would keep her from heaven, whether she was following Jesus or not.  I told her that believing in Jesus' forgiveness means trusting Him to forgive all our sins-- sins from childhood, from yesterday, from today, from tomorrow, from five years from now.  That we don't have to try to be good enough; we want to be like Jesus, because that's the pursuit of holiness, but it won't keep us out of heaven.

Jesca is by nature a very quiet person, and I didn't want to push her to something she wasn't ready for.  I asked her if she wanted to ask Jesus to forgiver her once and for all.  Her question was "Oh, but how can I do that?"  I offered to lead her in praying for salvation, and she said that's what she wanted.

We prayed.  I cried.  It was all I could do not to lose my composure as this precious friend became my sister!  When we finished praying, Jesca was grinning and glowing like I've never seen her before!  I shared some Scriptures to encourage her, and challenged her to read God's Word on her own, and to ask the Father to speak to her through His Word.  Jesca's very countanance looked different, and I told her so.  She said she felt "relieved"; for the first time, she doesn't have to fear death.  She knows that her sins are paid for and her eternity is secure.

In less than an hour, I will be getting on a plane to visit some sweet friends in India.  I hate to leave town on the very day that Jesca accepted Christ.   I've been praying for her salvation for over a year, and I know many other people all over the world have been praying, too.  Thank you for your prayers.  Please keep praying for her, that she would grow in her new faith and find sound doctrine in the Word.

I hate to leave Arua today, but I can't think of a better way to start a vacation!  Praise the Lord!