Our Greatest Witnessing Tool (edit, back)
07/01/2018
Joyce, a friend from church, and I were talking about how to effectively witness to others. Is it through prayer? Is it by doing things for others? Is it through distributing tracts and books? While these are all amazing things, Joyce’s answer surprised me. She said that our most powerful witnessing tool is our own personal testimony about what Jesus has done for us. Just as Ellen White states in The Ministry of Healing, p. 31:
“The two restored demoniacs were the first missionaries whom Christ sent to teach the gospel in the region of Decapolis. For a short time only, these men had listened to His words. Not one sermon from His lips had ever fallen upon their ears. They could not instruct the people as the disciples who had been daily with Christ were able to do. But they could tell what they knew; what they themselves had seen, and heard, and felt of the Savior’s power.”
I knew from my experience how mightily God can work in a life. My husband and I were married for 20 years, had four children, and then were divorced for ten years. In April of 2013, my youngest son walked into my bedroom and said, “Mom, I think we should start praying that you and dad could be remarried.” My initial response was anger. I had prayed for that man for ten years and had no prayers left in me for him. I had given him over to God.
But then God started working on my heart. In May, I sent my ex-husband an e-mail asking him if we could meet and talk about reconciliation. He answered that he had other plans for his life, and they did not include me.
I was devastated. I knew that when we were married, God wanted our marriage to be for a lifetime. To God, marriage is for a holy purpose. Somewhere, Satan and sin had crept in and destroyed our lives.
During this time, I was teaching the book of Nehemiah to my women’s Bible study class. Studying the lessons that Nehemiah and the Jews experienced, I began my journey with God of rebuilding the walls of my marriage. I started waking up in the middle of the night. God was calling me to spend time with Him and wanted my undivided attention. This nightly “Gethsemane” lasted for five months, and He taught me precious lessons during this time:
To praise Him. I didn’t know what God was going to do, but I trusted Him, knowing He wanted what was best for my life.
To confess my sin. This was a HUGE turning point in my prayer life. It wasn’t until I confessed what I had done in the marriage that God was able to do His work of restoration.
To recite God’s Word back to Him. read life-changing scriptures and then recited them back to God, claiming their promises. That’s when God gave me verses like Isaiah 43:18, 19: “Forget about the past. Look to the future. I have something new for you. Can’t you see it? Can’t you perceive it?”
To understand this was not an easy journey and that Satan would bring in opposition.
To realize that God wanted ME to be the answer. He didn’t have anyone else in mind.
In October, I sent the same e-mail again. This time, John said yes. We realized that God had led us both to this point. The first thing he said to me was, “I think we should forget about the past.” Wow! Just what God had told me.
In a few short weeks, we knew we wanted to be remarried. God made our relationship brand new, as if we had just met. We set the date for December 1, only two months away. We got down on our knees and prayed, “Lord show us what to do.” The next morning, I woke up and could clearly hear the Lord telling me to count the number of days from when we first began talking to December 1st. Guess what? It was 52 days. The same number of days it took the Jews to rebuild the walls in Jerusalem. That was our answer. We were remarried on December 1, 2013.
What a testimony of how God can rebuild and restore relationships! I am now so excited to share with others God’s secret of restoration and that their situation is not hopeless. God is the ultimate Repairer of broken walls and broken people. He wants to restore these relationships, and He will if we come to Him in true confession and repentance.