She thanked me for sharing my testimony.
Her father-in--law had thanked me as well after camp when we went to his house for dinner.
I thought it was just pleasantries.
But no.
Three years ago her husband's brother had commited suicide and their mother found him.
She was pregnant with their second child, her husband went to help his mother.
Church people told them that since the brother committed suicide that he will not go to heaven.
I had said in the story that I shared that there were probably some church people that said Stephen did not do good enough to go to heaven.
It struck a chord with them.
I shared with them Ephesians 2:8
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God.
She said they were still sad and it was hard to be happy.
But she wasn't the only one who had lost someone recently...
One of my students had also lost a brother five years ago in an auto accident and left behind a three year old son.
I wasn't sure before I left which testimony to God's grace I should share.
Several times I felt like I had affirmation that it was Stephen's story but I just wasn't sure.
Josh decided the day he was supposed to give his testimony that he was supposed to share our hurricane story. He had new perspectives on that time in our life after going through the Tim Keller Idols book that we discussed each afternoon at camp.
Not only did we share the gospel with those who were not believers yet but I my hope is that we encouraged those who were already believers, strengthened their faith and spurred them on to finish the race set before them.
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