When our Bible Study class began to study the Gifts of the Holy Spirit, each of us wondered which gift the Lord had for us. As we began to look at each one, some of us thought, and voiced our doubt that God could use “me” in such a supernatural way. One thing we all knew in our hearts was that we are willing to give the Lord a shot by at studying, praying, and practicing.

Several people had told me that I have the gift of “Evangelism”, but only because I keep inviting people to come to church, even though not too many people actually come. I have to admit that as I write this message, I can count with more than both my hands as to how many people have actually come, decided to join, and even begun their own ministry in our church. Imagine that, and all I did was invite them!

One evening, a few weeks ago, we took the test Pastor Tom handed us. I was disappointed, because I wanted to hear him teach, and I was sure we were wasting time taking a stupid test. When we were all done, and we looked at how each of us scored in certain areas, Evangelism was my highest of course, but I was totally shocked about the Gift of Teaching.

The day came (3 weeks ago), when Pastor Tom asked who had scored highest in the Gift of Teaching. The two with the highest score were my friend Melinda and I. Now let me tell you what went through my body when I realized why he was asking, well, suffice it to say that immediately, I raised my hand and said: I would love to help, but now that I’m going through the Change of Life, I’ve been forgetting everything, and I’m really not prepared to teach a class because I don’t really know much.

Pastor Tom simply asked the class “How many of us love Nancy and promise to pray for her” Of course, every hand had to go up, some even raised two hands. I knew those were the ones who were saying to themselves “Better you than me”.

You see my biggest fear was not just that I’ve been forgetting things, but that my words would not be understood because of problems I’ve been having with my teeth. Nevertheless, I resigned myself to trust Jesus, and the fact that my friend Melinda was also teaching with me.

Melinda and I sought God’s face about what He wanted us to teach, and separately we got His answer. Melinda was to teach on “The Cleansing before starting a Ministry”, and I was to pray on “Getting Caught Up in our Labor”. My study concentrated on Luke 10:38-42. The famous Martha vs. Mary study, and how easily it is for us to miss God’s true calling by allowing ourselves to get too busy to sit at the feet of Jesus.

The day finally came, and I was all set to go. Happy as a kite I went to church, sat next to Melinda as she taught, and even assisted her. When I my mouth opened to begin my lesson, my body began to sweat, (normally I am not a sweaty person), praise God no one noticed! My mind quickly and totally misplaced all the words I had put into writing, and when I went to search my notes, I was totally lost.

By faith, I went ahead and used words I had not planned, I remember at one point I found myself kneeling down showing them how Mary was sitting at Jesus’ feet, listening to His sweat Words of Wisdom. Between you and I, BOMBED, I mean, talk about needing to sit at the feet of Jesus, but my friends promise me I was really good, but I think they just really love me just like they promised that evening!

Guess what? Whatever words I used, I sounded very clear. My friends did not know my fears, but they did say I didn’t even sound nervous! You and I know the opposite is true, but I know you won’t tell because you don’t know them!

When I wrote my pastor to let him know what happened, and that I am still open to be a fool for Jesus, his reply to me was “Glad everything went well, I am looking forward to having you share again”, he assures me that everyone gets nervous, and that eventually I will be teaching just like Jesus wants me to teach.

I had not planned on writing this, but a good friend of mine suggested I post this as a praise report at Answers2Prayers, and I thought, “what a wonderful way to continue my gift of evangelism, and also encourage others the Lord may be speaking to about a specific ministry.

I’m still praying about my next lesson, but one thing I know for sure … that “He who has begun a good work in me will continue it till the Day of Christ! I pray you will allow the Lord to work through you to add to His Kingdom.

In Christ,

Nancy reindln@ix.netcom.com (Received on Friday April 19, 2002)