Church Blog

God Is at Work Through OneU

Here’s a great report from Kate McMahon and Chavia Groveman!

Kate: Our God is mighty to save and continues to show His mercy through loving and saving sinners!

Sometime in the spring a friend asked me to start meeting with a girl from her home church who had grown up in a Christian family but did not know the Lord. I met Esther soon thereafter, and we got together all through the spring. She even invited a friend of hers to join our Bible study in April.


We continued through the summer and this fall started going through How Good Is Good Enough?
together. Chavia was able to join us a few times, and the girls really enjoyed getting to know her. Our last two Bible studies [late September] felt particularly led by the Lord and empowered by His Spirit. Everyone came away excited about what we were learning, even though the conversations were very weighty and revealing.

The girls acknowledged that they did not yet know the Lord, but were aware of their need for a Savior. We talked through the barriers holding them back, and I encouraged them to take a sheet and put it by their bed. On the sheet I asked them to write out any evidences of God showing up in their lives. Chavia and I committed to pray for them and specifically that God would reveal Himself to them in an undeniable way. He did.

Chavia: After I met Esther, we pretty much hit it off right away. She loves sports, and so I was able to connect with her through softball.

Recently, Kate was having lunch with Esther, and so I asked her if she would want to hang out and go to The Gathering that night. [The Gathering is a Christian campus outreach affiliated with McLean Bible Church.] She agreed, and so that night we hung out just talking and talking for several hours in the STAMP [the Student Union at the University of Maryland] while we were waiting for the meeting to start. She ended up pouring out her heart, and told me that the thing that was keeping her from trusting Jesus as her Lord and Savior was her past sins. I reminded her of how when you put your trust in Jesus, He covers you with His righteousness, and forgives you of your sin. I really felt the Spirit the whole time we were talking.

When we got to The Gathering, there was a verse that they put on the screen from Ezekiel 36:25-27. It talks about how the Lord cleanses us from all our sins, and gives us a new heart of flesh taking out our heart of stone. I felt the Lord wanted me to read it to Esther after the service. The message that night was all about the Lord’s specific love for each of us, and the pastor spoke to people who were holding back from accepting Jesus because of their sins. At the end he took communion, and gave the explanation of how only people who are Christians could partake. I leaned over and asked Esther what she was thinking. She said she thought we should go up there, and asked me if I could pray with her. As I led her through the sinner’s prayer, she cried and cried!

Afterward, she was so happy, and kept talking about the new peace in her heart. I shared Ezekiel 36 with her again, and she told me that verse had really spoken to her when she saw it on the screen. All in all, it was an awesome night, and I really wish that Kate could have been there, since she’s been investing in Esther’s life since last spring. :)

But, as Kate and I were talking this morning, we were able to rejoice in the truth that it is not the sower or the reaper who gets the glory, but the Lord who is mighty to save! He is truly in the midst of this campus, and we are excited to see what else He is going to do!