ONE
Winnie
“This is the best gift I’ve ever been given…”
This is what Winnie said when I handed her own copy of the Bible. Winnie is a student in the Maryland English Institute (MEI) at UMD who has been exploring the claims of the Bible within our OneU small group Bible Study.
At the beginning of spring semester, it became clear that there were some foundational truths missing from her understanding of Scripture. So we took a step back and began reading through some of the Old Testament stories together in her new Bible. As we did this over the course of a few weeks, it was as if Winnie’s eyes were being opened to see the rich truths of the Bible in a brand new way! A few weeks prior to this, Winnie told me she was beginning to believe that the Jesus of the Bible might be real. However, she said she wanted to be convinced by God Himself so no one could talk her out of it later on. Essentially, she wanted God to reveal Himself to her. I encouraged her to take the next few weeks to pray, read her Bible and watch for what God may do in her life.
Throughout the following weeks many things began to happen—out of the ordinary things for her. With each of these occurrences, she would tell me, “This must be God!” In His faithfulness, the Lord was revealing Himself to Winnie.
So we met up for ice cream one afternoon and she began to excitedly tell me, “Kate, God did more miracles in my life this week! Even though they are small, I know it is Him because I feel different inside, like something inside has changed. I have joy and hope where before I just had emptiness. I didn’t know what to do so I had to come and tell you!” She was smiling from ear to ear. I asked if she would like to pray and commit her life to God, trusting Jesus as her Lord and Savior. “Yes! I want to!” Though we had spoken about the gospel many times before, this time she was ready. So, we prayed and she gave her life to the Lord!
Here’s how Winnie summarized it all:
“There is only one word for all of this, it is: Amazing! Amazing that God would bring me to America. Amazing that God would let us meet each other. Amazing that I would hear the gospel. Amazing that God would save me with all of my sin. I can’t believe it!”