What’s At Stake?

Many are perplexed by the bizarre, crazy things happening in our world today. But when we peel back all the layers, it’s pretty simple. Whether on a global level or individual, it’s all about souls. Eternal souls. I was recently reminded of this in a personal, painful way.

I received a difficult phone call from a man I’d never met before. He told me his wife had just died and that he found my name/phone number on a piece of paper sitting on the passenger seat of his wife’s car. He was calling to find out who I was and to let me know she’d passed away.

After a few minutes of going back and forth with him trying to figure out how I knew his wife, a light bulb turned on. I remembered. She was the woman I met at Kroger back in the summer. She was skin and bones, completely bald, and walked ever so slowly. My heart went out to her.

Whenever I see someone fighting for their life, at the forefront of my mind I wonder if they are ready for eternity. So I took the plunge and struck up a conversation with her to see if I could find out. She was guarded and in a hurry. I talked about Jesus and shared with her how I had lost a dear friend several years ago from cancer. She mentioned that she and her husband didn’t have air conditioning in the summer due to her husband’s job situation. I said I could help and asked her to take my phone number and call me. But I wasn’t able to pray for her let alone find out where she was at with the Lord.

A few months went by. She never called. I pretty much forgot about the incident until a few weeks ago. My husband and I were in our vehicle leaving the Kroger parking lot when I saw her walking into the store, ever so slowly. I contemplated whether or not to stop the car so I could go talk with her again. But I decided against it. She wasn’t very receptive to me the first time and I didn’t want to impose…you know…that kind of stuff.

I dismissed the situation until today when I got the phone call from her husband.

Heavy sigh. IS SHE WITH JESUS? I don’t know. Talking with her husband, I couldn’t tell where HE is at with the Lord, let alone his wife. But he did let me pray for him.

And yet my heart is disturbed. IF ONLY I had reached out to her when I saw her just a few weeks ago. But now it’s too late. She was only 45 years old. Now she’s in eternity. But I don’t know where.

Yes, she’s probably had many opportunities to receive Christ over her lifetime. And, maybe she DID know Jesus. But the fact remains: I saw her just a few days before she died. I had one last opportunity to reach out to her and talk with her about her soul, and to lay hands on her to be healed!

Experiences like these should leave a mark on ALL of us. Every once in awhile we need to be reminded of what’s at stake — eternal souls. We should NEVER take that lightly. Every day we encounter people who need Jesus. People who need a miracle, a healing, salvation, forgiveness, freedom! And God only knows how much time they have left on planet earth.

God help us be sensitive to the nudging of His Spirit so we won’t miss those divine appointments. He wants to use each one of us to share His love and manifest His presence and power to a world in need.