By Crystal Au-Yeung, 3rd Year Nutrition and Dietetics, Qld Uni of Technology
I woke up knowing I was coming down with something. “Oh no, I can’t get sick!” I thought. “Please God, heal me of this cold”, I pleaded.
It was the first day of Beyond Brisbane, the outreach to international students at university. But during the first couple of days of training, my sore throat and coughs got worse and I was so frustrated. “How can I possibly talk to people tomorrow?”, I asked God.
By the third day I lost my voice so I decided to stay home and have a rest. I was so confused why God did not answer my prayer: “Why did you prevent me talking to people about Jesus for the first time?”
I started to get updates from the group, asking for prayer to support the conversations they were having with people. At least I could do something for the team, I thought, so I started to pray that God would give them strength and courage as they spoke to students.
My boyfriend had come over to help take care of me. When Derek saw me praying he said that he was waiting for more of an experience of God before he could believe that God is real. He has been going to church with me for two years, but keeps resisting following Jesus.
As I finished praying an idea popped into my head, “Why don’t we watch the movie ‘A Case for Christ’?”, I said. He agreed and when it finished I suddenly gained my voice back and we talked about the movie. I asked him what he thought about the character who chose to follow Jesus at the end.
Derek answered, “I don’t know how to take that step but anyway, why doesn’t God come to me instead?”
“God has already made the move to us by sending Jesus”, I answered. “And He is waiting for you to turn to Him.”
He didn’t answer so I asked, “Would you like to give it a go—to let Him take control of your life? As you are His precious son, He has a perfect plan for you.”
“Yes, I would like to”, he finally answered!
How amazing is God’s plan? I never thought that my being absent from our team would lead Derek to Jesus. All my confusion and irritation disappeared as I began to see how God used me so unexpectedly. That night I cried so happily that God has chosen to work through me, even though I had started the day having so little faith that God could use me because He let me get sick!
What a great lesson in patience and faith in God.
