Iowa State Fair Outreach 2021 - 8.14.21 The Woman at the Well.

If you've ever had a "woman at the well" conversation with someone, you know what I mean when I say those conversations are a special moment between evangelist and potential convert. They are rare, but when they happen, you know that it was a divine encounter. They are touching and usually leave you and the other person crying. Today was one of those conversations. 

Lisa, who works at the fair in another booth of the Varied Industries Building, came over to our booth because her coworker received one of our Ark million dollar bills and was laughing about it. She was curious and needed to talk with someone here. I happened to be that someone. She was looking around like she was lost, or amazed -- I really couldn't tell. Sheepishly, she looked through our DVD's, pamphlets, and such. I walked over to her and started a conversation. 

Lisa revealed that she came from a bad background, and made many mistakes along the way. She got saved, and had been a Christian for over twenty years. But with tears in her eyes she shamefully said, "I never shared my faith. Not like this. Maybe to friends and family once or twice, but never with strangers. I've always been afraid, and overcome with fear. I wish I was bold like you." 

I shared with her my testimony, and how just a few feet from where we were standing was where I heard the gospel for the first time. When I got saved several months later, I was given the opportunity to be discipled by someone mature in the Lord, to take me out and share my faith with strangers. That led me to study fear and how Satan uses fear to keep us in one spot, tired and afraid to move. She needed a mature Christian woman to come alongside her and help her become the soul-winner she desired to be. She teared up again and said, "I have no one to show me." 

I looked under the train cabinet to see if we had any books on the topic that we were giving away. We had at least two cases of  "Begin: A Journey Through Scriptures for Seekers and New Believers", but that wasn't really what she was needing.  Then I noticed in the corner some orange books, and pulled them out. It was exactly what she needed. It was a copy of "Will Our Generation Speak?" handbook and the Study Guide. Will Our Generation Speak? is filled with dialog—recounting witnessing conversations and giving practical ideas for beginning conversations with unbelievers about the Lord. It teaches how to ask good questions and answer objections, while illustrating points with humorous cartoons and stories. From a young person to other young people, it addresses the fears we face and excuses we make, and provides vision for being strong for the Lord in our youth. It communicates how exciting it is to be working alongside the God of the universe in the mission of saving souls. I pulled them out showed her the books, and before she could even ask how much they were, I just said, "These are my gift to you; I want you to have them." She started to tear up, I started to tear up. It was a beautiful moment. 

Even though this post is short, we spent at least 45 minutes talking. She said she only intended to visit for five minutes and needed to get back to work. It's amazing how the Lord works things out. Like the woman at the well, Lisa had a plan to come to the booth looking for something. But what she received was way better than she could have possibly imagined.