Karen

[William]

I'll go first! I was raised as a Southern Baptist, but my church attendance was very, very irregular, due to my parents being divorced and my mother (who was an imperfect, but real, Christian) being an alcoholic. By the time I was a teenager, I considered myself an agnostic; as I got deeper into my teens, I became involved in the occult, and a ghastly "philosophy" called "Objectivism." (The fact that those two things could co-exist in my skull is an example of teenage immaturity and utter spiritual blindness.) When I was seventeen, a girl at my public high school was saved (along with her parents), and began witnessing to me at school, on a daily basis. Her name was Karen. She gave me tracts, such as "The Four Spiritual Laws," which I would read and discard; often, I met her chipper, bright-eyed statements about Jesus with grumbling and obscenities. But Karen was persistent ... for two years. Finally, a couple of months after graduation, I came to the end of my rope (various crises that need not be enumerated brought me there). I owned a .38 caliber revolver, and resolved to use it. I was 19.

I was planning to drive to an isolated bird sanctuary to do this, so that my gory corpse wouldn't be found by anyone I loved. But as I drove towards the place, I felt an irresistible urging to visit Karen at her home. So I did: and she and her mother sat me down in their living room, explained the Gospel to me, and, for once, I listened. I prayed to receive Christ, and, within 48 hours, was involved in a regular Bible study being taught by a young woman named Kay Arthur. I got "grounded" very quickly, by the grace of God!

That's how I got saved. My testimony is far more complicated and lengthy, of course, and covers many years. But, in thinking about witnessing, and wise, patient soul-winning, I always think of Karen, and her lovely mother. I give all glory to the One Who saved me, and not to the ones who led me to Him; but this was an example of persistence that I have never forgotten, and, by the grace of God, never will forget.

God bless Karen, wherever she is!

[chriskjv]

Bless you William..

[Here Am I]

And not only did her patience pay off, but thirty years later, William passed on the same patience to another unbeliever.

That's one of the reasons I love my big brother so much. God bless you, William, for YOUR patience, and allowing the Lord to use you to reach ME.