Gospel Goes Full Circle in Puerto Rico
I am a church pastor in Puerto Rico. One day I was teaching an adult Sunday school class about the importance of evangelism. I explained how effective it is to use the Gospel of John.
Just then a woman in the class, 65 years of age, requested a moment to share a testimony. She said that she herself had met the Lord when someone had given her a Gospel of John many years ago. This is her story:
I was a very healthy woman at age 38, but suddenly in 1977 I felt ill. I was happily married and had 3 precious children. I took very special care of them.
When I visited the doctor, it was discovered that my illness was due to something wrong related to Hodgkins disease. Tumors were showing up on my neck, and my teeth started to fall out. I sought a second opinion, but got the same answer. At that moment I thought of the many times the Gospel had been presented to me, but I just ignored it.
I was taken to the hospital and given the bad news: I was not expected to live through this. I asked God to please grant me the opportunity to raise my children and to be with me during the surgery since the doctors themselves saw no hope.
After all this, a pastor visited me and he gave me the Gospel of John. He told me to read it and prayed for me, and then he left. I started to read it and the more I read, the more interested I got. The following day a woman came from the same church to visit me. She also prayed for me and invited me to accept Jesus into my life, which I did.
Now I can say as the Word says, all who have received Him, and believe in His name, are now sons of God. [John 1:12] From that moment on I became a daughter of God.
After this the doctors called me in amazement, for the tumors did not show up at the operation. My medical profile changed drastically. They wanted to know if I had done something different or if I had suffered a change that I needed to inform them of.
I told them, Yes, something very big has happened. I have received Jesus into my heart; I have accepted Him as Lord of my life. And from this moment on I declare that He has healed me.
And 27 years later I still declare that only Jesus heals and saves.
She then held up the original Gospel of John she had first read, the very one given to her 27 years ago. I compared it next to a new Gospel of John, one of those provided by the Bible Network that we were using for our Bible study. Though they had different covers, they were the same book from the Word of God, but they had even more in common.
Out of curiosity I browsed through the womans well preserved Gospel of John. I was amazed to discover on the inside cover that this 27 year old copy also came from the same organisation. How did it get here? We dont know. What we do know is that this womans life changed because someone gave her the Gospel.
This womans testimony motivated the class to evangelize and share Gods Word. It also moved me in a special way. You see, in addition to being the pastor of our church, I am also the Director of the same organisation in Puerto Rico. I had been earnestly asking the Lord to let me know if my hard work was making a difference. Her story was an answer to my prayer. I am inspired to continue providing Scriptures and training in Puerto Rico.
Just then a woman in the class, 65 years of age, requested a moment to share a testimony. She said that she herself had met the Lord when someone had given her a Gospel of John many years ago. This is her story:
I was a very healthy woman at age 38, but suddenly in 1977 I felt ill. I was happily married and had 3 precious children. I took very special care of them.
When I visited the doctor, it was discovered that my illness was due to something wrong related to Hodgkins disease. Tumors were showing up on my neck, and my teeth started to fall out. I sought a second opinion, but got the same answer. At that moment I thought of the many times the Gospel had been presented to me, but I just ignored it.
I was taken to the hospital and given the bad news: I was not expected to live through this. I asked God to please grant me the opportunity to raise my children and to be with me during the surgery since the doctors themselves saw no hope.
After all this, a pastor visited me and he gave me the Gospel of John. He told me to read it and prayed for me, and then he left. I started to read it and the more I read, the more interested I got. The following day a woman came from the same church to visit me. She also prayed for me and invited me to accept Jesus into my life, which I did.
Now I can say as the Word says, all who have received Him, and believe in His name, are now sons of God. [John 1:12] From that moment on I became a daughter of God.
After this the doctors called me in amazement, for the tumors did not show up at the operation. My medical profile changed drastically. They wanted to know if I had done something different or if I had suffered a change that I needed to inform them of.
I told them, Yes, something very big has happened. I have received Jesus into my heart; I have accepted Him as Lord of my life. And from this moment on I declare that He has healed me.
And 27 years later I still declare that only Jesus heals and saves.
She then held up the original Gospel of John she had first read, the very one given to her 27 years ago. I compared it next to a new Gospel of John, one of those provided by the Bible Network that we were using for our Bible study. Though they had different covers, they were the same book from the Word of God, but they had even more in common.
Out of curiosity I browsed through the womans well preserved Gospel of John. I was amazed to discover on the inside cover that this 27 year old copy also came from the same organisation. How did it get here? We dont know. What we do know is that this womans life changed because someone gave her the Gospel.
This womans testimony motivated the class to evangelize and share Gods Word. It also moved me in a special way. You see, in addition to being the pastor of our church, I am also the Director of the same organisation in Puerto Rico. I had been earnestly asking the Lord to let me know if my hard work was making a difference. Her story was an answer to my prayer. I am inspired to continue providing Scriptures and training in Puerto Rico.
