The day Mrs Landers came to the door she immediately began to cry when I mentioned that I was from a local church, calling to give her a, “good message from the Lord Jesus Christ.” It was the first week of winter and she said to me, “Always at this time of the year I get sad and it lasts all winter. Would you come in please?”
We went to her kitchen; she pulled a chair out for me to sit on while she boiled the jug for coffee. Still sobbing, she told me her husband died in mid-June eight years earlier and, “ever since then I’ve had eight years of sadness and loneliness.” Given that a great percentage of the people in my geographical area of ministry were middle-aged to old, it was a regular occurrence for me to hear those words or similar, therefore, it was always important for me to be tuned in to the Holy Spirit, awaiting His response, not my own.
During coffee Mrs Landers went on to give specific examples of how this sadness and loneliness affected her since her husband’s death and it was clear to me that this lady was still deeply grieving after all these years. When it was appropriate to respond I mentioned this to her and said, “The only Person qualified to take this deep grief from you Mrs Landers, is Jesus Christ.” Words cannot describe the lady’s reactions to that statement, other than to say I saw grief being replaced with relief.
She then told me that as a young child living in the country many years ago she regularly attended church services with her parents, but then she got married and came to live in Melbourne during the second world war. She said, “Then, I don’t know what happened to me.” I said, “I know what happened to you Mrs Landers, you walked away from God. Would you like to come back to Him?” She nodded and then asked if I would help her to pray.
Even though she was a church attendee all those years ago I believed it was important for me to systematically explain the purpose of Christ entering the world. So often in churches one hears that, “Christ died on the cross for us,” when really, “us” who now have the gift of salvation, should be saying to those who don’t, “Christ died on the cross for you.” Proper foundations must be laid for people so they can begin to build their faith upon them. I spent the next hour laying those foundations for her and at the end, Mrs Landers knew what she was praying and why.
After praying together, her grief had lifted and she was smiling, looking peaceful. During more coffee she then told me what happened on that last night with her husband. She said she felt a tap on her shoulder in the middle of the night. She got up to put a blanket over her husband, “and I found him dead.” I said that the tap on her shoulder was from Jesus and that He had been, “tapping and knocking on you for years.” Mrs Landers agreed. On subsequent visits it was wonderful to observe her maintaining her peace. She had started attending a church fellowship not far from her home.
One early afternoon in late July, Mrs France answered my door-knock. She was hard of hearing and thought I was from the Jehovah Witnesses and as such I got a poor response from her. It looked as though the door was about to be closed in my face, so I spoke louder, re-mentioning the name of my church. The door opened wider and she stepped out from it. She was quite polite as we spoke but I could discern that she was somewhat agitated, so I said I was calling offering prayer for anyone who felt they had a need for it or to answer any questions about Christianity.
All of a sudden Mrs France burst into tears, telling me that this was one of the worst days of her life since April, the same year. It was during that month that she and her husband were at the local shopping centre and he fell and died of a sudden heart attack. Then she opened up and told me she was very angry with God for taking him. I told her it was ok to be angry, because in reality, she was still grieving for her husband.
But I also encouraged the lady to trust in the promise of Jesus, who told us to come to Him with our heavy burdens and give them to Him and in return He would give us rest from them. Mrs France told me she was not a church attendee, so I said, “this is not about church, this is about Christ and His reality for you right now.” I offered to pray for her on the doorstep and she gave permission. At the completion of the prayer she appeared much more restful and thanked me for taking the time to talk, then we parted company. Again, grief was replaced with relief.
Similar types of situations occurred like this on a very regular basis for me and more often than not, that’s the last I heard from such people. But it was not the case here. The following day her son phoned the church to give his heartfelt thank you for what we had done for his mother. He said he’d just come from visiting her and she was a “very different woman.” He also thanked us as a church for taking the time go out to where the people are.
God’s love for people is most remarkable. It is true that Christ will go to any extreme possible to reach people for Himself. But it’s equally true that some will go to any extreme possible to avoid Him. Frank appeared to be one of those people. He was a genuinely friendly man in his fifties who immediately invited me inside when I called on him. Over a cup of tea he shared how a long time ago his marriage of many years had broken up. Naturally enough he said he was heartbroken when it occurred, plus the fact that he missed out on seeing his children grow up. He was living in Sydney at the time.
Around the same period as the breakup he said he was diagnosed with diabetes, which he’d suffered twenty-one years at the time of our meeting. He told me things got so tough for him emotionally back then, that he climbed the Sydney Harbour Bridge intending to jump from it to his death. “I was crying out to God for help,” he said. “But He didn’t listen to me.” I eyeballed Frank and said to him that Jesus did listen, otherwise Satan the devil would have, “made short work of you. He’d have killed you in a millisecond if it were not for Christ intervening.”
Frank allowed me to share the gospel of Christ with him for over an hour – not that he hadn’t heard it before because he told me that he’d recently had a born again Christian man lodging with him for six months. Frank knew he was a sinner whom only Jesus Christ could redeem. He knew about eternal union or separation from God being one for him to choose, and that he couldn’t blame God if he found himself in hell one day. When he refused the Lord yet again, I said to him, “Frank. What does God have to do to get through to you?”
Earlier he told me he also suffered from depression, as a result of the need to inject himself six times daily for blood tests and insulin – having to set his alarm at three o’clock in the morning for the first of these. I thought how dreadfully sad it is that this man would refuse the fellowship and ministry of God, plus even possible healing from his disease. Frank’s preference was to suffer alone. I once heard a Bible teacher say that some people would rather go to surgery every day of their lives, than turn to God. Why?
What it comes down to is this. If a person wants to receive Jesus Christ’s gift of salvation, that person must humble themselves before Him. We must bow before God in our hearts and yield ourselves daily and allow Him to cleanse us and rebuild us spiritually, mentally, morally and physically. There is no other way for us to live the abundant (beyond measure) life. Frank was one among millions, at that point at least, who simply refused to do so. “If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” 2 Chronicles 7:14.