By His Grace, You Are Saved.

"Therefore having such a hope, we use great boldness in our speech," - 2 Corinthians 3:12

My mom and I starting the first chapter of our discipleship booklet. #IcedCoffeeofcourse

I came from hearing about the Gospel for the first time during my third week of college - to then be surrounded, discipled, and having constant fellowship with my new brothers and sisters in Christ. I was under a strong, solid, and caring community that was protecting me and guiding me for 8 solid months. All while I was going to various bible studies every week, and to then become a leader for the campus ministry I was apart of. To jump from that (which in itself was VERY different for me and took time to adjust), to now being back in my old environment back home where I only knew two or three Christians, with the rest being all friends back from High School who did not know the Lord, just how I had been a year earlier.

Most importantly, I knew that I would come home as a completely different person -- a person who no longer lives for herself, but for Christ who lives in me. (Galatians 2:20) A person who is no longer alive in the flesh but alive in the spirit. (Romans 6:11) A person who wasn't really just a person anymore, but rather a child of God now through faith. (Galatians 3:26) I wasn't the same Sam the last time I was home, and I knew coming home would be a challenge in the sense that I would be pushed more than ever to pursue after God on my own, and pushed to run to Him without anyone holding my hand anymore. 

Towards the end of the school year, at a leadership meeting sharing how it went when I told my best friend the gospel after she started asking me questions on how she could become a Christian.

At the start, I didn't really touch base with my family a lot on what was going on with me and my relationship with the Lord. Most of them were unbelievers, and early on one vocalized it bluntly with me that they would never become a believer and for me to "stop praying and wasting time" on them to have hope that one day they would become a child of God. I was discouraged and crushed after that, seeing how I was just two months in being a believer to now hearing this person tell me that so nonchalantly was pretty hard to hear. 

When I first became a believer I was immediately under attack by the enemy, and that itself was something new and something I didn't know how to properly deal with at the time. I know now that it was all lies he was telling me, but at the time I was having a difficult time trying to pick out what was true and what wasn't. I felt a wall against me and reaching out to other people about my faith, and it would be from insecurity that the enemy had kept yelling at me that I could never be strong enough, or even smart enough to tell people about Jesus. I never went out with my campus ministry when they did evangelism every Friday afternoon. I wasn't confident in myself, but then I realized that I didn't need to be confident in myself, but that I needed to be confident in God. It was Him who saved, and not by my own power. I realized that not wanting to go evangelize just because of my own fear of how they would look at me was selfish was insulting to God, and questioning His powers. I realized that I had a bigger fear of man, than I did of God.

So, It wasn't until toward the end of my first semester where I fully understood that it wasn't me or my own words that would have someone to come to know the Lord, but that it was His Holy Spirit in me that equipped me. I suddenly had a great love and fire for evangelism. That I was called to go and share the Gospel, and it was the fear of God I had that fueled my obedience for Him. I suddenly knew just HOW powerful the Gospel truly was, and it was because of the gospel itself that made me want to tell everyone about Jesus.

"Go home to your people and report to them what great things the Lord has done for you, and how He had mercy on you." Mark 5:19

I went into the summer being a bit envious of all of my friends who were flying out to different states and countries on mission trips and I was just one of the few who were stuck back at home. However, the Lord sure did tell me that He had a different plan for me this summer. He told me that I was going to be on a mission, but instead of traveling to a different location I would be traveling back home to tell my family the good news of Jesus Christ. I knew that I would have to fight against my flesh, my fears, and my anxiety that I would "say something dumb" or wrong to someone while sharing with them the good news. Because chances are is that regardless, I'm always going to say something dumb and sometimes I am indeed wrong. However, I knew the truth of the Gospel, and it is that sweet truth that has brought me a new hope. As Paul says in 2 Corinthians, we are to use great boldness in our speech because we have hope. Paul preached the new covenant "fearlessly, without hesitation or timidity." It is not my words, but His. It is not my own power to save, but it is His. I am not alone while sharing the good news, but I am carried by Him. Understanding this now, my heart was set on telling the gospel to my mother.

Right before the bible study we went to in a church in Dallas. Of course we took a #selfie.

Towards the start of summer, my mother randomly told me one day that she wanted to go to a bible study. I immediately was FILLED with such joy and I knew that The Lord has been at work in her. We went to the bible study, and she became more and more hungry for God. I knew that God was telling me that He wanted me to share with her now all that He's done for me and to tell her the Gospel. From the past, I knew my mom went to different churches when I was younger but then stopped all together before I went into middle school. Now in the present time, I wasn't sure where she was in her relationship with the Lord, or even if she had one or wanted one in the first place. However, I did notice that during the school year she was extremely supportive of my decision to follow Jesus. She was one of the few family members who came to my baptism, and then afterwards cried with me and told me how proud of me she was. My heart was set then to have more spiritual conversations with her. So I knew that during summer, I would tell her the gospel.

It was May 16th, and I remember feeling a bit nervous and tweeting minutes before me sharing with her the good news to ask for prayers, and I also texted all my close friends to pray for me and for encouragement. It's incredible how God works, and moments before sitting down with her on my bed to tell her the good news, I knew that I was called to do this, and I knew that my obedience towards God outweighed my feelings. My trust in him was stronger than my feelings. My feelings of anxiety vanished, and I was just left with the Grace of God that has saved me. I was left with hope, the very hope that my mother would understand the gospel and Lord willing, come to know him. 

Minutes after my mom accepted Jesus into her life!!!! Praise the Lord!! May 16, 2014. #SobbingSam

I first told my mom all what God has done in my life this past school year. I told her the changes in me, and that it is evident that God is real and alive because of this transformation I've been going through that couldn't had come from just me, but from a higher power: Him. I then asked her if she would like to hear the gospel, (After first asking her if she knew what the "Gospel" was/meant and her replying back that she didn't know it.) and after she cheerfully said yes she would like to know more about God, I knew that this was a opportunity orchestrated by God Himself.   

I begin to ask her questions to see where she was at with her knowledge about God, and then decided to use both the bridge illustration and the blue booklet I've used many times during evangelism at school. They were great and useful tools that tell the gospel in a simple, but assuring way. She was focused, and asked great questions that helped me confirm that she was truly interested in this. I asked her if she knew what grace was, and she didn't. It was a real humbling moment for me, because I was in the same place she was a year earlier. I didn't know what grace was, and looking back now I am so grateful to God that I do have His grace. It is because of His grace that I was even there sitting with her, telling her about it.

"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith -- and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God -- not by works,  so that no one can boast." Ephesians 2:8-9

I explained to her what it was, and then we continued to go through the bridge illustration and booklet. We went through the verses together in the booklet, and after talking to her I realized that she was under the impression that to have God you have to do certain things. Such as go to church all the time, pray, and be a good person in general. My heart went out to her immediately after I heard her say that, because I was in the same place that I thought it was by works that we had to get God. This is where I told her the gospel by the Grace of God and his holy spirit. The powerful gospel that there is nothing we can physically do to get God, because it's not about what we can do but it's about what He has already done. 

It then got to the point in the booklet where it asked if you want to continue to have yourself at the throne of your life and Christ at the outside, or to have Christ on the throne of your life and to have yourself on the outside. She told me that she wanted herself on the outside, and to have Christ on the throne, in the center of everything. I immediately started to cry of joy, and then continued to tell her to process of accepting Jesus into her life and what that meant and looked like. I told her about the prayer, the same prayer I prayed and millions of others have prayed to accept Jesus. She then prayed to receive Christ on her own, and then afterwards I prayed for her out loud while holding her hand and it was one of the most beautiful moments I've ever witnessed. It wasn't beautiful because it was my mother and I , but that we weren't just mother and daughter anymore. We were now sisters in Christ, and she was now a child of God just how I am. 

"Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity. Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to preaching and to teaching." I Timothy 4:12-13

I thank God and give HIM all the Glory because it is truly from Him that my mother is saved. I praise God because he has entrusted me with his Gospel enough to be His vessel and tell her about Him. He had pursued after her just as he has pursued after me and millions of others. This whole experience has been so humbling, and it has made my faith grow even stronger. Recently, my mother and I have started a bible study together with a booklet called, "Growing in Christ." We did the first chapter of the booklet (Assurance of salvation) last week in a Starbucks, and we just finished the second chapter (Assurance of prayer) tonight at a local park. When we did the first chapter, we reached the end of it where it asked what all she noticed that has been different about her since she got saved. I'll never forget what she said. She told me that she's noticed a dramatic difference to her -- and that her customers at work have even noticing it and have been asking her why she's been smiling so much lately. She told me that when they ask her that, that she tells them it is because of JESUS. Praise God that she is already telling others about Him!! She told me that she has a new peace, and a new comfort that could only been from Him. Praise God that it is already this evident of His work in her to others around her. Praise God that she is a light to those around her, and spreading His love to those she sees every day. That, is a God thing and I'm so happy to see her grow and be filled with His joy. 

Yesterday, at the park going through discipleship in God's beautiful nature. #WhatABlessingYall 

This has been my first time to go through the booklet with anyone, and my first time alone to even disciple someone. Yet, God has taught me that I can do all things through Him, and that He will give me the power and knowledge needed to help my mother and myself grow closer to Him. Walking with her and teaching her scripture has been a crazy experience. Crazy for me, in the sense there I'm 19 (almost 20 #yikes) and here I am teaching my mother instead of her teaching me. 

This is what makes the gospel so powerful: it is for everyone. There is no age limit, nor gender or even time limit that stops us from getting Jesus. That's incredible and I'll never undervalue the gospel because it is everywhere, because He is everywhere. His grace is enough, and by that I mean it is enough to save and transform people into His children. His grace is all we need, and I am forever praising God that we get his grace daily, and that we do not owe Him anything because He has already paid our debt by his blood on the cross. 

After the church service the day my mom said she wanted to be baptized!

A few weeks ago, my mother announced to the church (and myself) that she is ready to be BAPTIZED!!! Praise the Lord!! Her obedience to follow His word and her faith strong and firm enough to proclaim it to everyone around her in baptism is super encouraging and humbling. I know that it is the Lord's work in her that has made her ready now to get baptized. She will be baptized on Sunday evening, August 24, at First Irving Church. It's an evening of celebrating all what God is doing in the church, with testimonial videos (including yours truly and my mother) and about 6 baptisms that night, including my mom. My mom and I have been so fortunate to find a wonderful Godly home church together this summer. Everyone has been extremely helpful and welcoming to my mom and I, and it truly is a church family we've made. I'm sad that I won't be able to attend First Irving while I'm at school in Arlington, but I know that the church will take great care of my mom and I'm overwhelmed by their goodness and servant hearts that inspires me beyond Sunday mornings. The Sunday celebration is going to be a great night of praising God for all that he's done for so many people and we would love for you to come join us celebrate! If you'll want details for this then just let me know and we would love to include you. 

I wanted to end this to say thank you personally to all the friends and family members who have shown nothing but love and support for my mother. Immediately after I posted about my mother being saved I got a flood of text, phone calls, messages and comments just praising God for it. It brings me no greater joy than for us as a family to bring HIM all the glory for all that He has done through us. Your love and words have been stored in our hearts forever, and has been encouraging us daily. I hope in some way our story encourages you.


Your friend,

Sam Jimenez