Yesterday was a banner day! After five and a half years of witnessing about Christ, Polly (the woman that I wrote about yesterday) prayed to receive Jesus!

This proves many things...First that God is able...The Lord is faithful and patient and generous, not wanting anyone to perish. Polly went to church her entire life and yet had never met Jesus. When God sent me to care for her I quickly realized what I was up against...years of "luke warm" training and conditioning. There were layers and layers of strong holds, bad habits and misconceptions to peel away. And underneath all of these, was a heart encrusted with granite like stone.

God had given me yet another seemingly impossible assignment. Working with the elderly is a tough job...they are set in there ways and there really is no moving them on your own. It's the kind of job where one must rely fully on God. All of the folks that I have worked with grew up in an era of prejudice and judgment, and most of them had extremely dysfunctional families. They had unrealistic expectations thrown upon their shoulders as children, spouses and parents....trying to live up to an illusion of a "Norman Rockwell" kind of life.

For these men and women, going to church was all about dressing up and going to a building...it was about organ music and dusty yellowed hymnals...it was about working your way into heaven by serving on a board of some sort or putting a donation in the offering basket. What it wasn't about was having a relationship with the only one who can save us.

Before I came to work with Polly, I worked with a couple in their home for eight and a half years. Ellen, the patient I thought that I had come to care for, was a stroke victim with a full blown case of dementia. Her Husband Jack was much older than she and had taken on the task of  her caretaking. As the years passed, Ellen's memory continued to deteriorate, but with careful and loving initiation, could be led into the present moment in conversation.

One day Jack started to act differently. I prayed for the Lord to reveal what was happening to him...Jack had cancer. He swiftly went from a spontaneous life, taking off on a whim at any given moment, to a bedridden state. As I began to care for him, and as he was no longer too busy to listen, we talked about my life and his for hours on end until we had shared all of our victories and most of our failures.

Jack couldn't understand my joy during many years of struggle and I gave the answer as Jesus. While he lay in his sick bed, I offered to lead him to accept Christ many times....each time he politely excused my invitation. Then one evening at three in the morning my phone rang...it was Jack. He had a horrible nightmare and as we sat in the dark, each in our own home, over the phone I led Jack to receive Christ. I was blessed to hear his first genuine prayer shortly after, and saw miraculous change in his life. Jack died a few months later and I know that he rests with the Lord.

It was shocking to me that God would allow me to lead yet another ninety year old to him. What a privilege and what a ministry...one heart at a time, God chiseled and pressed over and over on just the right places to cause the ultimate rescue of these long lost souls.

If God can reach Jack and Polly after years of worldly conditioning, abuse and dysfunction, how more can he do anything that He sets out to do. What looks impossible merely requires faith in the Lord who can accomplish the task.

"What is impossible with man is possible for God." - Luke 18:27

When God first made known to me the ministry of reaching the elderly for him I must admit that I didn't think that it was possible. What God has shown me is that when we obey His promptings and are bold enough to speak and to deliver His word....that anything is possible.

Most ministries are geared toward younger people, and this makes sense because the effort will be more easily received by a younger, less crusty heart...and these kids have the energy to go and do more work for God's kingdom. But what God has made very clear to me, is that these older ones were once the younger ones....His Spirit has been at work for many years, He has invested time and love into these lives, and He cares for them greatly. He does not want ANY to perish!

"For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only son, so that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." - John 3:16

Whatever ministry God has put on your heart, He has put it there for a reason, and if you yield your life to Him He will use you to do great things...your obedient life can bring him glory, and that will bring you Joy!

I am so excited to help Polly in her final season of life, to learn and understand more deeply the love and peace of a life submitted to Jesus....and I cannot wait someday to worship before His throne with Jack and Polly.