“No man, when he hath lighted a candle, putteth it in a secret place, neither under a bushel, but on a candlestick, that they which come in may see the light.” (Luke 11:33, KJV)
During our travels, we met with a very special couple who are our friends. It had been sometime since we had seen each other, and we were excited to have some time together.
We made a reservation at a restaurant we had not been to before, hoping it was the right place for food and atmosphere. The place was attractive and inviting.
The waitress who greeted us was young, very cute, transparent, energetic, smart, and sweet. She escorted us to our table and explained their service.
My husband had noticed on the way to the restaurant that two doors down there was another restaurant by the same owner. He asked me if I would be interested in going to that one instead. He went to take a look at it. When he returned, he asked me to do the same. I did this twice, because I just was not sure. Although the food smelled so good and the atmosphere was also attractive, I was a little uncomfortable.
We asked the waitress about the other restaurant. She brought us a menu from it and said that their food was very good, and it was a great place to go. I was still not sure which one would be the best one for our invited friends. But I had God’s peace with the one that we were in, so we stayed.
We settled in and waited for our friends. When we saw them, it felt so good to greet them with smiles, hugs, and expectation of our fellowship in Christ.
As we sat and began catching up with what God was doing, we enjoyed our time together. Meanwhile, the waitress addressed the menu with detailed information. Her personality was precious. She was very pleasant as she worked to serve us. Her memory of the menu and opinions of the flavors was impressive.
We had a blessed time of conversation, fellowship, and prayer for almost three hours! It was amazing that the crowd of guests around us was getting smaller. This made the atmosphere so much more comfortable for talking. It was a blessing!
When we were getting ready to leave, my attention went to the waitress. I prayed, “Lord, she is so precious and authentic. I have no idea if You would like for me to talk to her about You. And how could I? We are leaving, and she is pretty much wrapping things up with us and serving others.”
The waitress came to our table. “You are the best customers that I have had!” she said. I wondered why that was. Perhaps she had been watching us.
“And you are the most wonderful waitress!” I said. We all smiled with her.
We paid our bill and started to walk out, but my attention was back on the waitress. She was walking toward another table. “Well, God, I guess I won’t be able to tell her, but if You cause her to walk in front of us toward the exit, I will know that You have prepared her for salvation, and I will tell her about You, Jesus, ” I whispered. Before I finished my heart’s prayer, the waitress came to open the exit door for us.
As my friend’s husband went to the restroom, his wife, my husband, and I walked out the door. “Help me, Jesus. Help me, Holy Spirit,” I prayed. As she was holding the door open for us, I turned around and got pretty close to her. Then I glanced at my husband and our friend’s wife. Their backs were toward us. They were praying. I sensed the Spirit of God strongly. Here was my help.
“Do you know Jesus as your Saviour?” I asked.
“Well, yes, kind of,” she said.
“Have you asked Him to be your Saviour?” I asked.
“Ah, well, I ask Him all the time,” she answered.
“Would you like to pray and ask Him once and for all to know in your heart that He is not just the Saviour, but your personal Saviour and Lord—the Saviour of your soul—so that you know where you will go when your time comes?” I asked.
“Just a moment; let me throw this away,” she said, as she went back inside. I thought she just might not come back. But, with tears in her eyes, she returned. As she opened the door, she fell into my arms with a big hug.
“You have no idea what this means to me,” she explained. She then stood in front of me, wiped her tears, bowed her head, and placed her hands together to pray.
“Are you ready?” I asked.
“Yes, I am,” she breathed softly, with eyes closed.
We prayed as she received God’s love for her and confessed with her mouth and believed in her heart that Jesus is the Son of God and that He had died and risen again. She asked forgiveness for her sins at the cross and gave her life to Him for His Glory.
Afterward, tears were in her eyes, as she said, “Let me make sure that my eyelashes don’t fall off.” As she adjusted them, we laughed. I figured that she had heard about Jesus and was going to a church, but had not made that decision to know Jesus as her personal Saviour.
“Do you have a church to go to?” I asked her.
“Yes, I do,” she answered. It was as I had thought.
“Do you have a Bible?” I asked.
“Yes,” she answered, wiping her tears. We talked about how and where to start reading the Bible.
I asked her if we could take a photo. She embraced me so tightly and said, “Yes.” I called my husband over, and he took the photo. Afterward, she held me tightly again in a hug. So sweet! Then, she went inside, but, in a moment, she came back out.
“May I have a copy of the photo?” she asked.
“Yes, of course,” I told her. She entered her number into my iPhone and sent herself the photo—the photo of the memory of the day that she gave her life to Jesus and was saved!
“I am so glad that you decided to stay at this restaurant!” she exclaimed, with another big hug, then hurried back to work.
Without our saying anything as we dined, she had seen the LIGHT! The Holy Spirit was bearing witness of Jesus, the Son of God.
“Abba, Father, how hard it was to see this special young woman go back inside. This is the hardest of You saving souls, Jesus, to know that I will not see them again. But then the Holy Spirit reminds me, ‘You will see them again in Heaven.’ And smiling, I am comforted. Now this child is Yours, Lord Jesus, to continue the work in her life. You, the LIGHT were bearing witness of Yourself through us by the Holy Spirit without us knowing it! But she saw it! Holy Spirit, thank You for having my husband and friend pray. And thank You for giving me that uncomfortable feeling about the other restaurant. You had prepared a soul for Jesus at the restaurant we stayed in. Glory and praise to You, soul-saviour, Jesus!”