I think this is what every Christ Follower longs to hear from someone.........and here I was at the laundromat on the San Carlos Rez hearing this from an Apache gentleman who I had come across as I was leaving to return to First Nations.  He told me that he had watched me go into the laundromat and knew that there was something different about me.  He waited until I came out and was walking to my car to approach me.  As we walked towards each other, the Holy Spirit prompted me to greet him and ask him how his day was going. 

 

 

I am so glad I listened to that prompting because the ensuring conversation with Gerald blessed me up one side and down the other.  Gerald was a Christian who loved Jesus and  was overflowing with joy and a desire to talk with someone who also loved Jesus and shared that same joy.  In the next 30 minutes Gerald poured his story out to me.......how he was raised by his grandmother because both of his parents were alcoholics and how he was so angry.  He told me that at one time he had a loaded shotgun just waiting for a man who had beaten him up in the past to get out of prison so that he could kill him.   He told me that he had hated.......hated blacks, mexicans, and then sheepishly, as I egged him on, anglos.  I laughed and said, "That means that at one time you and I wouldn't have had this conversation, huh?"  "Yep," he said.  "I would have looked at you and just thought, what is she doing here?  I would have hated you." 

 

Then he shared with me how Jesus had delivered him from all his hatred.  How he had come to understand God's grace and mercy and how he now passionately desired to share all of that with his fellow Apaches.  He shared with me that the moment he accepted Jesus as his Savior, he felt "so free, so light, like everything was lifted off of me.  I didn't know it would be like this," he told me.  He had received joy because of the unconditional love of Jesus.  And because of that unconditional love of Jesus, he no longer wanted to kill the man who had beaten him up.  In fact, when that man got out of prison, Gerald went to him and told him that he was sorry for hating him and wanting to kill him.  The man had become a Christian in prison and they are friends today.

 

I don't know about you, but I love being "different, different for Jesus!"  And I love the fact that someone saw that in me.........someone who is also "different for Jesus."  Another incredible day sharing Jesus on the rez!  It just doesn't get much better than this for me........sharing Jesus with another believer and encouraging each other in our walk with the Lord.........this is what I thrive on!  To God Be The Glory!