This has never happened to me. I could hardly believe it. God still works miracles…

As I sat in my van at Valvoline Instant Oil Change, Sonie the service writer asked, “How are you today?”

“I’m thankful. Are you?”

“Me?” she asked with surprise, “For what?”

“I don’t know, is there anything you are thankful for?”

“My life? My kids?”

“Who are you thankful to?”

“I don’t know…Jesus?”

“Oh. Are you a Christian?”

“I’m Catholic,” she replied.

“You know that God loves you.”

“If He loves me, how come my life is so hard? I’m having nothing but problems. When will it all end?”

“Being a Christian doesn’t stop you from having problems,” I explained, “sometimes you may even have more.”

“Why is God doing this to me?”

“I don’t know. Maybe He’s trying to get you to come to Him. Jesus died for your sins, was buried for three days and rose again. Do you believe that?

“Yes I do.”

“Would you like to become a Christian now? Life is hard; imagine dying and having these problems and more for eternity in Hell.”

Due to her Catholicism, she was unwilling to make a commitment. We spoke a little more and I promised to give her a Gospel of John. I walked over to the waiting room and sat down.

Then the unbelievable happened! Was it a dream? A hallucination? A vision? I had just pulled out my Bible when Sonie entered and asked if I would explain the way of salvation a little further.

Nobody ever asks that! Explain further? Ridiculous! Didn’t she know proper evangelism etiquette? She’s supposed to listen distractedly, nod politely and just say goodbye. I give the Gospel, then leave. Nobody gets hurt and we both go our separate ways. Simple.

Sonie confessed, “You know, two weeks ago I couldn’t take it anymore and got on my knees and asked God to forgive me of my sins and show me what to do.”

My eyes opened wide. I could barely contain myself. I may have laughed out loud. “Did you really mean that prayer?”

“Yes.” Sonie said sincerely.

“Well then, God answered it! He brought me here today to explain what happened.”

We talked about Adam and Eve’s original sin. I explained that God demanded blood to atone for the sins of His people and how the sacrifices of the Old Testament could only cover over sin, but not take it away. And that Jesus was God in human flesh who came down from Heaven and was the perfect sacrifice for our sins; now she could have a relationship with Him by repenting of her sins and turning toward Jesus.

Sonie believed and we prayed right there. I invited her to our New Believer’s class and told her to contact me if she had any questions.

Then she handed me the bill.