IMPACTING LIVES …
Amber Thomas, Student- Hinds Community College
Maddie Edmonson, Amber Thomas and Sarah Paullus.
God ordains every moment we live, every conversation we have, every step that we take, and each decision we make. Growing up in church, I had heard this many times before, but until my second year in college, I never understood how powerful and true that statement is.
Approaching my senior year in high school, I already had my next four years planned out. I would start and end my college career in Starkville, Mississippi at Mississippi State University. However, three months before graduation, God revealed to me that He had a different plan. With three months until graduation, I signed to play soccer for Hinds Community College. As soon as my freshman year began, I gained so many friendships and knew God wanted Raymond, MS to be my mission field. My closest friendships grew from the soccer field.
One thing God used to encourage me during my transition into college was my friendships with Maddie Edmonson and Sarah Paullus. I spent a lot of my free time hanging out with them, and I got to know their background. Sarah and I talked a lot about our faith and relationship with Christ, but it was not until after soccer season that Maddie and I talked about our religious beliefs. She proceeded to tell me that she did not know much about Christianity and was not really sure what she believed. As the school year went on, Sarah and I had conversations about being intentional with Maddie. I prayed as hard as I could, and so did Sarah and many others. We asked her to go to FCA meetings on Monday nights, church services on Sunday mornings, and brought Christ up whenever we had the opportunity. Although Maddie just did not seem interested, we continued to pray hard and be intentional with our actions and words.
In January of 2016, I was in my second year at Hinds. Maddie was in Starkville where she attended MSU and Sarah was in the Jackson area attending UMC. Our friendships remained just as close, thanks to FaceTime, and our prayers for Maddie continued to be lifted up daily. I began to be discouraged and frustrated at why it seemed so hard for Maddie to be interested in God. One week before FCA College Getaway, I was really struggling with the whole situation. It broke my heart that Maddie had never experienced Jesus’ love or His perfect peace and scared me to think about where Maddie would go if something tragic were to happen and she lose her life. I could not help but think of how selfish it would be if I did not call out to God and surrender the entire situation to Him.
That is when my boyfriend, Patrick, encouraged me to ask her to go to College Getaway. I told Maddie it would mean a lot for her to come, and to my surprise she said yes. A week later, Sarah and I were standing right by her side, worshipping Christ. The second night, towards the end of worship and after
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One out of eight born again people( 13 %) made their profession of faith while 18 to 21 years old.
One out of five people born again credited a friend with bringing them to Christ. another student’ s testimony, Maddie realized that she needed a Savior and asked us to walk with her down the aisle. She wanted Jesus in her heart, and I will never forget that moment because mine and Sarah’ s eyes met and the tears began. There was hugging, screaming, crying, and jumping. Now, we all three attend church together and send each other scripture in a group message. All I can think about is how every single moment was in God’ s hands. He knew what He was doing all along, and he wanted Sarah and I to surrender the situation completely to Him and trust that He would do the rest. When we surrendered, that is when His plan prevailed and His power and love were evident.
- barna. com For more details on these stories, visit: mississippifca. org / 2016 4
… with the
Gospel