Home Pastors Articles for Pastors God's Power to Draw Broken People

God's Power to Draw Broken People

I remember it very clearly. It was a late Sunday, winter morning. I was sitting on my blue retro couch, folding laundry, and waiting for Jud to get home from church when my phone buzzed. Of course, being the easily accessible and also easily distracted lady I am, I grabbed up my phone to check my texts. I was shocked to read:

Please pray for my friend, ****** and her family. Her body has been found, murdered. She attended Central with me as a guest not too long ago. She reached out for help, so I took her to church. I didn’t know what else to do for her. I just wanted you guys to know that she had gone to Central. She was a beautiful, sweet girl.

Stunned. What in the world?! I quickly texted back including a ridiculous “You ok?” We exchanged several texts, I started praying, and then I turned on the news.

It was everywhere. Every. Where. In fact, it was a national story that I’m sure hit your local news as well. An incredibly brutal, horrific tragedy.

Fast forward about 6 months.

It was a bright, sunny, crazy-busy Sunday morning. I was zipping in and out of the church when a sweet lady grabbed my arm and asked to talk for a minute. Absolutely. Of course.

That is when she asked me to pray for her friend that she had been bringing with her to Central for the last few months. She told me her friend just sits and cries and cries through the whole service. Could I help her friend connect with a pastor because her trial was coming up that week? And then, the bomb. Remember that murder…you know, that murder…oh yes, I knew exactly what she was talking about. Well, the body of that “beautiful, sweet girl” was found at this woman’s apartment. She hadn’t committed the murder but was being tried for her involvement. Oh. My. Gosh. Two sides of the same hideous coin.

Two women. Both broken. Both hurting. Both needing Jesus. Both sitting in our seats.

And that is when I felt the Holy Spirit so heavily impress this in my mind and in my soul:

Do not ever forget the level of brokenness of the people sitting in these seats.
Do not ever close your eyes to how incredibly immense their need for Me is.
Do not ever underestimate the level of desperation that they have for Me.
Do not ever become desensitized to the importance of introducing them to hope, grace, love, acceptance, and forgiveness.

You never know who God is drawing to Himself and who He has pulled into the seats of your church.

The calling that God has put on our lives, to connect the unconnected with Christ, Himself, is…well…crucial, paramount, life and death, and a long list of other words that seem to fall short.

So.

Just…don’t forget…