Twenty Five Years of Prayer!

When Irene and I served at Durban North Baptist Church in the early eighties we had the joy of seeing our neighbours a few doors up the road from us, Lucy and George, come to Christ. Both experienced radical conversions, grew rapidly, and brought us much joy. After a few years they, together with their young daughter, moved back to the UK. George died of a sudden heart attack, and Lucy went on to become one of the BBC’s top script writers. In all the years since then, Lucy has been on my weekly prayer list. As I have prayed for her I have prayed that her daughter, Louise, would come to know Christ and follow him with all her heart. The other day I received this news from Lucy:

“Just a happy message to you both: having been paddling around Christianity for years and years, and accepting that Christ is the Son of God, and believing in the Bible but never quite committing herself to Him, or becoming a new creature in Christ… yesterday Lou was born again. She’s just spent an hour telling me all about the joy of it all, and the excitement and the terror – all the ‘how is this going to change my life?’ stuff – and I just sat there, beaming, letting it all wash over me like a blessing. Which it is. I can die happy now. But not just yet, eh?
“I won’t tell you Lou’s story, because it’s hers and she may want to tell you herself one day.”

What joy! What encouragement to persevere in payer for loved ones who do not yet know Jesus!