Everyone loves a good story, or so I am told. I am going to tell you one about a lady who didn’t believe in God’s existence at all. Even though she was sceptical about God, I started to introduce her to the truth of the scriptures, the story of a perfect God, and the salvation He gives us through Jesus. She listened and kept coming back for more since she was intrigued by my faith in Jesus.

The story starts a few years ago, when I lived in Pescara, Italy. I had a neighbor next door, called Roselli. Coincidentally every morning, I kept coming across her in the garden, a place where I used to go in the morning to read a book. We always exchanged a few words but never stopped to really have a conversation.

One day, while I was reading the Bible in the garden, she came to me and asked… Are you reading the Bible? I answered, Yes… She then said… Do you really believe in what you’re reading? I responded… Yes, I do. She looked at me with disbelief and said…

“I do not believe in God because he does not exist, nor in the Bible, because it is just a fictional book like any other”.

At that moment, I realized how much she needed to hear the real story about who God is and to understand the purpose of salvation through Jesus. I then decided to share the good news with her despite the fact that she was in total disbelief about God’s existence. I started to speak to her about Jesus at every opportunity I had and I never gave up on her and never stopped asking Jesus to touch her life and bring her salvation.
As I was planning to move to London and my departure was fast approaching, I did not have much time to spend with her. On the morning of my departure, before I left for the airport, I went and knocked on her door to say goodbye. I wanted to give her a very special treasure that had accompanied me since I was 14, my first Bible. I had so many personal notes written on that Bible since my conversion, even the first verses that I learned by heart and memories of Sunday school. Once my neighbor realized how precious the Bible was to me, she took it from my hand and said tearfully that she would keep it close to her heart.
Unfortunately, as I was living in London, I lost contact with Roselli. But after two years I returned to visit Pescara and went to visit the church I used to congregate at before.
A friend of mine, who was also visiting the church that day, approached me and gave me news that filled my heart with joy … he told me that when he was in a small group meeting, a lady gave the testimony of her conversion. She mentioned my name saying that she was touched by my attitude of giving her my first Bible, which was something so personal and special to me. She also said that was the last push she needed to give her life to Jesus. She still had that old Bible, with my name written on the first page and kept it as a treasure.

To my delight, my friend said that Roselli was completely in love with God. I’m sure God guided my friend to that service, that night, to give me the good news of Roselli’s conversion.

May this story encourage you to be generous and to trust that our work in God’s presence will always be rewarded!