A Personal Conviction from serving in Grand Saline
By Christy Beyer, Mission U-Too Volunteer Program Manager
“Search Me, O God, and know my heart” ~Psalms 139:23
Lord I pray for those who read this that their hearts are changed and convicted.
One Saturday afternoon I went to the Grand Saline Mission U-Too site to bring support and a helping hand. Through my conviction I wasn’t a helping hand. I sat at the picnic table with a boot on my foot and listened to stories of people who live in the Housing Authority area, where Mission U-Too volunteers gather to serve their community physically and spiritually.
Before we arrived at the site we had visited with site coordinators, LaRoy and Jessie. We shared a meal together and enjoyed fellowship. LaRoy and Jessie live in Terrell, Texas which is 45 minutes from Grand Saline where they serve. Picture this friends, they drive 45 minutes on a Saturday afternoon to their church to pick up supplies and tables and then over to the site where they set up and they repeat it all over again and again every week. They are committed!
As I sat back and watched LaRoy and Jessie serve the community and the love they have for making Christ known in an impoverished area, something tugged at my heart. I, Christy, have been a believer and walking out my faith for 10+ years and still struggle to be bold enough in my faith to make Christ known in all the sites that I am a part of. And being the wife of Mission U-Too President, Jonah Beyer, I visit A LOT of sites!
Jesus began to search my heart and slowly started revealing some of my flaws as I sat there to fellowship. A lady whose name is disclosed said to me, “I’m not a believer, but I know there’s something more than I know and it’s bigger than what I can imagine.” I asked her, “how do you know that?” She responded, “you guys wouldn’t be out here in the 100 degree weather loving on each person with a caring smile if there wasn’t.” Then I told her it was Jesus. And she said, “I knew you were going to say that.” I then began to share a small piece of my testimony. She told me thanks for sharing and got up and left the table. She scurried on her way without me sharing the heart of what we do and why we do what we do.
Conviction folks! Did I miss the only opportunity that I had? I’m praying not. But my biggest prayer is that the seed was planted through LaRoy and I was a vessel and now God will finish it! I am a nobody, but a daughter of Jesus Christ. I’m not perfect! And I will walk in humility.
Through conversations with Jessie and LaRoy I learned that Jessie grew up believing he was a nobody. He was told that by his mother who abandoned him at a young age and then was raised by his grandparents. Jessie found hope in Jesus as a grown man and believes he is still a nobody, but knows he’s the son of The King. And Jessie also knows that God is growing Him and allowing Him to be a somebody through Him and he’s being raised up with a ministry that he can now share his story with.
And LaRoy was married to an abusive husband and because of her baby boy she knew it was time to leave. She was brought up in an addictive family and became an addict herself. But she surrendered her life to Christ in 1995, and was delivered from her personal addictions in 2007. And now she’s being raised up in a church she can call home, and through Mission U-Too where her and Jessie can serve together as a married couple and reach people for Christ.
Wow! My heart is full. Thank you Jesus for convicting me. And always loving me through my errors and flaws and allowing me to be a vessel and a seed planter. Mission U-Too Grand Saline has opened my heart completely for the gospel. Just because I wasn’t a physical help, it only means that I was a spiritual help to those that I came in contact with.
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