June 27th

(Today's post is written by Katia Piorkowski:)

Friday, June 27th, 2014

2 Kings 10:32 - 12:21
Acts 18:1-22
Psalms 145:1-21
Proverbs 17:26

God desires courageous men and women to proclaim his truth.

One night the Lord spoke to Paul in a vision and told him, "Don't be afraid! Speak out! Don't be silent! For I am with you, and no one will attack and harm you, for many people in this city belong to me." So Paul stayed there for the next year and a half, teaching the word of God.

From the moment I re-dedicated my life to following and serving Christ, I began to have many internal conflicts. I was having a difficult time finding a church I felt I belonged in, I wanted to move to another town, and I wanted to find another job. All of these wants came down to one thing; I did not think I would be able to serve the Lord how I was and where I was. It was a very frustrating time for me and I had a lot to learn. I did the only thing I knew to do; I prayed.

Soon after, I was given a message that said, "Bloom where you are planted." I don't know if this is biblical, but this message was for me and I knew it came from God. I started changing my perspective a bit and everything started falling in to place. First I ran into Chuck and shared my spiritual crisis. He invited me to come to Grace and I did. What a wonderful blessing that was. Not only did I feel I belonged, but I was given the opportunity to help with GYRO. That was yet another blessing! I felt I was reaching a very important audience and doing God's work.

The next task would prove a little more challenging. How could I bring God to work? I so desperately wanted to shout about him to everyone I came across. You see, I work at a doctor's office and my boss is Jewish. I feared talking about God would be inappropriate and I certainly did not want to offend anyone, particularly my boss. I decided that I was going to talk about God anyway. What a leap of faith that was!

I started by thanking God out loud for good things that were happening. When a patient opened up to me about a difficulty they were experiencing, I would share about what God was doing in my life. Most recently, I was taking care of a patient who had been experiencing a lot of pain. While giving him therapy, I asked him about his pain levels. His response was that it was not bad at that time, but the night before it was a 26 on the scale of 1-10. I asked him what he did to help the pain to go away. His response was, "I prayed."

I talk to my boss about Jesus all the time now, and I often hear him repeating things I have shared to patients. What I have been finding is that when you open up about your beliefs, others will be more comfortable speaking with you about theirs. It is a great way to help strengthen each other's faith.

I hope this inspires you to speak out. Don't be afraid.