Working as a conference Bible worker in Maine, I find that knocking on doors can sometimes be challenging and even discouraging. At the end of one such day, a door opened and there stood a lady named Brenda with a puzzled look on her face. I invited her to have Bible studies, and without hesitating she said, “Yes!” Only after several weeks did she share with me that half an hour before my arrival, she had prepared to end her life by consuming poison. I was awed and grateful to Jesus for sending me to her house “for such a time as this!”
My time at Hartland College was a work of heart preparation for my Master’s service. The Bible classes, farm work, and various outreaches shaped my life to help me value souls who are dying. As I prepared for internship, I looked forward to applying the principles which I learned from my Bible classes and outreach experiences.
Interestingly, I had not even planned to do my pastoral internship in Maine, but my plans fell through, and the Lord opened the door for me to work in the Mt. Blue District with Pastor Don Ball, a 2005 Hartland graduate. Now I see more clearly the truth of this statement: “Often our plans fail that God’s plans for us may succeed.”1
Brenda and I studied the Bible together for about eight months, and as she discovered the amazing love of God, her suicidal thoughts completely disappeared. She also has a whole new concept of what life is all about. Her love for the Bible has led her to embrace Jesus as her Lord and Savior and to accept the teachings of Adventism. She was baptized this August with another Bible study contact.
My calling is to win souls for Jesus, and experiences like this assure me that God has called me to this work. I do not know where the Lord will lead me after my graduation, but like Paul I can truly say, “And He said unto me, ‘My grace is sufficient for thee: for My strength is made perfect in weakness.’ Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” 2 Corinthians 12:9.
1 Ellen G. White, Ministry of Healing, p. 473