EMBRACE Week 3

Weekly Challenge #3, September 28-October 3

Make an intentional connect with a family member who needs Jesus.  If local, invite them to Friend Day and seek to enter into a spiritual conversation by sharing your personal story of how you met Jesus.  If you do not have family, seek to connect with a service provider, inviting them to Friend Day.

Family can be among the toughest of our relationships to navigate.  Our families often know our past and our weaknesses more than anyone else.  They also know how to push our buttons and get us off task.  In some cases, you have shared a lot with family members and they don't want to hear any more about "church" or your "religion".  Let me make some suggestions for dealing with the hard hearted family member.

1.  Make sure that there is no relational barrier that needs to be dealt with.   Is there anything that you need to ask forgiveness for or that you need to let go of and offer forgiveness for in your relationship.   A heart felt "I am sorry" and "I forgive you", will break down barriers that have been built.

2.  Pray for them before and after you share.  Also, keep praying.  You cannot change the hard heart or open the heart that is closed but God can.  You must attempt to keep the relational lines open while sharing truth.

3.  Look for open doors.  God may allow a crisis to take place in their life.  This can be an opportunity to share with them the hope that God can bring.  Brokenness creates the opening for grace.

4.  Be prepared to share your personal story and journey of faith and how you met Jesus.  As you share your story, you can talk about sin, conviction, brokenness, grace, salvation, and healing without sounding like your condemning them, you talking about yourself.  You can always ask them if they have ever felt that way?