Christina, a non-Christian until last week, has been one of the most consistent members of our Bible Study in DeBusk Hall this year. Not only does she come almost every week, but we have seen her wrestle with the Scripture and apply passages tangibly to her life. She was definitely intrigued by what Jesus did and said.

But she had a lot of fears around committing to him. The people in her life who were supposed to be stable sources of love and security as she grew up were most often the opposite. How could she tell that God, who is also said to be loving and stable, wouldn't abandon her? She had also had negative experiences of Christians pressuring her to convert, not being sensitive or sticking with her through the long haul.

Yet she kept seeking after Jesus, I believe because she could feel him prodding at her. Since coming to college she has made decisions about her morals and lifestyles that line up with Jesus's. She has always admired the strong Christian faith of her grandmother and sister.

And she knew she needed what God had to offer. She said as much to me in one of our first one-on-one afternoon coffee chats. She was even willing to say she wanted to believe, she wanted to become a Christian, but fear was holding her back. She couldn't even put a finger on what it was, exactly. She was afraid she would say yes and then God wouldn't be there-- the relationship she wanted would turn out to be false after investing her hope in it. Or, another time, she described it as looking at a door, wanting to open it, but finding it locked.

I responded to this by assuring her that the door wasn't locked-- Jesus doesn't make it hard for us to come to him. I said maybe she was really looking at an unlocked door, not turning the handle for fear of what was on the other side.

I suggested to her that we go through a book on the basics of Christianity, called Why I Am a Christian, by theologian John Stott. She agreed enthusiastically, and we decided to read a chapter a week and discuss it together.

By February 3, after a chapter describing the claims Christ made about himself, she told me she believed that Jesus was the Savior. "Christina, if you believe that, then you're there. That's all you need to follow Jesus," I told her. I explained that it would just require a committment that this would be what her life would be about, and I explained what repentance was. "Do you want that?" I asked.

"I've wanted it for a long time, and now I know there's no reason not to. So yes, I want that," she said.

There's a certain unique joy felt in witnessing the first confession of Christ in a former non-believer. I think God allows us to feel some of that celebration that happens in heaven, some of the joy of the shepherd finding his lost sheep.

Christina and I drove to a park by the river and prayed-- repenting, celebrating, committing. That evening she told five of her closest friends the good news, and is still really excited that she finally took the leap.

Please continue to keep Christina in your prayers. Pray that the small seed of saying yes to Jesus would grow into a strong tree of faith and worship and witness in her life.