Georgie and her husband Oscar live in Spain and translate some of our writings into Spanish, their native language. Recently, Oscar translated a book I wrote for GES about my daughter Elisabeth. In the book, I wrote about what the Free Grace message can do for people going through hard times. I also tried to give a clear gospel message of grace for any unbeliever who might read the book.

Oscar and Georgie have an old family acquaintance named Nati who is going through some difficult times physically. She is an unbeliever. They often visit her in a nursing home. On a recent visit, Georgie gave Nati, also a native Spanish speaker, a copy of the book. She sent me this email:

This email is about our morning with Nati. We visited her at the nursing home and spent about 3 hours with her.

She was so happy to see us! 

For the first 10 minutes, we listened to her complain about what was happening at the nursing home; she is miserable there. The poor woman was devastated and spent the last two-and-a-half months in bed.

After those 10 minutes, we gave her the book. And just like that, she stopped talking, looked at the book, and started reading it! I looked at Óscar; he looked at me, and we said nothing. She kept reading for about 20 minutes without a word. We interrupted her to talk briefly about the book and explain that we knew the author and Elisabeth’s little sister. 

We told her that you were praying for her and that some people around the world knew about her situation, and that we were praying for her. She became emotional like the other day and grabbed my hand again. She asked me to help her pray because she insisted she didn’t know how.

We tried to explain to her that she doesn’t have to say some magic prayer and that she should ask God whatever she wants, just like talking to Him. She insisted that she didn’t know how to do that, so I suggested that she pray to God for guidance on how to pray.

There was a before and after. For the first 10 minutes, she was focused on things that were troubling her, but after reading a few pages of the book, she became receptive to the Word of God. Oscar and I could share the gospel with her and explain things she didn’t know about the Bible. We also mentioned several of the things she will find in the book just to create a bit of anticipation.

I tell you this story as an encouragement. I never imagined that a person who doesn’t speak English could hear the message of grace through a book that I wrote in English about my daughter. I had no idea that Oscar would do what he did, and that it could be used in this manner on another continent.

Many of you support GES through various means. It is exciting to know that God is sovereign and that He is able to work in ways we would not even consider.

Thanks for all you do. Because of that, Nati, in a nursing home in Spain, is able to hear the offer of eternal life as a free gift by faith alone. Hopefully, the method by which she hears that message will be one she can relate to in the midst of her physical suffering.

Maybe we will see Nati in the kingdom. One thing is certain. Our promotion of the message of grace is not in vain. God uses all of your labors for His glory.