July- September
Those who work for God will meet with discouragement, but the promise is always theirs: ‘Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world’ (Matthew 28:20). God will give a most wonderful experience to those who will say: ‘I believe Thy promise; I will not fail nor become discouraged” (Testimonies, vol. 6, pp. 335, 336).
“You know, if you don’t have enough businesses for me to canvass today, I don’t mind doing houses,” I hinted to my leaders on the way to the section of town in which we were going to work. (I actually was hoping, however, that they would take me to do houses. Businesses were harder for me.) The morning had kind of started on a bad note. I had awoken with a start much past the time I had meant to get up. In the kitchen about 35 minutes later to get breakfast ready for a group of hungry young people, I realized that I had forgotten to take the bread out of the freezer the night before, and that the lettuce for the salad had gone bad in our malfunctioning refrigerator. With a quick change of the menu and a rushed breakfast preparation time, by the time breakfast was over, I felt like I had already put in a day’s worth of work.
The morning circumstances hadn’t helped how I felt about canvassing in the afternoon. I was thinking, “Lord, I am kind of tired of canvassing businesses. The people are often more in a hurry, it takes more courage to walk into a place and face many people, rather than knock on a door, where maybe one person will answer. And I am not even getting very many books out in businesses anymore. It just seems like too much work for the returns I am getting.”
I suppose I was trying to reason that the gospel commission of going “into all the world to preach the gospel to every creature” didn’t include businesses, but God was about to teach me a lesson.
So guess where my leader dropped me off that afternoon. Of course, businesses! “Lord, I know you can make this a blessing. Give me a smile for my face. I need energy and cheerfulness. Help me to reach people today,” I prayed.
I guess I was expecting God to work a miracle in the first business, but I was met with kind rejection after rejection. Soon, however, a few books went out—one here, a couple there, three there. I was beginning to feel more encouraged and energetic, especially with a vibrant leader working with me a little while.
When we reached the end of the section of businesses that we were told to work, and radioed the leader for pick-up, he told us to keep going. All I saw were trees, grass, and weeds, but we kept walking, along the road through the dusty grass, and soon came upon more businesses.
We almost passed a huge building, thinking it was just a drive-thru bank, when we realized it wasn’t. The lady inside was very kind, but was sorry she couldn’t do anything, because of the bank rules. She did inform us that there were more businesses upstairs, and told us how to get up there. “Should we give it a try?” With only a few minutes until lunch pick-up time we decided to give it a try—it wouldn’t hurt.
Finding the door the kind lady had told us about, we took the elevator up to the 2nd floor. “Where do I start?” I thought. My leader had to quickly go, and here I was left in front of closed double doors that apparently led to an office of some sort. As I pressed the button for service, a lady came on over the intercom. “Hi,” I said, “My name is Kyla…” Oh no, I had been pressing the button while I was talking. “Sorry about that!” and I started all over again. “I am a student working through a Christian school on a special scholarship project, and I promise I’ll be real quick.” “Sure, go ahead and pull the door,” a kind voice replied.
As I stepped in, feeling a little small for my ignorance on how to use an intercom, the smiling lady behind the desk greeted me. I reintroduced myself to Connie, and showed her what I was doing. As I explained the books to her she began telling me how she and her husband had just been talking about how they needed to get back to church! She could not financially afford to buy my books, but as I shared with her how I have never regretted investing in these books myself because of the difference they have made in my spiritual life, she decided to trust God that He would provide. She purchased 6 of my books! Praise the Lord!
“Lord, forgive me for complaining about businesses!” I prayed. What if I had given up? What if I had just started on the other side of the hall? I never would have met Connie, a soul searching after God.
The Lord had to continually remind me this summer that He could and would abundantly bless me if I would only remember not to allow myself to be discouraged.
About halfway through the summer I began to be concerned. My sales were going down, and I couldn’t figure out why. If it was just the area I was in, that was fine! But if I was doing something wrong, I wanted to know what it was, and change it!
As my leader and I talked about it before she dropped me off to work one day, we decided to pray about it. God knows, and He is the only One that can make a difference. I felt a confidence that God could and would bless, somehow.
After the first businesses I got mostly rejection, after rejection, after rejection. My leader, after working with me for a little while, assured me I was doing fine! “All right, Lord, I’ll keep working!”
When my leader dropped me somewhere else after I finished that section, she told me I could be my own leader, meaning, I was the only one doing businesses and so I could do what I thought best and just let her know where I was when I called.
I quickly noticed a “Steak ’n Shake” over in the far corner of the section I was working, rather out of my way. As much as I tried, I could not shake off the thought to go there. Once there, the manager gave me a donation for Happiness Digest (paperback Steps to Christ). The employee that had lent her the money to give me a donation really liked books, and seemed so interested that I showed her all I had. After I was finished she informed me she had no money and my stomach sank. As I left I smiled and wished them God’s blessings, but outside I wondered why God had sent me all the way over there for “just” a Happiness Digest. It really didn’t help me feel real encouraged about the upcoming businesses, but I knew that one Happiness Digest can make a big difference in a life, and was thankful.
Reminding myself that God will give a most wonderful experience to those who will say “I believe thy promise, I will not fail nor become discouraged,” I continued to work. Now coming to a bar (tavern), I began to have second thoughts about canvassing such a place. Now, I rarely skip businesses, even bars, but I was tired. I thought, “You know, I have heard that some places aren’t good for girls to go into. Maybe I should just skip this one this time.” But I couldn’t pass it. I decided I would peak in and see if there was a lady working inside. Of course there was; there always is!
There in the dimly lit, smoky bar, I shared about books that tell of Jesus’ love, that help relieve stress; books that teach children about Jesus, and books that give hope to hurting families. She kept saying that her daughter is really into these things and decided to get the 5 children’s books for her grandchildren. Since she had showed a general interest in all the books, I went ahead and told her that she could have all of them for just $____. She got all 13 books!
I left that bar with a song in my heart. Of all places, in a bar—one I had thought to skip—she got 13 books! Would I have had all those books if I had just sold some at “Steak ’n Shake”? Is it possible God was saving those books for someone that really needed them and would read them, and I was becoming discouraged? “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts” (Isaiah 55:8, 9).
I am so glad I am not in charge, for God always knows what He is doing. Satan seeks to discourage us by delays, because he doesn’t want us to be prepared for the awesome blessings God has in store, blessings that may mean the salvation of souls. Certainly, “the Lord is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him. It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord” (Lamentations 3:25, 26).
And now “he hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God: many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the Lord” (Psalm 40:3). I never need to be discouraged, because God has great things in store. God will give a most wonderful experience if I will refuse to be discouraged. He’s proven it many times!