Why I changed my screensaver to this picture...

Lately I have felt like the heavens have been silent.  I know all of us have experienced this at one time or another, so I know I am not alone when I say, "God, are you there? Can you hear me?"

For some reason the last few weeks of my life, when I pray I have felt nothing.  I don't understand why and it's been so frustrating to me.  I know that God is still there, but for some reason I have felt so alone.  Then I had an experience that changed me...

The other day while I was at work, I sat down during my lunch break to have something to eat.  The break room was full of other employees.  As I stood up to grab my food, I walked by where a lady was sitting, and I looked down at her phone on the table.  The screensaver picture stopped me--it was a picture of Jesus.  I actually looked back to double check that it was really a picture of Him on her phone, and sure enough it was.

Right then, I heard God say to me, "You need to talk to this lady, she loves Jesus, and you need to talk to her."  I thought to myself, "Oh! There you are God! I've missed this communication."

As luck would have it, almost everyone left the break room except this lady and one other person.  I tried to figure out how to start a conversation about Jesus when I had never met her before.  I worked up the courage and just started talking.

"Um, so I was wondering, was that a picture..." She then looked up and noticed I was trying to talk to her.  At the same time, we both said, "Of the Savior."

I smiled because she instantly welcomed my conversation knowing we were talking about Jesus.  I asked her about the picture and she told me about it.  It was a beautiful picture of Him.  I asked her if she had ever seen another picture of Jesus, drawn by Bette Myers, titled "The Masterpiece".  I've had this picture hung on my wall for the past seventeen years.  It has always been my favorite picture because the artist who drew Him had a near death experience and saw Jesus and was sent back to draw Him.

After I had my uterine rupture and almost died, I myself had my own experience where I stood in His presence and was asked to come back and testify of Him.  Since that experience, I have tried to do all I can and honor what has been asked of me.

When I was talking to this sweet lady about Jesus, I shared with her my experience of being in heaven and being sent back.  I also told her about this blog and the message it brings.  I saw tears in her eyes as I spoke.

Later I found out God had sent me to her that day, as an answer to her prayers.  What I didn't realize was the impact this experience would have on me...I have not stopped thinking about this neat exchange since.

Because of our conversation, a thought came to me just like a light switch turned on, "Why don't I have a picture of Jesus on my phone?  So that every time I swipe to get on my phone, the first thing I see, is His face?"  I have made a promise every week to "always remember Him" and though I try, He hasn't been the one I always remember.

I have been given a second chance at life to come back and testify of Him.  It is so simple.  Because she had a picture of the Savior on her phone, I instantly knew that I could talk to her about Him.  I want others to be able to know this about me as well.  I have now changed my screensaver and my home screen picture on my phone to this picture of Him.  I want to be the kind of person when someone sees my phone, they will know that I will talk about Him.  He is everything to me.  Because of Him, I am here and have been blessed with everything I have.  Knowing I made this promise to Him, it just makes perfect sense to make that small change on my phone.

I recently had a conversation about Him with another coworker and she called me "bold" because I don't hesitate when I speak of Him.  She told me that she wished that she could be more bold.  Why do so many of us hesitate to talk about Him?  Because the world wants us to forget Him, to not acknowledge that everything we have is because of Him.  Most of us are hesitant because we don't know if that conversation will be welcomed or scorned.

To all of you out there who are like me, BE BOLD and testify of Him.  The world needs to know that He is Jesus Christ, our Savior and Redeemer.  To do something so simple like changing the picture on your phone to remind you of Him or to show others that you love Him could change someone else's life, like it did mine.  I will forever have His picture on my phone to remind me that He is always there, that He loves me, and that I love Him!  I look forward to when I get to be in His presence again, and to look into His eyes and know that I did all I could to honor Him.