Never Ashamed

Never Ashamed is a new book by Jews for Jesus missionary Avi Snyder.

You don’t have to be a professional missionary to speak words of compassion and kindness, even as you courageously call people to consider Jesus in the midst of the most difficult situations. Avi Snyder offers personal stories and biblical insights to help you proclaim liberty to whoever God puts in your path. We hope the following excerpt from his book will encourage you to share your faith:

Leslie was twenty-five years old, and she was dying. The doctors had given her about a month to live. I sat at the foot of her bed, and we talked about unimportant matters. Then, she asked, mostly out of courtesy, “So how are things with you?”

I smiled wanly, “Life’s a tempest.”

“Really?” she asked with mock interest. “What tempests are you dealing with?”

“They’re nothing compared to yours,” I said, softly and honestly. “So. How can I be praying for you?”

My question gave her the emotional permission to drop her stoic front. She lowered her head and sobbed deeply. I sat quietly. After a short while, she stared rather sharply at me and asked point blank, “Can your Jesus heal me?”

I thought for a moment. Then I said, “Yes, if He wants to. But that’s such a minor miracle.”

Leslie looked surprised. “How is that a minor miracle?” she asked. “I’m dying.”

But there’s a major miracle that God will always perform whenever we ask.

“It’s a minor miracle because you’re still going to die. Everyone dies. But there’s a major miracle that He’ll always perform whenever we ask.”

“What miracle?”

“He’ll forgive our sins, and He’ll grant us the gift of eternal life.”

I explained the good news. There is hope, and there is rescue if we’ll seize it. God waits for us to acknowledge that we’ve been wrong so that He can forgive and rescue us from the hopelessness to which we’ve succumbed.

“One way or the other, Jesus wants to carry you through this turmoil,” I told Leslie. “If you ask Him to forgive you, He’ll forgive you. He’ll stay with you now, and He’ll bring you to Himself whenever your life ends. If you ask Him to heal you as well, maybe He’ll say yes, and maybe you’ll live another sixty years. Or maybe He’ll say no, and maybe you’ll die in a month. But if you die in a month, I’ll be jealous.”

“Why would you be jealous?”

“Because you’ll get to see Him before I do, and that’s not entirely fair.”

So, Leslie prayed with me. First, we asked the Lord to forgive her, and He did. Then we asked Him to heal her, and He didn’t. She died within the month.

Leslie is a lot happier right now than either you or me. She’s rejoicing in the very presence of the Lord.

No one could offer Leslie any hope. Neither the doctors, nor the nurses, nor the therapists, nor even the rabbi who regularly stopped in to visit patients at the hospital. Friends offered her meaningless platitudes. Doctors wrote her off, and nurses did their best to make her comfortable.

Leslie needed much more.

A biblically provocative testimony offers a genuine word of comfort and a genuine word of hope by declaring a single message: the gospel.

For more stories from Avi, you can purchase the book at j4j.co/neverashamed.