EAST ASIA — Crossworld worker Sarah hadn’t seen her friend Charaya in over a year when her name popped up on Sarah’s phone.

I want to get together soon, Charaya’s text read. Can we talk about sharing the good news?

The next day over coffee, Sarah asked, “What’s your question about sharing the gospel?”

“You know my husband is not a believer,” Charaya said. “But lately he’s been attending church with me, and he’s even started praying on his own. A few days ago, he asked me what the good news is. How do I share with him?”

Sarah was ready to launch into the gospel message and break it down into easy-to-remember points when she felt the Holy Spirit nudging her in a different direction.

“Why don’t you tell me the good news right now in your own words,” Sarah suggested.

Charaya gave a brilliant retelling of the gospel, from creation to the cross of Christ.

“You know the gospel already,” Sarah affirmed her friend. “What’s keeping you from sharing this with your husband?”

“I’m afraid I might get it wrong,” Charaya said.

Sarah reassured her friend and encouraged her to go home and share the message with her husband — and she did.

“Do you understand?” Charaya asked her husband, Sann, afterward.

“I do, and I want to believe it,” he said. “But I think I need some more time before I’m ready to give my whole life to Jesus.”

A few days later, Sann got the idea to visit his brother, who has severe health issues.

“I believe Jesus can heal my brother, so I want to pray over him in Jesus’ name for healing,” Sann said to Charaya. “But I need to ask my mom’s permission to come and visit for this purpose.”

So Sann and Charaya went to see Sann’s mom.

Far from refusing, Sann’s mom asked, “What do I need to do to be able to join in praying?”

“Nothing,” Sann said. “You just need to talk to God and believe he hears you. Prayer isn’t magic and we can’t manipulate God, but we can go to him and ask because he loves us.”

Then Sann proceeded to share the same gospel message that Charaya had just shared with him a few days earlier!

Charaya was shocked and overjoyed that her husband, still pondering his own faith, was eager to share the good news with his family.

Would you pray for Sann and his family to take that step of faith and give their lives to Jesus?

The people in this story are real, but some names have been changed to protect their privacy.