Battle Ground
A little old lady once told a story to her year one Scripture class of a woman in war time whom God called to rescue a group of orphan children. She took them on a perilous journey, risking her own life until finally bringing the children to a place of safety. The teacher concluded her story with the gentle words “And you know, one day God might call you to do something for him too.”
Those words stayed with Karin Trott over the following years and she often pondered in her heart if it might really be true for her.
But there was a spiritual battle going on and Satan wasn’t going to give up easily. As a bored teenager, Karin dabbled in witchcraft, palmistry and tarot cards, even though she knew the supernatural was real and scary. She comforted herself with the fact she was only into ‘white’ magic and didn’t join in with the ‘black’ magic her friends used to blatantly defy and disrespect God. But still, she was aware of another presence growing within her, which threatened to take over.
During this time at High School, a Canadian guy came to speak to the students, with Bible in hand. Karin and her friends rolled their eyes and reluctantly sat to listen. He had an amazing conversion from a life of drugs, wild women, extreme wealth and corruption. When he spoke, the Holy Spirit was with him and Karin thought “I want what this guy has.” At one point he declared that some of the students had "problems with Satanism" and Karin felt him looking right at her. In that moment, she knew she needed to stop doing witchcraft. She went home and put all her candles and witchcraft tools away, never to be used again. Karin was one step closer to God, but the battle was not yet won.
Karin’s late teenage years were spent searching for something to fill the emptiness. She tried everything from Buddhism, night clubs, ying and yang, macrobiotic diets, cigarettes and yoga. But she found all these avenues were empty at the end.
One day, when Karin was twenty, she bumped into a girl called Anneli who she used to know at school as a swearing, drinking, hard core type. Anneli was patiently waiting for a friend at the shops and she had a new glow about her. She told Karin that she had met Jesus and he was the "best boyfriend in the world" when you gave your whole life to him. Karin left feeling unsettled but Anneli’s words kept resonating within her.
Three weeks later Karin was surprised to bump into Anneli again! Anneli didn’t seem surprised – she knew it was a ‘God appointment’. This began a friendship where Anneli regularly shared the Bible with Karin and witnessed to her. Karin loved listening to Anneli as Jesus was alive for her and it spoke to the lonely, empty place she had been crying out to fill. Anneli challenged Karin to destroy everything from the occult and give her whole life over to Jesus. Karin realised that she had truly been playing in the devil’s playground and set about burning all her witchcraft gear in the backyard incinerator.
It was a short time later when she felt the presence of God right there with her. She remembered the words of her Scripture teacher “One day God might call you” and she wondered "is this it?" With Jesus close, Karin gave her whole life to him. When she awoke the next day she felt so happy! The world was good and the empty place was filled at last.
She expected that perhaps the lonely place would return a month or so down the track as it had with all the other things she had tried. But it didn’t and Karin experienced answers to her prayers that solidified and grew her new faith. Many years on, Karin has served God faithfully and continues to follow his guiding, step by step and day by day.
God’s hand has been on Karin from her earliest years in that year one Scripture class. Many people were used by God to bring her to the point of conversion and he has been faithful despite her many futile attempts to replace him. So be encouraged as you share your faith through Scripture teaching, friendship or ministry. Perhaps you wonder "is it worth it? Is anybody listening?" Like that little old lady so many years ago, you just might say the God-given words that resonate with someone and ultimately point them to salvation.
