The Power of A Witness

A couple of weeks ago I had the privilege of seeing old friends at a reunion. It was not a high school or  ‘family reunion’, as in a connection by virtue of a natural bloodline, but we are family nonetheless. People who were members of the church where I grew up came from across the nation for a one-day event, and we had a wonderful time.

During those bygone days, they were all saved and I was the rebel, so it was sure nice to not only see them again after 40 years, but to see them through the eyes of God’s grace.

Heritage is a glorious thing and not something to be cast aside like a worn or outdated tennis shoe. It means something, and I am grateful for those who showed me the Way. Being with them and seeing their faces brought a flood of memories, and all of it good.

When the day was done, and my family members were rehearsing the events of the day, one of my brothers shared a conversation he had with Fred Wilson. Fred is a pastor, and we hadn’t seen him in what seems like forever.

Richard and Fred were discussing the connection that our families share, and the story goes like this…

It begins with a little girl, born February 19, 1898, the eldest of six children. Her name is Sophia Prieur, and she had two sisters (Zelia and Mary), and three brothers (Joe, Richard, and Charley).

At the tender age of nine Sophie’s mother died, and her father remarried three months later...the 19 year old babysitter no less.

Nine year old Sophie was forced to quit school and help take care of the family. Her story is one of a hard life, and I know it well…Sophie was my grandmother. Grandma would sit and relate her life history for hours on end, and she never seemed to grow tired of telling it. I know I never grew weary of hearing it.

Her family were French-Canadian and Catholic, but they were not what some would describe as ‘good Catholics’, meaning, though baptized as babies, they were not especially religious.

I don’t remember hearing too much about that, but I clearly remember Grandma describing how she came into Holiness, and again, it was a story that she loved to share.

You wouldn’t look at her and think that she was great. She never taught a Sunday School class and only had a third grade education, yet she knew the most important thing anyone can know…she knew who Jesus is and the importance of walking carefully before Him.

In relating these stories to us, she was instilling a love for truth and heritage, though I am sure that she never realized it. When she passed away, she did not have the riches of this world to leave us. However, Grandma bequeathed to us the greatest inheritance of all…she left us the Word.

None of our aunts and uncles on my dad’s side were ever saved, or their children, but all of Sophie’s grandchildren have been baptized in Jesus Name and Spirit filled, and three are preaching the gospel.

Eleven of her sixteen great grandchildren have also followed in this Way, and there are now six great-great grandchildren…one great-great grand was just baptized a few weeks ago, 7 year old Rylee.

Now, for how Grandma’s life story relates to Fred Wilson…

Grandma’s youngest brother, Charley, had a neighbor by the name of Johnny Wilson, Fred‘s dad. It was the late 1940’s and Johnny and his family came 'North' (I assume because of the factory jobs).

One day Uncle Charley, Johnny, and Johnny’s brother in law, Barrett Burnett, were talking about church and all that it involves. Uncle Charley told them that he didn’t go, but his sister went to a Sanctified church, and that she was the one they needed to speak to about this.

They all went to meet Grandma, she invited them to church, and there they remained for many years. Their families grew, giving their lives to the Lord and His service.

Along with Fred, Barrett’s son and Fred’s cousin, Ron Burnett, is a minister of the gospel.

I wonder where we would be if she had not shared her story with us? What if she had not witnessed to her unsaved brother about the Lord Jesus? Would any one in the Burnett/Wilson families be saved today? Perhaps, but who knows and who can really say?

What is certain is that she told it, and in doing so, she changed the destiny of many, many people. Only eternity will reveal the lives that have been redeemed because of a little lady who loved to tell a story.

And so it was that in a pavilion in Flushing Park, on an extremely hot August afternoon, two preachers were once again repeating this story.

My brother, Richard, told Fred that the strangest part of the story is that our Uncle Charley never came to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. Grandma’s story impacted him enough that he knew where to send others, yet he never gave his life to the Lord.

Brother Fred said, “That is the power of a witness!”

Those words have wrung in my spirit since I heard them…The power of a witness.

When I think about witnessing, the word expectation comes to mind. Grandma shared the Good News with her brother and his wife with the expectation that they would respond. And I believe that that was the Lord’s expectation, as well, for He desires that all men come to repentance.

But above and beyond our limited expectations, the Lord’s view is great. He sees the whole, while we see through eyes of us four and no more. So it was that God saw farther down the road than Charley and Jenny Prieur to a world impacted by hearing His Word.

I do not believe in coincidence, but I do believe in divine arrangements. That is why I can say with surety that it wasn’t by chance Johnny and Barrett brought their families to Michigan, nor was it luck that Johnny and Uncle Charley were neighbors.

It was the Word of God manifested before their eyes….

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.

For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater:

So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it (Isaiah 55:8-9).

The testimony of a sister to a brother carried tremendous weight in the Spiritual realm, and still does. The power of a witness reached past a third grade education and the unrepentant heart of a brother, and did not return again void. In it’s wake it found fertile ground in which to grow and produce much fruit.

Uncle Charley was a believer…an unsaved believer. Today we link believers as Christians, all in the same chain, but many people believe without ever coming to repentance. It is true that belief denotes an action, but my uncle did respond, just not in the manner my grandmother expected.

His action to the testimony he saw and believed first hand to be real was to share it. When questioned about a church, Uncle Charley did not fall back in silence, but pointed to the Cross.

That is the power of a witness. It will cause even the unrepentant to say, "I know there is a Way..."

We can't be moved by their seemingly lack of interest, for God sees the end from the beginning. We may look at this person or that one and think that they would be a good soldier for the Lord…“If they just heard the Word!” But the truth of the matter…God sees the heart and the final outcome.

That is why it is so important that we not neglect to witness of His saving grace, for we never know whom the Lord will use to carry the Gospel. That He used a stammering little Frenchman in such a marvelous way speaks to the power of the Word.

And so we have it…

A little lady with a testimony touched countless lives, and never knew it. She thought her life was unimportant and no one would remember her after she was gone. But she had a testimony…

A little man believed the testimony, but never responded in faith for himself. For whatever reason, he could not or would not come to salvation. But he shared the testimony…

Two men took the Word presented to them and gave it to their families. Today their descendants are sharing the truth of God’s grace and mercy…and the testimony never ends.

This is the power of a witness!