By Christy Stenger
December 4, 2006
 
“And I beseech you, brethren, suffer the word of exhortation:  for I have written a letter unto you in few words” (Hebrews 13:22).
 
Have you ever thought about the people Paul touched through his letters but whom he never actually met?  Well, I have lately. My husband is in the Air Force and we move a lot.  Since 1998, we have moved four times.  That is a lot—but that also means a lot of friends.  Sometimes my husband Bob and I feel like evangelists.  Think of how many people we could touch and reach for God in our travels!

 

I love writing letters and getting letters.  However, letter writing has been lost over the years.  People would rather talk on the phone or just not stay in contact at all.  It just takes too much time.  Besides letter writing (snail mail), I do a lot of email, too.  We have friends and family all over the United States.  We also have friends in other countries. Therefore, calling our family and friends on the telephone can get expensive, especially if I were to call Brazil or Panama.  Letter writing, however, is affordable.  One letter I wrote in response to a letter to the editor of a magazine had some wonderful results.

 

Amish Contacts, Apostolic Truths
I get an Amish magazine that encourages women to stay home to raise their families.  I saw a letter to the editor three years ago and felt a need to write a response.  The lady’s name was Maggie and she was having problems at her church that were similar to what we had just been through.  I wrote her about the things we learned.  I also put a little truth of God’s word in there.  I heard from her once and that was all.
 
However, her mother, Marie, wrote me because she liked the letter I had written to her daughter.  I have been writing Marie for three years now. She had not wanted to hear about Pentecost and she still says she does not believe everything that we do.  She says she’s a Christian and not Pentecostal.  Marie was leaning toward the Anabaptist faith when I started writing her.  All I could do was be her friend and pray for God to move in her life.
 
I told Marie about a church near where she lived in West Virginia.  (It’s great to know how to find churches on the Internet.)  She knew some of the people there.  She started going to the church and loved the worship. 
 
She now says that she is not a visitor to the church anymore.  Marie told me that if  the church would stay open seven days a week she would be there.  Marie has now received the Holy Ghost.  God still has a lot of work to do on Marie, but I believe He will finish the work He has begun in her and save her family as well.  She now is involved with God’s work and is bringing people to church.  I can’t wait to see what God will do next!
 
Writing From the Heart
You don’t have to be in the presence of a person to help him or her and show that person the truth.  I have never met Marie but that has not stopped our friendship. 
 
I now have six more pen pals and plan to have more. After all, God still has a work to do through letter writing.

 

 

ninetyandnine.com

 

© 2006, Christy Stenger

 

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Christy Stenger is a mother of three and has been married to Major Robert Stenger for 18 years.  She loves writing, especially to her pen pals.  She and her family move so much that her head sometimes spins so much that she has even forgotten her own phone number.