Lou Warshaw prayed for 24 years that her husband George would accept Christ as his Lord and Savior.<\/p>\n
After years of refusing to give up on the hope that he would become a Christian, God answered her prayers when, at the age of 101, George made that decision and followed through with believer\u2019s baptism.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe devil kept telling me it wouldn\u2019t happen,\u201d Lou said, admitting to times when her faith was tested. \u201cBut I kept believing God would let it happen. I think I\u2019m still on cloud nine.\u201d<\/p>\n
George\u2019s conversion story began on July 24, 1991, when he and Lou became husband and wife. The two were of different faiths; George was a Jewish non-believer; Lou was a Christian.<\/p>\n
Even so, George attended Calvary Baptist Church in Alexandria, Louisiana, most Sundays with Lou, where she was a member. They sat in the same pew every Sunday for worship and then attended a Bible study class.<\/p>\n
Lou and other friends never pushed their faith on George through the years but showed him Christian love and prayed that he would come to know Christ.<\/p>\n
In recent months, George had become unable to continue attending Calvary or even living at his residence with Lou, so he went into the Veterans Affairs Nursing Home in nearby Pineville but still remained in constant contact with Calvary members and staff.
\nIn late June, questions he asked about the Christian faith were more frequent and, on July 10, 2015, George asked David Boothe, his longtime Sunday School teacher, to visit him.<\/p>\n
Boothe said the conversation \u201cmoved to that of denomination and [Lou] and I both explained to him that being a member of a denomination doesn\u2019t mean anything as far as a relationship with God.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe told him you have to get your relationship with God straightened out, and the way you do that is trusting in God. We talked some more and he said he wanted to accept Christ.\u201d<\/p>\n
Three weeks later, Lou was at the VA Nursing Home for a moment flowing from her intercession for George. Surrounded by friends and family who had prayed and never given up hope that he would accept Christ, George was baptized.<\/p>\n
Since he was too weak to undergo baptism by immersion, Boothe and Calvary pastor David Brooks jointly baptized George using water from the Jordan River that Brooks had collected during a trip to the Holy Land.<\/p>\n
Brooks described Lou is a perfect example of a Christ-like follower who obeys Christ\u2019s commandments even when the situation seems hopeless.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe prayed for him for years and lived out an exceptional Christian life in front of him,\u201d Brooks said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is a great lesson to be persistent in praying for the salvation of anyone and witnessing to them. And never underestimate living a Christ-like life 24-7 in front of your family members. You never know the impact your life will have on them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Since his conversion and baptism, Lou and George read the Bible when they are together during her visits at the nursing home.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe can\u2019t see well anymore, so I read him the Bible for a long time when I\u2019m at the nursing home with him,\u201d Lou said. \u201cI really didn\u2019t know he would love to hear the Bible as much as he does. It\u2019s like he has a hunger for it.\u201d<\/p>\n
George\u2019s baptism portrays a lesson Lou for Christians who have witnessed to a non-believer for many years: \u201cKeep praying and believe God will answer your prayers.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cJust stay with it,\u201d she said. \u201cGod\u2019s time is not our time. When the time is right, He will answer your prayer.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Lou Warshaw prayed for 24 years that her husband George would accept Christ as his Lord and Savior. After years of refusing to give up on the hope that he would become a Christian, God answered her prayers when, at the age of 101, George made that decision and followed through with believer\u2019s baptism. \u201cThe […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[391,1850,2090,3831],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6197"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6197"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6197\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6197"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6197"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6197"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}