The Value of The One
By Lynelle Frazier, Columbia KY Lighthouse President
Recently, we received a testimony from Lynelle Frazier, President of Columbia, KY Lighthouse. Not only is Lynelle relatively new to Aglow, but she is also the first President of a Lighthouse that will soon be celebrating its second birthday!
I don’t know why, but I struggle when attendee numbers are low. Whenever I plan an event or a party and I think that there’s not going to be a lot of people, I can tend to feel like maybe I should cancel, that maybe nobody’s coming, and that this is a waste of my time, a waste of my effort. This has been an issue that I have struggled with all throughout my life, and one that the Lord is teaching me to see differently through His eyes.
For the past year and a half, I’ve been the leader of a small Christian fellowship group in my town called an Aglow Lighthouse, which is a part of Aglow International. Sometimes we’re planning events and it feels like there isn’t going be many people coming and those same anxious feelings and thoughts of, ‘is this worth it? Am I wasting my time? Am I having an impact? Am I even making a difference?’ start to try to flood my mind again and I struggle with wanting to cancel.
Yesterday we were having an event where we were teaching on the Armor of God. It was on a Saturday morning. Again, it didn’t seem like very many people were planning to come other than the few leaders that are in the group, and as we pulled up to the event location, I again began to doubt if we were going to have an impact on anybody. My daughter Orissa noticed that I was feeling anxious and I asked her to pray for me about that. She reminded me that Jesus cares about ‘the one’ and that He would leave the 99 to go after ‘the one.’ So, we prayed that even if it was just one person that showed up that needed to be there, that needed the message, that needed the fellowship, that needed the prayer, that needed the breakthrough, that all the effort was worth for ‘the one.’
We prayed and just turned the meeting over to the Lord, and I again repented of worrying about the numbers, about worrying about the 99 instead of considering the value of ‘the one.’
In fact, at this meeting, there was only one new person. It had been someone that I had been inviting for almost 2 years and they finally came! There were a couple of other ladies present also, who had been coming regularly, plus our team members, but the one new person was ‘the one.’
At the end of the teaching, we have ministry time and the new lady had a baby who was starting to cry and need her mom’s attention. As she was getting ready to leave, I knew that we needed to pray for her before she left. Orissa confirmed that she felt the Lord said we needed to pray for this mom before she left. So, we asked if we could pray for her and Gigi held the baby and walked around while we prayed for the mom.
It was such a powerful and beautiful time of prayer. The Lord had many words of knowledge for her, and words of wisdom, and even breakthrough and deliverance. God is so kind and so merciful. At the end, she admitted that she often struggles with social anxiety and not wanting to be around other people, and that she even struggled with coming to the meeting that morning, but her husband encouraged her to come and even told her, “Maybe there’s a blessing there for you!”
There definitely was a blessing for her and the Lord knew she was coming and prepared our hearts, and He was there to meet her! I know that she got deliverance and healing deep in her heart, and when she left, her countenance had completely changed and you could just see the spiritual shift in her. You could see the Joy! It was beautiful!
Later that day she posted this on her Facebook page: “I had a life changing/epic experience at an Aglow Christian meeting. God is so wonderful guys. Just. Wow.”
Thank you, Lord, for reminding me of the value of ‘the one.’ What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them goes astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine and go to the mountains to seek the one that is straying? – Matthew 18:12
How often have you felt like Lynette or even the mom? “It won’t matter if I’m there. No one will miss me.” Or, “I’m not enough. God won’t show up.” Jesus truly does care about the one. He cares about YOU. If you have been invited to an Aglow meeting, or if you have been inviting someone to an Aglow meeting, keep on asking, because they will come. And we encourage you to take a courage-filled step like the mom did when her husband encouraged her to go, she packed up her baby and attended the meeting. Not only did God have something special for her, but He also had something special planned for Lynette. God sees. He hears, and He is already at work on your behalf. He places great value on the one!