Many years ago, British missionaries came to Argentina and led my parents to faith in Christ. They, in turn, raised me and my five sisters in the Lord. We have all made personal commitments to Christ. It’s awesome to think about the ongoing spiritual impact that those faithful missionaries had, just on my family alone!

Have you ever thought about going to another country to share your faith? It may be hard to imagine getting out of your comfort zone like that — especially if it means traveling long distances, eating strange foods, and not being able to speak the language. Yet Jesus calls us to spread His Good News all around the world.

In the Gospel of Mark, chapter 16, as Jesus is returning to heaven, He tells his followers to “Go into all the world and preach the Good News to all creation.”

Now, some of us are called to witness in our hometown, while others are called overseas. But how will you know if you don’t seek the Lord’s will for your life? Ask Him to send you wherever He chooses. As you open up your heart to the Lord’s leading, He will use you in ways you could never imagine! There’s nothing more exciting than changed lives, don’t you think?

The apostle Paul wrote in Romans that nothing “will be able to separate us from the love of God.”

Even the most severe pressures and struggles of daily life can’t separate us from the tenderness and compassion of our Heavenly Father. On the contrary, when we feel as though our world is falling apart, God’s power and grace are magnified.

Paul is not saying that we won’t face disappointment, suffering, or conflict in life. But he is saying that no Christian need ever despair. Why? Because we worship the God of all comfort–the God who is sufficient for every pressure of life.

As a missionary once said, “Peace is not the absence of conflict from life but the ability to cope with it.” The God of all comfort can provide that “copeability” in the midst of any crisis.

This ’peace in the midst of the storm’ is something that non-believers can’t experience, because they don’t have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. They don’t have the Holy Spirit strengthening them. That’s why it is such a powerful witness when you and I point people to the Savior of the world, who offers hope, healing, and forgiveness.

Raul Vargas pastors a church in Costa Rica that has more than 10,000 people in attendance each Sunday. His entire extended family also knows Jesus Christ – all 70 of them! But Raul’s life wasn’t always this way. When he was a child, his home was filled with poverty and pain. Raul says his parents fought continuously, and gave little attention to him and his siblings.

Then one day, when he was 21, Raul saw an advertisement for a festival my team and I were having in Costa Rica. Something in his heart told him he had to be there. So Raul came, and when he heard the Gospel message, he realized that what was missing from his life was a relationship with Jesus Christ.

Today, 33 years later, Raul pastors the largest church in Costa Rica. He has reached tens of thousands with the Good News! Isn’t it exciting to see how one life changed can impact so many more? That’s why evangelism is sustainable! The long-term spiritual impact goes much further than the one person you and I may reach.

So, share your faith today. You never know how many future pastors, missionaries, and evangelists are one step away from conversion!

I have a buddy who is a Jewish Christian. He became a believer many years ago when he went to college and he heard a great Jewish evangelist speak. So this man was converted and he was determined to become a missionary. He went back home to collect money for his first mission trip. But suddenly, he became embarrassed and ashamed of letting the Jewish community in his particular city know that he was a follower of Jesus Christ.

He was embarrassed that Jesus was his Savior and his Messiah, so he never truly lived his life for the Lord. He became one of those “closet” Christians we all know. Now, years later, this man is on his death bed, and feels his life has been a waste.

Jesus said in Luke 9:26, “If anyone is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his glory.”

You and I have a choice every day whether or not to be ashamed of Jesus Christ. No one wants to come to the end of his life and think it’s been a waste. But only living a life that counts for Christ will make that life worthwhile.

Are you ashamed of Jesus? If so, ask the Lord to forgive you. It’s never too late to ask for a new beginning with God! He will give you a passion for Him that’s so powerful, it will overflow onto those around you.