片时真理

快吃午饭餐了，队长打电话说他已经在去田纳西州玛丽维尔县市的路上，准备去接靓（人名）。

靓已经很饿了。

她正想待会可以边享用午餐边与学习文字布道的同学们分享上午的事。

这时，她看到一位女士正在一家折扣店的停车场往车里放买来的东西。离吃饭还有一点时间可以用来聊天。

靓带着灿烂的笑容走向那位女士。

“女士你好，”她说。“我叫靓，是学校的工读生。今年夏天，我们正在通过推广家庭价值观来帮助社区。”

靓把手伸进包包里，拿出一本关于教人如何用天然之法使用植物的健康书。她接过书看了看封面。

靓见她不说话，就又拿出一本食谱来问道“你喜欢在家做饭吗？”

然后她给这位女士看了一本灵修书，这是怀爱伦写的一本13章的经典著作《喜乐的泉源》。

她看了看手里的三本书。貌似很有兴趣。

“我觉得你来的不是时候，我没带支票、也没带现金，”她说。

“如果方便的话，我们也可以刷卡”靓说。

“哦，我不想用借记卡，因为我丈夫不喜欢刷卡”女士说。

可她一直拿着那些书，似乎并不想把它们还回去。

接着，靓又拿出几本书，其中有怀爱伦的《历代愿望》和《善恶之争》。在知道这位女士有孩子之后，她又拿出了几本儿童读物。

“这些书都很好，”那位女士说，看样子她实在不知道要哪本好了。

“其实是这样”那位女士最后说；

“我想要把这些书都买下来。”

她说她叫辛蒂，然后以捐款的名义刷卡买下了那些书。之后，靓问，是否可以和她一起祈祷。

“我很愿意祷告，”辛蒂说。

靓祷告说，“亲爱的天父，谢谢祢今日赐给我们的平安，也是祢赐下这完美的契机让我有机会遇见辛蒂，使我们相遇。求祢赦免我们的罪和缺点。谢谢祢保守辛蒂和她的家人在面对一切的事上都得享主的平安直到今日。求上帝能在他们生活中所发生的一切事上赐他们平安与安慰。祈求祢的爱继续环绕他们。如果辛蒂还有未说出来的请求，也求主应允她。帮助她通过耶稣基督找到希望和信心。阿们。”

祷告之后，辛蒂的脸上透出无比的喜悦。她讲述了她的一些经历。她说，在她的家人面临着疾病和死亡时，那是他们一段艰难的时期。现在她正在寻找生命更深层的意义，也想深入的认识上帝。

过了一会儿，靓和其他文字布道生们一起吃午饭，使她的肉体得到了饱足。她祈祷辛蒂也能通过阅读这些书中的真理，来满足她属灵的饥渴。

来源：本文译自《圣工消息》（社会青年季刊）2021年第三季

Morsel Truth

t was nearly lunchtime, and the team leader called to say he was on his way to pick up Niang in Maryville, Tennessee.

Niang was hungry.

She was ready to enjoy her sack lunch while chatting with other student literature evangelists about their experiences that morning.

Then she saw a woman packing groceries into her car in the parking lot of a discount store. There was just enough time to talk to one person before lunch.

Niang approached the woman with a bright smile.

“Hello ma’am,” she said. “My name is Niang, I’m a student working my way through school. This summer we are trying to promote family values and to help the community.”

Niang reached into her bag and pulled out a health book that teaches people how to use plants in their natural form.

The woman accepted the book and glanced at the cover.

Seeing that the woman remained silent, Niang took out a cookbook.

“Do you like to cook at home?”
she asked.

Then she showed the woman a devotional book, a version of Ellen White’s thirteen-chapter classic, Steps to Christ.

The woman looked at the three books in her hands. She seemed to be very interested.

“But you’ve caught me on the wrong day,” the woman said. “I don’t have my checkbook on me, and I don’t have any cash.”

“We can take cards if that is convenient,” Niang said.

“Oh, I don’t want to use my debit card because my husband wouldn’t like that,” the woman said.

But she kept holding onto the books. She did not seem to want to hand them back over.

Niang pulled out several more books, including Ellen White’s The Desire of Ages and The Great Controversy. Learning that the woman had children, she showed several children’s books.

“All of these books are so good,” the woman said.

She did not appear to be able to pick out a book.

“You know what?” the woman said, finally. “I am going to take all these books.”

Introducing herself as Cindy, she used her debit card to give a donation for the books.

After completing the transaction, Niang asked whether she could pray with her.

“I would love to pray,” Cindy said.

“Dear Heavenly Father,” Niang prayed, “Thank You for giving us another day of life and this opportunity to meet Cindy. Your timing is perfect. Forgive us for our sins and shortcomings. Thank You that Cindy and her family are safe from all the things that are going on right now. I pray that You may give them peace and comfort amid all the things going on in their lives. Please continue to embrace them with Your love and presence. If Cindy has any unspoken requests in her heart, please grant them to her. Help her to find hope and trust in you through Jesus Christ. Amen.”

Cindy’s face shone with joy after the prayer. The words spilled out of her mouth. She said her family was going through a difficult time after experiencing illness and death. She was searching for a deeper meaning in life and wanted to know more about God.

A short time later, Niang satisfied her physical hunger over lunch with the other student literature evangelists. She prayed that Cindy would satisfy her spiritual hunger through the truth that she finds in the books.

Please find the original article at: https://am.adventistmission.org/mqa21q3-28