To Be Shy or Not to Be!

I remember as a four year old, someone stating, “You must be the shy one.” As a four year old who was clinging to my mother’s skirt I was horrified. Why? Maybe I just didn’t know what it meant. But the question comes up, Is it OK to be shy? As a very sensitive and shy girl this is a very important question to me.  A pastor once said that those who are shy and let it get in the way of sharing the Gospel with those around us are just plain selfish. At the time I wanted to disregard his statement since the man who was speaking was an extremely “friendly” person. But it made me wonder, When I let my shyness get in the way of sharing the gospel, am I disobeying God’s Word?  Mark 16:15 says, “And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.” According to this verse God says “GO” He’s not saying that “if you are shy don’t worry about it, let those who are ‘friendly’ do it.” NO it is a command for all of us. And this is just one verse from the Bible. Every time we disobey a command from the Bible we are sinning. I’m not saying that I’m perfect in fact I’m far from perfect (as Ashlyn could bear witness every time I say we should talk to this person and then I push her forward and let her do the honors.) But it should be something that we are working on. Sometimes I feel like I’m doing a “hit and run” job. I shove a track at them and tell them to read it, and then I run.  I’m always amazed at what the Lord does when you are least expecting it. Last Saturday Sara and I were knocking on doors and I had just told Sara that IT WAS HER TURN, when this man came to the door. So Sara starts telling him that we are from Light House Baptist Church…and he asks, “What are the distinctive of Baptists?” Well Sara was at a lost so she turned her big brown eyes on me which kind of let me know that she needed some help. Thankfully I’m in the middle of taking Baptist Polity from Pastor Rains. That doesn’t mean I gave this man the whole BAPTIST acrostic, but I did remember Saved, Baptism, Church Membership and got to share with him what Salvation means. Even though I didn’t get the chance to lead him to the Lord he heard and has a Gospel tract which Lord willing he will read.  And just to prove how shy I am I didn't even get his name.

By Emily Swain