A New Name in our Loving Lamb’s Book of Life

Written by Mary Naber — Founder & Executive Director of Loving the Wise

February 2026 is the one-year anniversary of Loving the Wise’s Monthly Prayer and God’s gracious faithfulness to answer our petitions!

On Friday, 2/7/25, we met on Zoom to pray for the first time, and we prayed specifically that Jim would receive Jesus as his Lord & Savior.

I met Jim over a year ago as a grumpy man of Jewish origin, who insisted on staying in the dining room (behind us) even as we met regularly in the adjoining activities room. Each Sunday I’d greet him with a “Hi Jim! I’m so happy to see you today!”, and a hug, along with an invitation to push him into the Activities Room with us. 

He’d politely decline and yet listen in to our worship and scripture reading from the dining room. I would always say goodbye to him with a hug as well.

Last Sunday, I was surprised to find him waiting in the activities room. He participated in our singing. When I gave him a hug before leaving, he said over and over, “thank you for coming. Thank you for coming.” Today, Jim was waiting in the activities room again. I sat my chair beside him and we sang “Amazing Grace” and “What a Friend We Have in Jesus.”

I also shared about sin separating us from our Holy and Perfect God, and how in His great love for us, He reached down to us through His Son Jesus, who lived a perfect life and then took on the sins of the world for us on the cross—trading His righteousness for our sins, and then rose again after three days to go to heaven to prepare a place for us! Jim nodded in agreement.

Instead of leading everyone in a prayer for salvation, this time I asked all my friends in attendance to repeat a prayer of repentance and a prayer to receive Jesus into their hearts after me. So I prayed each part, and carefully heard Jim praying along, repeating a confession and declaration of faith and trust in Jesus. As I ended with my hands raised upward, I opened my eyes and Jim’s hands were raised too.

Jim’s eyes and smile had a new radiance. As I hugged him, he whispered, “I love this, I love this.” A tear had formed on the side of his eye.

Jim has remained a faithful participant in our Sunday service over the past year, always with a wide smile of joy. Jim is a redeemed child of God who will continue singing songs of worship to our Loving Lord for eternity in heaven.

Please consider joining us for our Monthly Prayer Zoom or remembering to lift up the Prayer Requests from LTW’s Newsletter! Thank you for your partnership! Thank you God, Jesus & the Holy Spirit for restoring us all for your Kingdom.