My Two Yeses at Fourteen: When I was fourteen years old, I completed my first lesson in the PCEA church and was asked two life-changing questions. Would I take the Word of God to all people? Would I give my resources—my indo—to help spread that Word? I answered yes to both questions. I did not yet understand the magnitude of those two yeses, but God saw the entire journey ahead.
A Testimony of God’s Faithfulness Through the Gates of Life
When I was fourteen years old, I completed my first lesson in the PCEA church. At the end of the lesson, I was asked two important questions.
The first question was:
“Will you take the Word of God to all people?”
I answered:
“Yes.”
The second question was:
“Will you give your resources—your indo—to help spread the Word of God?”
Again, I answered:
“Yes.”
At fourteen years of age, I did not understand the magnitude or the dimensions of those two answers. I did not know how far they would carry me. I did not know how many years, places, people, struggles, changes, and gates of life were hidden inside those two simple words.
I only knew that I loved Jesus Christ and wanted to follow Him.
Looking back now, while walking in my eighty-fourth year, I can see that God took my two small yeses seriously.
The first yes was a promise that I would carry His Word to other people.
The second yes was a promise that I would give what He placed in my hands to help spread that Word.
At fourteen, I may have thought that resources meant money alone. Today, I understand that my indo includes much more.
My resources include my faith, my testimony, my voice, my time, my sermons, my life experiences, my suffering, my education, my willingness to learn, my telephone, the internet, and the knowledge I am now receiving through AI technology.
AI is not the message.
Technology is not the gospel.
It is only a tool placed in my hands.
The Word of God is the message, and Jesus Christ remains the center.
For many years, I carried the gospel through the roads available to me at that time. I shared it through family life, church ministry, preaching, teaching, prayer, personal conversations, and written messages.
Then, in my eighty-fourth-year journey, another gate opened.
I learned how to take a sermon I had written in 2016 and post it on Facebook, YouTube, and WhatsApp.
To some people, these may appear to be only three social-media posts.
To me, they were much more.
They were evidence that the two answers I gave at fourteen years of age were still alive.
Facebook carried the message to readers.
YouTube preserved the message for people today and for future generations.
WhatsApp carried it directly into homes, families, friendships, and communities.
One sermon opened three new roads.
One source became one organized storehouse with many roads leading toward many homes.
At fourteen, Jesus gave me the message.
At eighty-three, while walking toward eighty-four, He helped me learn new technology to carry that message farther.
My age did not silence my voice.
God used my age, wisdom, faith, experience, and willingness to learn to enlarge that voice.
Throughout my life, I have passed through many gates. Some were small gates. Some were narrow. Some were painful. Some appeared closed. Some required patience, courage, prayer, humility, or endurance.
There were gates of childhood, family, marriage, motherhood, migration, education, work, ministry, widowhood, aging, illness, loss, renewal, and new beginnings.
At times, I may not have understood why a certain gate stood before me. Yet God continued journeying with me.
Every gate became part of the road.
Every road carried me forward.
Every experience added something to the indo that God would later use.
My life has taught me that we pass through many gates of different sizes while we live on this earth. We do not pass through them alone. Jesus walks with us through each one.
All the small gates of life prepare us for the greatest gate ahead—the gate through which, by faith in Jesus Christ, we enter our celestial home with God.
Jesus said:
“I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved.”
— John 10:9, KJV
He is not only the One who meets us at the final gate.
He is the One who journeys with us through every gate before it.
He was with me when I said yes at fourteen.
He was with me through the gates of my childhood and adult life.
He was with me when I preached, taught, served, suffered, learned, and began again.
He was with me when I posted the gospel through Facebook, YouTube, and WhatsApp.
And I trust Him to remain with me until I pass through the final major gate into God’s eternal home.
Today, I understand my two yeses more clearly.
My first yes meant:
“Lord, I will take Your Word to all people.”
My second yes meant:
“Lord, I will give what You place in my hands to help spread Your Word.”
I did not understand the full meaning at fourteen, but God understood.
He saw the whole journey before I began walking it.
He saw every gate.
He saw every resource.
He saw every sermon.
He saw every person who might one day read, hear, or receive the message.
He also saw the new technology that would become available many decades later.
What I once answered by faith, God has continued to fulfill by grace.
Therefore, I give all glory to God.
I am also grateful that He gave me the courage to learn, follow instructions, and take action. I did not only receive knowledge about posting the gospel. I used that knowledge and published the message.
My prayer is:
May the Word of God reach many homes.
May it bless God’s people.
May families come to know Jesus Christ.
May those passing through difficult gates discover that they are not alone.
May every road opened by my testimony, sermons, songs, books, videos, messages, and technology lead people toward the saving love of Jesus Christ.
I said yes at fourteen.
I am still saying yes while walking in my eighty-fourth year.
And by the grace of God, I will continue saying yes until Jesus leads me through the final gate into my celestial home with God.To God be all the glory. Amen.
May the wisdom you find here take root in your heart and bear fruit in your home and in generations to come.
With gratitude and hope,
Grace N. Gatungo-Njiraini™
Founder | The Diaspora Oasis LLC™
https://diasporaoasiswisdom.com
YouTube: Diaspora Oasis Wisdom