Last year, I started public school at Christ Our Savior Lutheran High School, thinking I would be in a completely Christian setting and everyone would be Christian. Not everyone was, I learned shortly after starting. Thus I was given an opportunity to share my faith with those who didn’t believe.

Sharing my faith wasn’t easy; I found myself constantly feeling discouraged when I didn’t make progress. I prayed about it and about the people I was trying to share the gospel with. I did everything I could think of, and there was no change. That’s when I read Matthew 22:14. It says, “For many are called and few are chosen.” I realized that it isn’t up to me who is saved and who isn’t.

Reading that verse completely changed my way of evangelizing. Instead of trying to get them to understand what is wrong in a lifestyle without God, I started trying to connect with the people I was sharing with. I made many friends and helped people understand how wonderful the Savior of the world, Jesus, is.

I remember one of my friends told me that the reason she started to listen to what I had to say was because she wanted to live the way I lived. She told me she had watched how I treated people and tried to do good in every situation. She wanted to live a life of love just like Jesus. Sometimes showing people the difference that God makes in your life works far more than words ever could.

Not every unbeliever knows what to do with the things they are told by Christians. We tell them, “Love your enemies” or “Trust God” and they won’t always know what that looks like. However, people do watch you and the way you respond and act in different situations. The way you live your life can have a bigger impact than what you say. Remember you are not in charge of who is and isn’t saved; God gets to decide who is chosen. That is a truth I had to remind myself anytime I seemed to make no progress.

I have three things I do when I am trying to share my faith with others. One, I pray for them daily. Two, I connect with them—get to know them and share the truth with them in ways they would understand. And three, I show compassion, because some people are slow learners and won’t understand at first.

I had to learn how to deal with being rejected and ignored when I tried so hard to share the gospel. It left me feeling discouraged and helpless. When I felt like giving up, I prayed about it and reminded myself of this little thought: Evangelism is like fishing. You won’t catch anything if you don’t throw a hook in, and you don’t always catch something either. No matter how hard you try you may not catch anything. But God is always faithful to lift you back up and help you keep trying.

Evangelism is hard and doesn’t always work the way we want it to. There are times when it was really hard to keep trying because nothing really changed. But, along with Jesus’ followers (disciples), He sends His Holy Spirit to be a helper to them. When Jesus found His original disciples, many were fishermen and were lowly and He said to them, “Follow me and I will make you fishers of men” (Matt. 4:19). Jesus promises to be with you every step of the way, no matter what (Heb. 13:5–6). Go out and share your faith boldly knowing that Jesus is there to help you be a fisher of men and a light in the darkness (Isa. 55:11).