Witnessing to the Lost

Today in church we were learning about being witnesses here and now to people that are lost and in grave danger of eternal hell.  I know that isn't "politically correct" these days but it is the truth.  The whole Bible, from beginning to end, is true and God's word never falters.  All that it says has happened or will happen.  How could we refute what it says?  We are just mere mortals, mere humans who don't know the first thing about life and the divine nature of God.  Witnessing to those we don't know is hard but I feel witnessing to those we know and love can be harder.  For some reason, you get comfortable with your friendship and don't want to rock the boat.  You want your friendship to not be filled with uncomfortable moments.  But there are times when you just can't help it.  You may not be ministering to them directly but indirectly as I do with many of my friends.  I am not an "in your face" sort of person.  My outlet and way to get the Word of the Lord out there is by writing.  It is what I love to do and what I feel comfortable doing.  But persecution can happen when you least expect it.  Just this last week, I fell under attack for doing what I love to do.  My views, sayings, and personal witnessing on my Facebook page made someone decide after 8 years of being friends, that they didn't want a friendship anymore.  The reasoning was that they haven't changed and don't want me to make them change.  They felt that I was hanging out and too involved with my "churchy friends" and family.  The cutting out of our friendship happened literally overnight.  It wasn't even a personal, face to face encounter but rather one that involved no words at all.  It hurt to the very core of my being.  It hurt so much that my eyes were puffy from crying last night and I didn't know what to do except call my mom.  (Moms are good for that.)  My mom said now I feel just an inkling of what Jesus felt after Peter denied him.  Or just a microscopic portion of how God feels when we turn our back on Him or sin.  We are in essence rejecting Him.  That really put things into perspective for me.  I know that my friend, in rejecting me, is also rejecting my Lord and Savior.  That really makes me sad and want to all the more pray for her and her family that their hearts will soften towards the Lord and that whatever seed that was planted the years we were friends didn't land on hard rocks but rather fertile land waiting to sprout in His time.  It is so hard to witness because you know that you could be rejected.  But you know it is the most important thing we need to do as believers.  Make sure that no one is left behind at the end of days.  God doesn't want anyone to perish and I pray in my heart of hearts that my friend turns to the light rather than the darkness.  Materialism is their God and I hope and pray everyday that love of Jesus Christ will overcome her and they will be saved.  So it is our duty to witness to everyone.   Just hope that one day you will see faces in Heaven that you touched long ago.  How glorious that day will be.  The smiles will be everlasting!  Praise God!