I knelt down next to my bed in prayer, knowing my connection with Christ was quickly fading and that the time of the end was close—but I was not ready. I prayed hard for the answer to my problems. "What must I do Lord?" I prayed. "How can I be ready for Your coming and spread Your word to others?" Getting no immediate answer, I became discouraged. I knew I had a big problem; the things that would make most believers more excited seemed boring to me.

After continued prayer for the next several days, my friend Seth (whose dad owns an Adventist printing press) came to me with The Passion of Love books that were not sellable, but still had the message. Seth asked if I would help him give them away. By the end of the day I had passed out 50 books, and over 1,000 by the end of the month. I was in shock at how inspiring the experience was.

One of the most encouraging encounters was at a county fair in Hillsdale, Mich. We split up and walked down the rows, each with 100 books. As I walked through the food stands, I noticed two young girls with earrings, tattoos, and very suggestive clothes. "Those two will never take one," I said to myself. "There is no point in trying." But as I started to walk past, my legs suddenly stopped. I couldn’t move them; it seemed as though I had walked into fast-drying cement. I looked again at the two girls, sighed deeply, then turned and walked over to where they were.

"Hello," I began shyly, "my name is Erica Smith. A friend and I are passing out this book, The Passion of Love; this book is about what our Savior went through for us. I was wondering if you would like one?"

"There, I finally said it," I thought to myself.

"Hey!" said the first girl, "That’s the book that goes along with the movie, The Passion of the Christ."

"Oh yeah, I have been wanting this book for a long time, but we never had the money. Thank you," replied the second girl, tears in her eyes.

I smiled, and with tears in my eyes turned and walked away. After that day, I was changed. I just want to say to all of you who are struggling, God can and will help you, but you have to ask through prayer.

Erica Smith is a junior at Battle Creek Academy. She will receive a $100 scholarship since her article was chosen for publication.