It was the end of a long day.
We had just left a literacy class located in a slum in South Central India. I was overwhelmed at what God had just done in that small room.
It was after 10 p.m. It was still over 100 degrees.
I wish I could describe the traffic we were in, but a giant game of Chicken doesn’t accurately define the thousands of pushing, shoving match of cars, buses and scooters.
“Is it possible that we could go one more place?” one of the MI team asked.
He had a friend whose wife was ill. She was at the hospital undergoing chemo and would be home in 45 minutes. It meant that our night would extend two hours, but as a cancer survivor I knew how desperately I needed encouragement years earlier.
“Sure,” I said.
My friend and Proverbs 31 Ministries sister and team mate, Lynn Cowell, instantly agreed.
We finally made our way to her apartment. We walked through the door. She sat in a chair, weak. She wore a night gown, a sea green scarf covering her hair, nearly all gone.
I sat across from her and told her my story. How I once was diagnosed. How I needed to talk to someone who had been through it. How God loved me and my family through one of the most fearful and hardest parts of my life.
She stared at my face intently.
“Are you Suzie Eller?” she asked.
Seriously. Did she just ask that?
“Yes. How do you know that?”
She put her hand to her mouth as the tears came. She told us that she read the Encouragement for Today devotions from P31 Ministries every day. She said that we had become friends, like sitting together over tea, as we loved Jesus together.
In a nation where Christianity is rife with subtle and overt persecution, this courageous woman loved Jesus.
She started naming members of the team, those who wrote. She looked over at Lynn and said, “You’re Lynn Cowell.”
She continued.
“I have often prayed that I could come to the United States and thank my friends.” She shook her head as more tears came. “How is it possible that God brought you to my front door in my lowest hour?”
The odds of meeting this women on this trip was 1 in 1.2 billion.
How big is God?
SO BIG.
How personal is God?
SO PERSONAL.
I shared with you yesterday how I struggled with leaving the U.S. at an “inconvenient” time because of a book launch. God spoke to me that day through my new friend.
Following Jesus isn’t about our agenda. It’s not about whether it’s convenient. It’s discovering His heartbeat. It’s loving people. It’s seeing how He works, and how stepping into His footsteps leads us from the natural to the supernatural.
I still fall apart when I think of this moment.
God loved her so much that He stirred a few of us 8,000 miles away to come to India. We had a plan. We had a purpose, but so did He.
Her name is etched on the palm of His hand. He wanted to encourage this beautiful, strong woman of faith. I got to be a small part of that all because I whispered yes, when everything inside of me was saying no.
That’s the miracle I witnessed.
I’ve said this a hundred times and you’ll hear me saying it again.
I’m less concerned about a book, than I am a movement of thousands of women across the nation following Jesus wherever He leads.
Say yes, friends. Let’s say yes together! Let’s discover how big and how personal our Savior is, and step into his footsteps and see where that takes us.
Let’s move beyond faith that is small or limited to live as a 13th disciple in a modern world, and believe BIG in who He is.
Suzie
If you’ve already bought a copy of Come With Me: Discovering the Beauty of Following Where He Leads, will you consider buying one for a friend, a seeker, your church or local library, a book to leave in a public place with a personal note of encouragement, or to invest in a ministry?
Today there’s a great sale going on at Barnes and Noble. It’s $8.56 (instead of $14.99 retail). I personally love a sale. ♥ I hope you do too! ~ Suzie
Suzie, I am wrecked. What a beautiful, powerful, INCREDIBLE story of God’s faithfulness. Oh, I love how He cares about the smallest details. I love how He intricately places things into motion, long before we even come near them. This spoke loudly, “Following Jesus isn’t about our agenda. It’s not about whether it’s convenient. It’s discovering His heartbeat. It’s loving people. It’s seeing how He works, and how stepping into His footsteps leads us from the natural to the supernatural.”
My goodness, yes. Thank you, Suzie, for allowing God to do a work in you that so brightly radiates and spills over onto the world around you. I am blessed by these words tonight. I needed this story tonight. Thank you!
Only our God could write a story like His story.
Amazed He allows us to be a part of it.
Beautiful! God’s plans are always SO MUCH better than ours. Thank you, Suzie & Lynn for your faithfulness to His leading. You spur the rest of us on to His plans, as well. God bless you, keep you, & bring you home safely.❤
So powerful – your story – God’s plan brought me to tears. Thank you for your example Suzie, all that you do and the beautiful, godly woman you are. So Blessed
Oh Suzie! What a beautiful story of God’s Perfect Timing. I am always so inspired by stories like this that just prove even more of how He is working in all lives at all times! Wow! Thank you for sharing this. This is just another story I can use when I am telling people about your book, to show that this truly is so much more than a book! It is a movement! ❤
I love so many things about this story and am so thankful you shared it. My spirit inside is quaking and I don’t know why or how to describe it. It feels like a fire that has been stirred and given more oxygen and made stronger.
I am beyond stunned at how personal God is. God who is so vast like the unless wind that moves over oceans and stirs trees, also brushes up against my cheek. He is so vast, powerful and yet cares in such a personal way. I am amazed that God orchestrated your trip, the people you met and a woman’s desire to meet the women who encourage and inspire her walk with God. He cares this much?
I love your paragraph “Following Jesus isn’t about our agenda. It’s not about whether it’s convenient. It’s discovering His heartbeat. It’s about loving people. It’s seeing how He works, and how stepping into His footsteps leads us from the natural to the supernatural.” This isn’t just insightful; its revolutionary.
You make following Jesus a contagious thing, Suzie.
This story made me cry. Shared with my husband and daughter. Sharing on Facebook today.
When God plans, He plans BIG! Only God, only God.
“Following Jesus isn’t about our agenda. It’s not about whether it’s convenient. It’s discovering His heartbeat. It’s loving people. It’s seeing how He works, and how stepping into His footsteps leads us from the natural to the supernatural.” Best quote ever!
I will be sharing this for more to see, feel and understand the greatness of your God, and the beauty that comes from saying yes, when no is what the world tells us to say.
God bless you Suzie!
So beautiful! Makes me cry happy tears of how big and yet how personal our God truly is! Thank you for saying yes!
Such a beautiful story pointing to our great and merciful God! He sees; He cares. Always!
Such an amazing and beautiful story. I love how God’s plan is so big and yet how he sees and cares about every little detail. Definitely encourages me to follow where he leads.
It’s amazing that the Lord brings you the stories you need to hear just when you are in trying times. Your book is just that for me today 😀
It’s amazing that the Lord brings you the stories you need to hear just when you are in trying times. Your book is just that for me today. The Lord works in amazing ways!