Hi friends,
Today I’m going to share a story of my encounter with a woman in Spain. This occurred the last week of November 2019 on a Monday, one hour before I was scheduled to give my Senior Grad teaching.
Back story:
The Friday prior I had spent most of the afternoon preparing for my grad teaching and fleshing it out. The Lord had prompted me to share my testimony but in a different way than I’d ever shared it before. Since I had recently received a lot of healing from my Dad’s death and saw my story in a new light, I agreed. I knew this was a major step of growth for me to voluntarily share my testimony as the previous semester in March, I was so nervous to share it the two times I was required to and definitely would never have chosen to share it of my own free will. Soooo, here I am writing out my testimony in stages of how my personality changed over the course of my life and I had a song clip to go with each phase. I had a couple other things up my sleeve as well but the testimony was the main part.
Fast forward to Monday, November 25:
I am slightly nervous for my grad teaching at 2:00 pm but ready. I sit down to eat lunch at a small cafe we fondly refer to as “Orange Chair” after its bright orange chairs, haha. I am facing a lady sitting by herself by the window so I can only see her side profile and her short, curly hair is covering her face.
The Lord tells me, “Go and tell her that she’s beautiful.” First, I say, “Well, let me just order first.” Then, “Well, let me eat so it doesn’t get cold.” And He responds, “Okay, but she will leave soon. Don’t miss your chance.” And, after He’s prompted me at least 3 times, I agree.
I get up and go sit down in the chair opposite her so she can’t look away. I ask her if she speaks English. She says no. So, I attempt to tell her in my rusty Spanish that God says she is beautiful. She looks at me like I’m clinically insane. She says, “Are you with some religion?” I say, “No. Just Jesus??” I can see in her eyes that she is done with the conversation and has shut down her heart to anything else I will say. I am unsure how to explain in English, let alone Spanish, how much God loves her and sees her as beautiful in a way she will accept. I decide to leave her be and I walk back to my table, a mere 5 feet away.
I am still facing her head-on so it’s a little awkward. Also, originally, I thought she was in her 30s-40s but upon seeing her face, I would guess she’s in her 50s-60s and she’s average in appearance so I’m sure she doesn’t have flocks of people approaching her daily telling her she’s beautiful. But, it’s true. She is beautiful because my Father made her and He says so.
1 Samuel 16:7 says, “. . .man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”
My heart starts to break for her and I start crying softly and uncontrollably. I realize that I’m not crying because she rejected my words and everyone in that little cafe could see and hear what happened. I’m not crying tears of humiliation or self-pity. I’m crying because I can feel the overwhelming sadness the Lord has because His beautiful beloved daughter doesn’t realize how He sees her and how loved and beautiful she is, truly.
I just keep crying and she looks over at me and gestures to ask if I’m okay or if it was because of her that I’m crying and I just shake my head and say, “Estoy bien. Estoy bien.” “I’m fine, I’m fine.” I’ve never quite been so overwhelmed by God’s love for another person, especially one I don’t know. It hit me so hard and I was overcome with the desire for her to know her worth and her beauty and how she was cherished, adored, and loved extravagantly by a Father who’s with her always. I pray that I planted a seed that day in her heart, but I’m not sure. I just know that I was obedient in what the Lord asked me to do, and even though I could’ve done it better, He will still use it.
I changed my entire grad teaching plan after that because I was so struck by that brief interaction. The Lord said, “You wanna do something different, babe?” I said, “But, I spent so much time preparing the testimony piece.” He said, “Mine will be better.” And, I said, “Okay, I trust you.”
So, I wrote on the board before I started my teaching, “I am prepared to look FOOLISH in the eyes of the world if it means that one person understands how much God loves them.” And, I am, truly. I shared what happened in Orange Chair cafe. And then, I just shared from my heart the things the Lord did in me at G42 and what I learned. His plan is always better, of this I am confident.
So, my encouragement to you dear friends:
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Be flexible and adaptable and when the Lord changes things up, go with it. You won’t regret it, I promise.
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Keep your eyes and heart open to those around you. You never know the impact you can make in a smile, bit of small talk, or simple gesture of kindness.
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Love recklessly, foolishly, and extravagantly. Be bold and be obedient to the Holy Spirit’s promptings. And then prepare yourself for the miracles you will see in your everyday mundane 🙂
Luke 15:3-7
3 So he told them this parable: 4 “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it? 5 And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. 6 And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.’ 7 Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.
** Title taken from the song “She Don’t Know She’s Beautiful” by: Sammy Kershaw – An old school country song that I love 🙂
