Sofija. It may be just a name to you.
For me, Sofija is a person, with a story. A powerful story and she has given me permission to share part of it with you.
One of my team leaders, Julie, and I met her in the Idea grocery store. The conversation started with me loudly exclaiming how their carrots smelled bad and looked nasty. We quickly learned that the girl that works at this grocery store, that overheard me saying this, speaks English. I would like to say that I apologize for this statement about their produce, but I actually don’t, because it started a conversation that would forever change the course of Sofija’s life and lead to a lifelong friendship.
We introduced ourselves and exchanged numbers. She came and hung out with us at the church the next evening. The next day, Sofija asked my teammate, Alex and I, to meet her for coffee. We were able to have a great conversation with her. At one point during the conversation she said, “I have only hung out with you two times, but I can tell that there’s just something different about you.” I remember looking at Alex and just smiling. After we left the coffee shop, Alex and I talked about that statement she said to us, and I remember telling Alex that the Lord was moving in and through her in a huge way.
This would probably be a good point in the story to let you all know, that before we ever got to Sombor, our ministry host informed us that it takes a lot of time for the people there to grow in their relationship with Christ or to change from their current habits. So basically, he didn’t want us to be discouraged if it didn’t feel like we were making much progress in the amount of time we had there.
Ok so now back to the story.
The following Sunday, we invited her to come to church. She was able to come and stay for a few worship songs and then had to leave to go to work. Almost immediately after leaving church, she messaged me saying that she needed to meet with me and that it was urgent. Due to the lack of Wi-Fi, I wasn’t able to read her message until the next day. Alex, Shannon, and I were able to meet with her on Monday evening. The Lord orchestrated a beautiful time for her to ask many questions and she was able to tell us part of her story.
She grew up going to an Orthodox church. Her family didn’t believe in God. When she was four years old she felt like she had an encounter with the Lord. Then when she was six years old, her grandma passed away and this tore her whole world apart. For the next fourteen years, she turned away from the Lord and proclaimed to be atheist. When she attended the Protestant Church with us, she said she felt an encounter again, like the one she had when she was four years old, during the worship songs we were singing. She said she was shaking uncontrollably and left the service crying. She told us that God was trying to speak with her. We were able to have a conversation about the Holy Spirit. Shannon shared the Gospel with her and shined light on Sofija’s questions about coming back to the Lord after proclaiming to be atheist for so many years. It was beautiful to watch how hungry for the Lord she was. Shannon explained to her, with beautiful truth and grace, that she was at a crossroad. She could either make the choice to follow the Lord or turn away from Him. She asked Sofija if she wanted to accept the Lord as her Savior and Sofija wasn’t quite ready for that kind of commitment. We were thankful that we were able to answer a lot of her questions and knew the Lord was moving in a BIG way.
We all felt like there was something really special about Sofija and her desire to know about the Lord. We continued praying that the Lord would continue to move in and through her heart for the remaining days that we had left in Sombor.
Our last Sunday in Serbia, we went to the beach and did baptism’s. We thought it would be really cool if Sofija watched, and so we invited her to join us. The morning of the baptism’s, we got a message from her telling us that her mom found out where she was going, and that we were believers, and she told Sofija she wasn’t allowed to go. This crushed Sofija. She told us she felt like she was making so much progress and then that happened. We continued praying for her, and over her.
Two nights before we were going to be leaving Sombor, Sofija came to the church to hang out with us. Shannon was able to sit down with her and revisit the conversation we had with her a few days prior. By the end of their conversation, Sofija told Shannon she was ready to follow Jesus and she gave her life to the Lord, right there in that very moment, and prayed the prayer of salvation!!!
HOW COOL AND INCREDIBLY AMAZING IS OUR GOD?!?!
We have a new sister in Christ y’all!!!
This story is going to be one of my top favorites for the rest of my life! It beautifully displays the goodness, faithfulness and unrelenting love of our Heavenly Father.
This is the beautiful Sofija, to the far left, in the picture below!
