Scene: Tom’s flagship store & coffee shop in Thessaloniki, Greece….
Our squadmate Becca sees us & stops to ask us about beaches nearby. A free-spirited woman sitting close by speaks up & explains she’s from America originally but has been living in Greece for 30 years. She explains her name is Vida, and that she lives near the beach. She offers her beach expertise to us for the next few minutes.
15-20 minutes pass & she tells us her twin daughters are leaving soon to live in Savannah, GA, so she’ll be an empty nester. As she enters a new season, she is purging a lot of things from her life (e.g. Social media, clothes, books, etc.).
Then she asks us, “Well, girls, why are you in Thessaloniki? I see this (she points to my teammate Anna Beth’s Bible on the table), and I am fascinated! I’ve never really understood organized religion, but I would love for you to tell me more about it. I’m very curious.”
So, we invited her to sit down. We explained we were in Thessaloniki because we felt God calling us there for the month to get to know people & build relationships with them so they would know Jesus wants a relationship with them too.
She tells us she is a spiritual person, and, as she understands it, anything for the Light or moving away from Darkness toward Light is truth & good.
[WOW, God swung that door WIDE open!!]
We got to explain the Gospel to her & why we believe what we believe. She was SOOO incredibly open to it all & understood everything we were saying. At one point she gestured to Anna Beth’s Bible again and said, “Look at that thing, I mean you write in it & take notes while reading. Every time I’ve tried to read it I don’t understand & walk away more confused. And the only Bible we have at our house is in Greek which makes it even harder for me to understand.”
Anna Beth looked down for a moment and said to Vida, “Here. Take mine.”
[Later, Anna Beth told me: “I felt the Lord telling me earlier in the conversation to give my Bible to her, but I was like “Wait, I dont know if that’s You, God, or me, so I’m gonna need some more confirmation…” Well, when Vida mentioned she didn’t have a Bible in English, Anna Beth took it as her definite confirmation from the Lord..]
Vida’s mouth dropped a little, and she explained that she didn’t want to be so stereotypical Greek, meaning, she didn’t want to be skeptical of something free. She said to Anna Beth, “But are you sure? That’s your personal book! You’ve taken notes and written in it and…. Wow!..” She starts to cry. “I want you to know that I have never received a gift this special.”
We got to pray with her & gave her our emails for her to contact us if she has any questions as she reads.
CRAZY THING IS…
I ran into her again a couple days later at Tom’s. Vida told me how she purposely came out of her way to go to Tom’s in hopes that she would run into us again!!! She said she was so excited the other day that she forgot to tell us that about 10 days ago, she sat down to meditate, and said, “Jesus, if you’re out there, show me.” She asked him to give her a sign, and told Him it needed to be a big one.
Then, she met us!!
She went on to tell me that she’s been reading her Bible twice a day and has had some questions. “But it has been beautiful! I have been overwhelmed. I don’t feel like I’ll become a Christian or really belong to anything at this point in my life, but I do feel I’m about to enter into a very special relationship… I do feel something big, something changing. As I left Tom’s the other day with the Bible, I felt like there was something alive behind me, in my bag.. It’s hard to explain, but I felt like I had wings! I felt like I wasn’t alone!”
HOW AMAZING?!
This whole thing, ALL OF IT, had NOTHING to do with us!
Jesus is so CLEARLY pursuing Vida. I mean, firstly, she was within earshot of our conversation at the exact time when Becca came up to talk to us. Secondly, Anna Beth & I don’t normally go to Tom’s together but went that day ironically to spend some time with the Lord alone & avoid people from our squad that were in town. HAHA!
God does have a sense of humor…
We have FULL confidence that Vida will have a relationship with JESUS CHRIST as her Lord and Savior one day!
Vida is SEARCHING.
She is curious.
She is open.
We were blown away by her receptive heart to hear what we believe and to seek it out for herself!
Our faith has been SO increased through these almost unbelievable events. This is only a snapshot of what went on that day. We got to talk to Vida for about an hour and a half. It is SOOOOO evident that God is actively pursuing this woman.
What an AWESOME encouragement that people ARE hungry for truth.
People ARE hungry for JESUS, even if they don’t understand a relationship with Him is what they are seeking.
Praise the LORD for His pursuit of people and for His perfect orchestration in all the details!
The only danger this AMAZING woman (who is now NOT a stranger..) is in is the danger of having her life turned upside down in the most beautiful and eternal way by the Living God who loves her, created her, and is pursuing her SO strongly!!
Thank you, Jesus, for Vida and all the ways You are showing mercy to her and leading her to life in You.
Please join us in prayer for Vida as she is on this journey to seek God and discover truth. Pray that Jesus would reveal Himself to her and bring her into saving faith of Him!
