It’s the little moments
The little interactions
That can change a person’s life.
My team and I were walking the streets of Batumi looking for people in need of food. We had sandwiches to pass out and we had our eyes peeled.
We were approaching a coffee stand that many times previously I had past. Each time, I would look in and see the cutest young woman smiling so big at me.
This time, I felt I needed to stop.
I ordered a cup of coffee and introduced myself asking for her name. Elona.
She commented that she loved my name and thought it was beautiful yet she thought her name was ugly.
I exclaimed that I absolutely thought her name was beautiful and that I loved it! She seemed to let that slip on through.
She was just radiating joy.
And the joy was contagious.
Your smile is so beautiful, I told her. You are so beautiful.
As she made my coffee I asked to know more about her- her home, her family.
She mentioned that she was all alone in Batumi and that her family did not live there anymore.
She felt lonely. As she spoke, the joy began to fade slightly.
As we were leaving, we asked if she knew Jesus and if we could pray for her.
She reluctantly agreed.
We prayed, said goodbye, and just like that moved on.
Elona was on my heart.
The next day I felt that the Lord was telling me to go back to the coffee stand and give Elona a watercolor that I had painted.
Excited to see my friend again, I set out, but as I approached the stand, the beautiful woman behind the counter was not Elona.
A little sad and defeated, I walked on to other encounters that day but all the while thinking about Elona.
God, I don’t understand, I prayed. I really felt you telling me to go to Elona and I can’t find her.
So gently He replied,
It’s about the willingness. Being willing to seek me in all and then say yes.
That’s what I had done. That’s what He was simply asking.
I never saw Elona again
But I pray that she was changed by that encounter and that the presence of the Lord dwells within her. That she never feels alone. And that she walks in the freedom that she holds as a beautiful
Child of God.
