Danielle

My teammate Chris Telfer, just wrote a blog about how God Pursues us. I have a story for you that reveals how very true that is!

I started working with Danielle a year and a half ago. She is a few years younger than me and surpasses most her age in maturity. Life has dealt her too many blows, in a way that seems unjust. When I met her, she was going to school, playing Lacrosse and working two jobs. She would often close at our Starbucks and open at her Deli job. Ask her about sleep and she’ll just look at you and say, “naps”.

Not too long after working with her, God impressed upon me an overwhelming love for this girl. You know how when you get really excited about something, you can’t hold it all inside and you feel like you could burst? That is how I felt. I would drive home after closing with her and this

overpowering love for her would overwhelm me. It seemed like God’s heart was aching over His deep love for this girl and He was sharing it with me…

and she didn’t even know!

One night I asked God if He would like me to tell her something for Him. He answered: “Tell her she is beautiful and I love her.”

I told her the next time we closed together. She just kind of looked at me weird.

When I came back from India, my manager Jason gave me my old job back at Starbucks. A girl who had transfered to our store after I left, who is also a believer, confided in me one day. She told me

how much she loved Danielle and how she has been burdened to pray for her. I shared with her that I had felt the same way! I started to realize how passionately God was pursuing her. He had literally surrounded her with His children; He wasn’t going to let her go.

I’ve been helping out and attending Scum of the Earth Church in Seattle for the last 2 months. On Thursday nights, we hang out in the Scum coffee shop and serve free coffee and tea to the homeless and anyone else who walks in. One night while working together, Danielle reminded me that she promised me she’d go to church with me sometime, so I invited her to Scum. She agreed to come that Thursday, but called me later and canceled. That night I told John and Bo all about her and how God had been burdening me and Renee for her.

The next week, John and Bo came into our store to hang out. Danielle was working, so I pointed her out to John. He got up and invited her to come hang out with us at Scum sometime. She told him she would still like to go and would change her schedule around so she could. The next night when we closed together, she reiterated how excited she was to go and had already switched her schedule around. She also opened up to me and told me that she had been searching for faith lately. She said that she figured it would be something that ‘just happened’ someday – like a revelation or moment of awe.

That Thursday, we drove up to Seattle together. John talked to her a little about how the point isn’t “christianity” or religion, but

Jesus. He explained to her the difference between religious activities and a relationship with Christ. He also told her, “Don’t believe what anyone tells you Danielle. Go find it for yourself. Go home tonight and just talk to God. Ask Him if He is real.”

On the drive home that night, she told me she wanted to come back the next week.

I don’t think we talked much at all about Jesus the following Thursday at Scum. We just hung out for awhile, played some games, and talked to a couple UW students that wandered in late. This time Danielle told me she’d like to hear more of what John had to say and asked if we could all go out to dinner sometime.

I called John right away and told him. We made plans to meet at Moctezuma’s the following Monday.

Dinner was good. We talked a lot about John’s book manuscript and he shared his testimony with us. Then, he spoke directly to Danielle. He told her how much we suck and need Jesus. I don’t remember everything he said, but I remember her eyes welling up with tears. She just sat there… and listened.

She called me later that night to tell me thanks. She said, “Thank you for introducing me to John, Bo and Scum. I feel like I’ve been on this path of self-discovery lately, and I think it is because of this. I’ve just felt really lost or hectic lately and this just feels so good.”

I then told her about how, for the past year and a half, God had been sharing with me how much He loved her. I told her, “Danielle, God loves you

so much. He wants you to know Him and He wants to know you.”

I couldn’t attend Scum the next night, so Danielle invited Renee and drove up to Seattle with John and Bo.

I got two calls late that night.

The one from John said, “Jenny. Call me first thing in the morning. We need to talk.”

The second was from Danielle. She said, “Jenny, it’s Danielle. I have something important I want to tell you.” I started crying. I knew she had accepted Christ!

The next day, John told me how he knew they were going to pray salvation that night. They were all seated in Denny’s after Scum when God told him “now!” He told me that Danielle started crying. She had ‘never heard the gospel shared this way…It was different than she had thought.’ John asked her if he could pray for her and she said ‘yes’. When he was done, he asked her if she wanted to accept Christ.

Again, she answered “yes”.

God pursued Danielle. His love for her is like a fairytale – A prince who won’t stop until he is united with his princess. A lover who cannot be stopped nor hindered by any obstacle; relentless in His passion for His bride.

I’m sitting at Cutter’s Point Coffee shop in Gig Harbor about to cry. Danielle has one of the most beautiful stories I’ve ever witnessed, and it is just beginning. I can’t fathom the plans He must have for her.

Her ex-boyfriend found a Bible in her car the next day, cussed her out and called her a hypocrite.

Pray for her – right now, as you read this.