In March 2010 nothing was going well for me. As a result of personal problems coupled with a job I was unhappy in, I was growing bitterer and more discontent every day. I have had a firm belief in the existence of a higher power directing the steps of humans and sometimes intervening with our decisions since the age of 13, but that was all about it. I had never been a regular churchgoer. I wasn’t reading the Bible and I had long dismissed the idea that God cared enough for me to have a plan for my life.

Elizabeth, my co-worker and friend, a Christian woman with a strong faith, was my only comfort in a work place I disliked. She was always very patient with me and whatever concerns I shared with her, she miraculously knew what part of the Scripture to quote exactly that related to my situation.

When she told me that she would be leading a Bible study course in her home on a biweekly basis, I decided to attend as I was eager to find out how the universe works. What laws control our destiny, to what extent things depend on us and what events we cannot change regardless of numerous efforts made, all this really interested me. It is a truth universally acknowledged that the Bible is not easy to read and absorb and I had no idea whether it could answer my questions. I just wanted to give it a try.

It was the third or the fourth week of the Bible Study course when I decided to go to church. As I mentioned earlier, I had never been a regular churchgoer and had not been to one since I was living in Montreal in 2006. I decided to attend Elizabeth’s church. She had never invited me there but I had asked her which one she attended, so I was able to recall the name and find the address online. On Sunday morning I took a map and set off.

The church turned out to be at such an inconspicuous place that I managed to get lost. I got off the bus on the right stop, in front of the church, but it was locked. The sign read that Sunday service ends at 11:00 AM whereas Elizabeth had told me it begins at 11:00AM. I was certain I was at the right place; I checked the map several times. The church was locked however and it had no name to verify if this was Rhema, the church I was looking for. The street was deserted and moreover the bus stop in the opposite direction happened to be on a different street, parallel to the one I was standing in, which I didn’t know then.

I wanted to be in church that day but apparently it was not meant to be. Perhaps I was on the wrong track to begin with, hoping to find answers by seeking God…I started walking back, hoping to meet someone to ask directions about taking the bus in the opposite direction. A car appeared on the deserted street, stopped next to me and the driver asked me for directions. She, a woman in her 20’s, wanted to know if I had an idea where Rhema church was situated! I pointed back to the locked church but she said, no, this was not Rhema and invited me to get in the car to search for it together. I never ride with strangers but because she was a woman, I agreed.

We drove along and found Rhema Church a couple of blocks down the road. It turned out I had mistaken the bus stop at which I was supposed to get off despite everything, map in hand and all…I was very impressed how when God wants you at a certain place or something is according to His will, we are being brought where we are supposed to be, regardless of our own will to give up. I got lost. I knocked on a locked door. I started going back and He sent me a car to bring me back where He wanted me to be. What bigger proof could there be that He wanted me at the sermon that day? Not to mention that the sermon addressed the topic that was weighing on my mind for the past 2 months day and night. It was as if the message was given especially for me that day and I had to be there to hear it. I was secretly brushing tears as the sermon proceeded and the preacher concluded, “Let go and let God.”

Later, Malcom, Elizabeth’s husband, told me that morning his wife declared I would attend their church. He thought I had shared my intentions with her on Friday to attend the Sunday service but she informed him that no, I hadn’t mentioned anything of the kind and it was just a feeling she had about me, she “just knew”. I actually decided to attend Rhema on Saturday at midnight, so there was no way I could have brought it up on Friday. Naturally, after I didn’t call Sunday morning and they didn’t see me in church because I got lost and was late for the service, Malcolm told Elizabeth, “See, Agnesa is not here after all”.

However, half an hour later, there I was, much to the amazement of them both. It has been almost two years now since that day. I continue to seek God everywhere and the testimonies I have collected since the spring of 2010 are growing not only in number, but are turning out to be more amazing in nature as well.

It was not only the Rhema Church I found that day. Most importantly, I found the faith that God is not only watching me as an unconcerned outside observer but cares enough to direct my steps and show me the way when I am lost.

Agnesa Terzyiska