Hallelujah Story!

I had a “Hallelujah” moment last Saturday night.  In order to share it with you I’ll have to take you back a few years.

In 1995 my most unforgettable student entered my life.  Her name was Olga.  She and her mom had moved here from Ukraine soon after the death of her father.  Her mom got a job cleaning at Bi-Lo at night.  She walked to work after dark along Main St. behind Taco Bell.  She was killed by a hit-and-run driver one night on her way to work.  Olga was alone.

She came to live with us until the state could find her a foster home.  She was difficult and wonderful.  We cared about her very much.  She was smart; every day her English was improving.  We laughed about jokes and movies, fought about food (how was I supposed to know what to fix for her?!), and cried about her parents.

She left our home, only to bounce around for a while.  Eventually, a family in the Atlanta area adopted her.  She finished high school and went to Kennesaw State where she graduated with a degree in Sports Marketing.  She worked for the Atlanta Falcons, but recently moved to Raleigh to work for their NHL team.

Olga and I have kept in touch.  We are friends on Facebook.  Usually her status updates have something to do with sports, but early last week she posted this status:

My soul > My things

I was thrilled to see this post.  I had no way of knowing what was happening to her spiritually.  I told her how much I liked it, and she said it was from Mark 8:36.

On Saturday night I decided to watch Andy Stanley’s latest sermon.  Right smack in the middle of his sermon, there it was again…

My soul > My things

And then I knew…She listens to Andy Stanley!!!

I asked her about it, and she said that when she lived in Atlanta she would go to the Orthodox Church, and then she would go to Andy Stanley’s Buckhead Church.  I was so excited!  This meant to me that she was following God, that she knew about Christ and His love for her, and that she had an active faith.

I have often felt bad that we let her out of our lives.  My faith was so weak.  If I had known what I know now, I would have realized that taking her into our home would have been the greatest way to live our faith.  Isn’t that what James talks about when he says

“Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.”

I’m thankful God has been gracious to me about Olga.  He has let me be her friend, and now after all this time, He has let me know that He took care of her.  Glory to God!