Who is Elisabeth Elliot you may ask? Well if you don't know then you need to get yourself on the google and look her up! Yes, I am not kidding. Do it.
Anyways, if you DO know who she is then keep reading. If you want to.
If you have been reading this blog for some time then you might remember a post I did about this certain Elisabeth Elliot awhile back. You can click on her name to the left and it will take you straight to that post.
Short version about E.E. is that she was:
- A missionary to the Auca Indians
- Married to Jim Elliot (you can google him too)
- Had one daughter named Valerie
- Was amazing (google it)
- Wrote many books (I have at least 7, 2 of which I watched her personally autograph just for me)
- Had a radio program that I listened to many many days
- Had a huge impact on myself and my own mother
Awhile back, (I like to say awhile back because I can never remember time frames so I just say awhile back and you need to just know that it wasn't recent but it wasn't toooo long ago) I stumbled across a blog of a woman who had the privilege of interviewing E.E.'s daughter Valerie. In that interview I saw that Valerie and her husband Walt were planting a church in Southport, NC.
Well I just thought that was quite interesting since we often visit the beach at Oak Island which is just a hop, skip and jump from Southport. I told my mom. She thought it was very interesting too.
Fast forward to this past week.
We made another trip to the beach house at Oak Island. My mother joined us and casually asked about church on Sunday. Now, we don't typically look to go to a church while we are on vacation. Most people don't I suppose. But she reminded me of the church plant that I told her about. So Cory got out the Ipad. And googled. Got to love google.
And there it was. Christ Coastal Church. I knew in my heart that we should go. I would like to say the Holy Spirit prompted me/us.
So we did.
We pulled up to the little chapel where they meet. It was so cute. A little white chapel with the doors wide open.
We walked in and were graciously greeted by the friendly people and Walt and Valerie themselves.
I noticed a few things about the church. It was very clean and white and there weren't many people there yet with it still being a young church plant. I did happen to notice an elderly woman with very white hair sitting in a wheelchair right up at the front. She had on a hat.
Do you know where I'm going with this?
You are so smart! :)
When the pastor mentioned that they had his mother-in-law there with them today I looked at my mom and she looked at me. I'm pretty sure our chins hit the floor.
Elisabeth Elliot was there in this small church of twenty at the most. Six of those twenty were my family members!
Valerie offered to watch my two boys for us since they did not yet have childcare.
We enjoyed the message and after the service we stayed awhile and spoke with them all. E.E. is very frail and her health and mind is quickly fading but just to see her I think was a blessing.
The pastor wrote down Cory's email.
I hope it's not the last time we see them.
A few things have come to my mind since that Sunday morning. One is that I felt very blessed and honored that God would lead us there that morning. I'm having a hard time understanding the whys quite yet.
That we should happen to be visiting the very first Sunday morning that Elisabeth Elliot was there...
That we should be able to meet Walt and Valerie Shepard in such an intimate informal gathering....
That Valerie would watch over my two little boys....
That my mom should be with us being that she too has been so influenced by E.E.....
It still blows my mind how God orchestrated it all.
Before we found out where the church was we had taken the kids to the park that was just a short walk from the church. That night we saw a beautiful and bright full rainbow. Right there at the park. We were completely unknowing about what would happen the next morning.
Going to that church was like finding the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow!
Needless to say it was the highlight of our vacation. I think we will always remember that experience and I hope it's not the end!
And remember...
"You are loved with an everlasting love. And underneath are the everlasting arms."
Amazing!!! That was definitely a moment in a lifetime! I'd love to hear what your favorite books of hers are too.
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