A message by Susan Shultz

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While still waiting on my promise that God would return my promised bridegroom to me, God called me to write a book. In order to do this, I had to go back. I had to return to those voice recordings I had made, and as I did, I found myself amazed to discover that my own testimony witnessed to me. It truly was the journey of my life, for God opened my eyes. He revealed to me what every seemingly random thought or recording meant. They were not random at all. Instead, together they formed a perfect picture. I felt like I was listening to a game plan, and as I took notes while listening, that is exactly what they looked like. This orchestration was a “wait, believe, and act” pattern that seemed consistent all throughout my dialogue. What seemed like random thoughts at the time, now formed a perfect picture outlined by my Master’s hand. God revealed that every recorded thought of mine was followed by a verse, devotional, or a conversation with another that I chose to also record. Like clockwork each of these next recordings addressed the issue in my previous thought. God used this to teach me that nothing happens to us by accident, that He is in every detail, and that because of this, it is important to acknowledge this truth through some form of journaling or means of documentation that we can go back to. For, not only did this help me to know God’s voice but it helped me to see His unique relationship with me. It eventually also revealed the hand of the enemy in my life and how he had also played a role in my journey.

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It really came down to testimony. God was revealing to me the power of a testimony. In regards to my personal promise and struggle to believe it, it became clear that God was calling me to WAIT on Him, as God calls all His children to do, BELIEVE in Him and His promises, and to ACT out my faith and belief in obedience with the strength I had gained from waiting.

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The day after the Lord told me to write a book, I had lunch with a friend where God confirmed this call. For I ended up telling her many stories, some that I had been too afraid to tell anyone before. I was so uplifted by the way she was moved that I realized that these are not my stories to keep. My stories were doing for her what that testimony I read in college did for me, they were acting like a bridge drawing her closer to Jesus. God eventually introduced me to Revelation 12:11, which then became the theme verse of my life - we overcame the enemy by the Blood of the Lamb and by the Word of our testimony. Satan is defeated not only by Jesus’ sacrifice, but also by our testimonies. Our lives!

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Despite God’s confirmation and call to write, which was underway, my promise did not happen right away. In fact, it was 7 years between that moment with the clouds and our wedding day. But what happened in those 7 years serves as great symbolism. For during this time, God began orchestrating the events of my life to prepare me for the fulfillment of His promise to me and for my wedding day. And in doing so, He began to paint a beautiful picture depicting how His people too should live in preparation for His return and for their ultimate wedding day to Him as His Bride, the Church. He unveiled a message through my life that spoke in greater lengths about His desire that we begin living lives that testify to Him, lives that become a testament to His glorifying nature, and with this, in the midst of my waiting, God called me to write yet another book based on these events.

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I was inspired to call this new book Bridge Stories. God laid this phrase on my heart one day while I was looking at an image of the temple in the back of my Bible, starring at the big bridge connected to it. What God revealed to me is that just as a bridge once connected Jerusalem with the temple mount, bringing people closer to the temple where God resided, that our stories, our testimonies, are meant to lead people into a deeper relationship with the Lord. We are all meant to be a bridge that leads others to Christ. God was revealing to me how all His people should use this waiting season, or our Bridge Story season, this season we find ourselves in between our promise given that Christ will return to us and the fulfillment of that promise - It is by living lives that testify to Him, and by rehearsing for things to come. As God inspired the journey that got me, this bride ready, He longs for all of us to get ready. For as it says in Revelation 19:7, “Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready.”