How Bridge Stories Began

Desiring to be a missionary, after college I joined an organization that reached out to international students. Not long after however, God called me away. Driving past some international students that day, I began to cry. I asked God why He was calling me away. He said, “Because you can serve them best with My purpose for you.” I didn’t understand what He meant at the time, until He later began to reveal to me that I could reach a few individuals within my lifetime, or a few “fish,” as I began to think about the disciples, or I could inspire other Christians through the unique testimony that God was also forming in my life, and instead invite others to testify with me, and reach even greater numbers together. For God went on to show me that He wants to use my testimony to serve as such an invitation. He wants to use it to help get His Bride, the Church, ready, involved, and mobilized, for Christ’s return. To use it to remind us that we are all called to live lives, like the disciples, that together testify to Jesus. God still longs for His children to be fishers of all nations, to use all our lives as invitations that leads others to Christ.

In college, I had read a story about a woman who had lost her husband. One day she stood outside crying out to the Lord, asking Him if it was His will that she marry again. Instantly a name appeared in the sky. The next day in church she listened to a guest missionary speak who had this exact same name. She ended up marrying this man and accompanied him back to the mission field.

I had never heard anything like that before. Her testimony impacted me greatly, causing me to want to have this kind of relationship with Jesus, the kind where I would see Him manifest His presence in such ways. Her testimony served as a bridge that led me into a deeper relationship with the Lord.

Fast forward several years and in walked Joe. We met in a singles group at our church. We ended up dating for a few years and then separated. Knowing in my heart that Joe was the one for me, I entered a time of great heartache. I know now that God allowed this season because He knew that my desire for a relationship, or for Joe, was stronger than my desire and love for Him. So, God had plans to bring transformation into my life by dealing with my idol worship. This was such a transforming journey, especially as God began to deal with other idols in my life as well, that He inspired me, even in my heartache, to start documenting it through voice recordings. For in this desert, God did begin to manifest His presence in new ways. Just like the Israelites in the desert in the Old Testament, God sustained me, provided for me, and showed up for me. One of the ways that God showed up for me was by speaking directly to me for the first time, giving me a promise. He said, “Susan, you and Joe will be together.” He then later added, “Susan, you and Joe will be a testament to My glorifying nature,” something else I did not understand at the time.

My desert was useful for eventually God used it to turn my head knowledge into heart knowledge. My theoretical faith into practical faith and I proclaimed with Job that “My ears had heard of you before but now my eyes have seen you (Job 45:2).” Because of this, I fell more in love with the Lord.

Around this time, I attended a training for the mission organization that I had joined where I finally reached a place of true relinquishment of my idol. For, I cried out to the Lord saying, “I love You. All I want is You and a life of serving You. I don’t even want Joe anymore. If You want me to be with Him, You are literally going to have to write his name in the sky.” I said this because I knew this moment was a battle between what I thought were two separate callings, that of either being a missionary that reached nations and saved souls, or of being yoked to a journey, that although seemed to be forming a great story, didn’t appear to be leading in that direction.

I then started my drive home during which God showed me that He had set the stage in my life through that testimony I read in college, for while listening to a worship song, I looked into the sky and saw that the clouds spelled J O E – Joe, and I knew that this was a sign from God confirming His promise to me to return my promised bridegroom. A few days later, God called me to write a book using the voice recordings that I had made on my journey through the desert, on my journey towards transformation. God did indeed have plans for Joe and I to make our lives a testament to Him.

To write, I had to go back. I had to return to those voice recordings I had made, and as I did, as I began to recount, I found myself amazed to discover that my own testimony witnessed to me. It truly was the journey of my life, one God used to reveal to me the power behind a testimony.

I then 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 serving as 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.

But, despite God’s cloud confirmation and convincing call to write, my promise didn’t happen right away. In fact, it was 7 years between that moment with the clouds and our wedding day. But in those 7 years God began orchestrating the events in my life even more in order to prepare me for the fulfillment of His promise to me and for my wedding day, and in doing so, He also painted a beautiful picture conveying how all His people should use the waiting season, this season we find ourselves in between our promise given that Christ will return to us on the clouds and the fulfillment of that promise – First, it is by living lives that testify to Him, experiencing the Testimony for ourselves allowing Him to form new stories among us, and second, by recounting ALL that He, as the Testimony, the ultimate story-teller, has done throughout all time. 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.” 

God then called me to write yet another book based on these newer events that took place during my waiting season. 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 also lead people into a deeper relationship with the Lord. We are all meant to be a bridge that leads others to Christ.

*One such Bridge Story that God orchestrated from this waiting season addressed the first step: Living Lives that Testify to Him.

During one of my Bible studies, I ended up hearing the testimony of two women whom God had called to start a wedding gown business/ministry, and it was clear that they truly wanted to glorify the Lord with their gifts.

As they shared their testimony, a still, small voice told me that I would be adorned in a wedding dress someday, something that, of course, brought joy to my heart. Although I didn’t know at the time that God was orchestrating symbolism, we had the DRESS.

After the study that night, I found myself talking with a friend who had the gift of music through piano. God had recently led her to invest in a new piano to write worship music that testified to Jesus. During her testifying, God brought me more revelation and the thought that God brought strongly to my mind was: We have the wedding dress; now it is time for the WEDDING MARCH.

The next day, during my time with the Lord, as I began to reflect on the ministry that God was calling me to, that of writing my testimony and sharing it, inspiring others to do the same, the thought that entered my mind was, ENTER the BRIDE and God gave me more revelation. He began to show me His true desire that His Bride testify, that our lives, our testimonies, intertwine and collectively testify to Him. God is calling all of us to experience Him anew so that we may then testify to our experiences through our God-given gifts and talents, in order to point people to Christ, making ready a people, a Bride, prepared for the Lord.

A few days later, I ended up having coffee with another friend who confided in me that God had been calling her to build an altar like the one in the Old Testament. At first, I was taken aback because it sounded a little bit out of the ordinary, but then I heard a still, small voice say, “Susan, pay attention. This is for you.”

She began to talk about how God was calling her to do this as a way to use her for ministry and what God brought to my mind is: We have the dress. We have the wedding march. We have the bride. And now we have the ALTAR.

A few days after that, Joe also confided in me, sharing with me a vision that God had been giving him of a place for people to use for weddings as a type of ministry. As he talked, I knew in that God was saying that: We have the dress. We have the music. We have the bride. We have the altar. And now God is bringing forth the PLACE. 

I then thought how of course God would inspire Joe, my promised bridegroom, with the place, with the mansion, for it is our Bridegroom who has the responsibility of providing the actual place. For Christ Jesus Himself said that He was going ahead of us in order to prepare a place for us, His Bride, in advance in John 14.

So, we have the dress, the wedding march, the bride, the altar, and the place. All we need now is the Bridegroom, and as you can see through His beautifully orchestrated modern parable, how He longs for His wedding day and for His Bride to make herself ready by living lives that testify to Him in all they do.

A few months later God brought another Bridge Story into my life, one that addressed the second step of recounting ALL that He has done. For, I was invited to attend a women’s retreat. The topic revolved around something I was not expecting, for a Jewish Christian woman was there to speak about God’s appointed times, or Biblical feasts, as laid out in Leviticus 23 and why we, even as Gentile Christians, should still celebrate them. Not expecting this topic but knowing God wanted me there, I asked Him what He wanted me to learn from this. He said, “Susan, if you honor My appointed times, I will honor yours.” Still waiting on the promise God gave me to return my bridegroom to me, I knew in my heart what God meant. So, even though I didn’t know what to do exactly, I set out that year to honor all of God’s appointed times and other festivals as best as I could, a journey that took me heavily back into the Old Testament, into older testimony.

On this journey I learned that celebrating God’s appointed times is all about testimony, for they are all about looking back and remembering. They become annual reminders for us to stop and testify, to tell those we are celebrating with, especially the younger generation, all that God has done throughout time. We see God’s heart for this in the Book of Deuteronomy, for within this book God calls His people to remember. Commanded by God, Moses testifies. He recounts for the people all that God had done to bring them to the brink of the Promised Land, a step of faith God required in order for them to be prepared to proceed into fulfillment. One of the reasons is because fulfillment is a gift of God. Because of this, testifying gives Him the glory, or the credit, as being the One to bring people to the brink of fulfillment and into the promise. For the Israelites, and for me, as I was about to discover, connection to the past became our bridge to the future, to fulfillment.

Due to the time of year, my journey started with the celebration of Passover, which made the last festival I celebrated Purim, which is the celebration started by Esther and Mordecai after God’s people were saved through her act of obedience. And after my own act of obedience, after honoring all of God’s appointed times for an entire year, God showed me His faithfulness. At the brink of my own promised land, my connection to the past did became my bridge to the future.

After looking back and celebrating what God had done through past testimony, while seeing Him weave these truths into my own newer on-going testimony that I was still faithfully recounting and documenting, my bridge to the future appeared. For literally the day I finished honoring all of God’s appointed times, He honored mine, and I entered my promised land. The same day that I celebrated Purim, a magazine was released and placed in stores with my picture on the cover, giving me what felt like a coming out. I did not know that my picture would be on the cover. The picture was of me holding my Bible opened to the Book of Esther. The article inside highlighted some of my testimony and featured other ways that I testified such as through my dance and jewelry making.

But God was not done. For shortly after, Joe ended up asking my father for my hand in marriage. My bridegroom returned. God was faithful and He honored my true appointed time just as He said He would. Almost exactly 7 years to the day that God wrote Joe’s name in the clouds, I married him. 

My friends, God has always called His people to testify, to be testaments in all they do. In fact, 40 out of the 66 books in the Bible are named after people. For, God has aways used His people to bring forth His Word, to shine forth His Word. And I don’t know about you, but I am so glad that they took the time to testify, to record their stories for future generations. Well, God’s call on our lives remains the same. We are next in line. For from generation to generation, like them, every one of us has a unique story to tell, a unique Bridge Story. As it says in Acts 14:17, God has not left Himself without testimony, never has and never will. For, He is the Living Word, able to be experienced in real-time, and because of this, each of our lives are meant to be the continuation of His story. We, like all that have gone before, need to continue to aid the next generation with our testimonies so that a people not yet born shall praise the Lord (Ps. 102:18). We need to continue the bridge building or the discipleship making.

Jesus is still alive. He is still moving in our midst. He is the Living Word and desires to still be experienced in real-time so that the world will know that we also have been with Jesus, just like those first men and women. He still longs to use us to save, to be His hands and feet and voice, to use our lives and stories to be a bridge that leads others to Him, just like He used those in the Bible to be a bridge for us. For, when we share how Christ has transformed our lives, others are inspired to seek His love and grace forming new stories of their own, testimonies that will literally have the power to save. They hold this power because Jesus is the Word of our testimonies and when we experience Him and then share these stories, He works through us to change lives. He forms a bridge from our heart to theirs and walks across. It is all about Christ living in and through us, the Living Word, the true Bridge that connects us all, past, and present. The true Fisher of all nations. The true Light that shines.

I hope that our story has inspired you and that you have heard God’s invitation for you to become part of His Bridge Story, His ever-unfolding story, by making your life a testament to His glorifying nature. You have a unique story, along with gifts and talents, that God longs to use, no matter your age. So, join us in becoming a fisher of all nations by letting your life become a bridge that leads others to Christ. God wants to use all of us to complete His ultimate Bridge Story, to use our stories to finish The Story, a story that will woo as many as possible to Christ before He crosses back over and enters the world a second time, this time on the clouds, this time as our Bridegroom. God has work for us to do, Bride of Christ, for a time such as this. Here at the brink. Join the story. Amen and amen.

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