Pamela Hogan

“As the native drum kept rhythm with the nighttime symphony of the African bush, the cry of a hyrax (a small, furry animal that sounded a lot scarier than it looked) pierced the night. A hyena howled. A warthog ran through our camp. What was he running from? Sitting in front of my tent, I tried to figure everything out. I wouldn’t have called what I did prayer but maybe wonder. 
 
Night after night, I’d listened to the rush of a river or watched my own personal light show as lightning spider-webbed across the heavens, danced in the distance, and serenaded me with a muffled growl. Until a crash—so loud it seemed to break the sky—caused me to twitch as a shiver ran up my spine. 
 
“You know how it is when you feel someone staring at you from across the room?” I said to Truth. “You turn to meet the gaze. It was like that, but I saw no one. I just felt a comforting presence as we sat together in silence.” 
 
“You think it was God?” she asked. 
 
“Yeah, but I called him Fred. Not so overwhelming, more personal.” ”
― Elizabeth Bristol, Mary Me: One Woman’s Incredible Adventure with God

“You like telling your stories,” said my friend in that coffee shop, “because you’re secure enough in your current self, the self that’s firmly established in a godly life, that you can laugh at your mistakes, even the dark moments, while pointing to the light you stand in right now and say, ‘See? if I made it, so can you.”
― Elizabeth Bristol, Mary Me: One Woman’s Incredible Adventure with God

“When I gave [God] a chance, I got what I believe He has for everyone, a unique and personal adventure that not only includes God but the destiny He wrote on each of our hearts. It doesn’t come without challenge, because, well, a story without tension would be boring. 
 
If we could ask Cinderella, she’d tell us that living out a fairytale is harder than watching one on TV. But the thrill? We’d never get that from an armchair. ”
― Elizabeth Bristol, Mary Me: One Woman’s Incredible Adventure with God

“I struggled with anxiety and loneliness, even in a crowded room. I never felt like I was enough. I ate Tums like candy. And I know this sounds all beauty-contestant-answerish, but I just wanted inner peace, a place to come in out of the rain. I needed, well, God, really, but you couldn’t have told me that then, not until the crap hit the fan. You know, those no-one-can- save-you-but-God things? An actual life or death experience. I’m not kidding, I didn’t think I was going to live, but instinctively I cried out and BAM! There God was, not judgmental and mean, but the ultimate friend. He came through in a big way! I’ll be honest with you, I flippin’ drank the Kool-Aid. ”
― Elizabeth Bristol, Mary Me: One Woman’s Incredible Adventure with God