… “but Elisha, the prophet who is in Israel, tells the king of Israel

the very words you speak in your bedroom” (2 Kings 6:12b).

On October 7, 2010 I got to be God's messenger girl.

I was driving through Netcong, NJ when I glimpsed a woman standing on the corner smoking a cigarette. Into my awareness came this message: “My Sweet One, you need never smoke a cigarette again.”

That just popped into my head. I actually had to re-wind my thoughts to grasp it. Accompanying it was the certainty I was to deliver this message to that woman.

I found a parking spot, walked up to her, smiled. She smiled back. I commented on her cute little dog and told her my name. Then I said something like “You don't know me, and you might think this is crazy, but as I drove by and saw you I believe God nudged me to give you this message from Him.” And I told her the message.

She looked at me. Then she said, “I was just standing here praying.”

My heart leaped! I said, “Obviously God heard you.”

She flipped her cigarette into a nearby barrel. We began to talk. With tears she told me her husband had died and that she was praying for her two sons. She repeatedly said, “You don't know what this means to me. You don't know what you've done means to me.” All I could say was that she was loved by Jesus and that He wanted her to know that, and to know He hears her prayers.

I asked her name. It was Cookie. Cookie! Don't you love that God called her “Sweet One”!

Later I realized God's message wasn't so much about Cookie smoking as knowing she had Him to depend on and didn't need any substitute props.

There's more though.

Years later, in a different state even, a friend and I were sharing God stories. When I told her this one, God recycled it. Unknown to me, my friend had been trying to stop smoking. It turned out God intended to impact two “Sweet Ones” with that message.

So you see, we don't have to have Elisha-strength prophetic gifts. I figure God would have given this message to anyone who drove by at the precise time Cookie was praying.

We don't cook up God's messages, they bubble up within. All we need to do is live with our Eyes—and Ears—Wide Open, follow through, then marvel!

Praying Isaiah 50:4-5 is a good idea, too.