I Just Knew It Was God

Ekaterina did life right: college degree, great job, her own place. But, in her words, “I was deeply unhappy. I thought knowing God might help, but I didn’t really know how. I knew some Christians, but they never brought Jesus into our conversations. The only thing I could do was cry out to a God I didn’t know.”

That simple cry launched her on a grand journey to the heart of God. “A beautiful, almost overwhelming peace settled on me. Then I felt an illogical prompting to leave my (very good) job of five years and take off on a cross-country trip. Somehow I just knew it was God.” Her family and friends were not so sure. Data analysts like Ekaterina aren’t known for following feelings instead of facts. They feared for her mental health.

“I knew I needed a reset in my life, so I set out. The things I didn’t know – and the things I had wrong – were a poor foundation for finding God. I relied on crutches like alcohol and drugs to help me hobble along. Most of the time, I felt like a foolish failure, but the need to find God drove me on. Inspiration TV fueled my search.”

One night in a rented cabin, Ekaterina heard an Inspiration TV message on sowing seed. “The message grabbed my heart. ‘In a year from now, your life will be different.’ That was just what I wanted: a different life! Desperate, I sowed a seed even though I’d never done it before. That beautiful peace settled on me again, and I went to sleep. But when I woke up, all I could think was ‘What have I done? That was so dumb, I don’t have any income!’ I was filled with doubt and regret.”

Ekaterina began receiving emails and connected with the International Prayer Center. “I had been trying to do it all on my own,” she explains. Even with this newfound support, the weight of being alone became too much. “Lots of things got worse. I headed back home, very scared, and feeling like I was returning to a ruined life.”

Shortly after returning, she crashed her car. “I thought God would just take me away in the crash, but He didn’t. I didn’t know why I was still alive.” Forced to live with her parents, Ekaterina gave away all her other possessions. She grieved over her accumulated losses, especially the loss of independence.

“Inspiration Ministries’ letters and emails always found me. They were the encouragement I needed, always on time. I was so broken; my confidence and mind were shattered. I didn’t know how I could go on, but step by step God guided me. He closed some doors and opened others. He forced me out of my comfort zone, challenged me to return to my career and renew my connections. He healed my brokenness and gave me exactly what I needed. God spoke to me through your devotional magazine and your prayer ministers – every bit was an encouragement directly from Him.”

Indeed, a year after that first seed, Ekaterina found her life coming together with new beauty and depth. Now, another year into her walk with God and advancing in her career, she says, “I am so completely in love with God. It is the relationship I always wanted. He is faithful, wonderful, and there are no impossibilities with Him. It was all so worth it! He is great!”