Considering God
Left to right: Nadege Doudou, Bryn Hauquitz and Flora Soumahoro.
Flora Soumahoro, a student at the University of Abidjan in Cote d’Ivoire, met staff member, Bryn Hauquitz at a Cru meeting a few years ago. After building an acquaintance, the women began meeting one-to-one for discipleship, prayer and Bible reading. “We have a meeting once a week,” Flora says, “and when I leave, I think about it. I practice what we talked about. It makes a difference in my life, in my way of thinking and in how I consider God.”
Before understanding what it meant to follow Jesus, Flora felt like God had left her alone and that she wasn’t part of his plan. “I was selfish in my way of doing things,” she says. But then she began to pray. “I began asking God to help me through prayer,” she says. “And He began to change my ways and my attitudes.”
Since beginning discipleship with Bryn, Flora has felt more excited about things like evangelism. “I really like the process we use,” says Flora. And she isn’t keeping it to herself. “I learned from Bryn and now I’m teaching Nadege.”
Nadege Doudou is also a student at the University of Abidjan. “I was a Christian before going to the meetings,” she says “but after meeting with Flora and Bryn, going through the follow-up lessons, my faith was reaffirmed.”
Nadege failed her bachelor degree 4 times before passing. “It was very discouraging,” she says. But then she started reading the Four Spiritual Laws and meeting with Flora more regularly. “It made my faith strong,” she says. She believes it gave her confidence.
“My relationship with God wasn’t very good, but after going through the Four Spiritual Laws and follow-up material, I felt my communion with God became much closer.”
After her first discipleship lesson with Flora – the same lesson Bryn had gone through with Flora – Nadege began meditating on scripture again and walking closely with the Lord. She felt her faith was strengthened. “God started doing many things in my life,” she says. Like improving her occasionally tense relationship with her parents. “It is better now than it was,” she says.
“Because of Cru,” Nadege says, “my faith has become better and stronger. I trust God more. I’ve been learning how to have confidence in the Lord. I know he is never going to leave me.”
In the same way that God helped change Flora’s way of thinking, God is changing Nadege’s mind also. “I know God is always with me,” Nadege says. Meeting together on a regular basis has been a huge encouragement for these women who are learning what it means to follow Christ daily.
