The Rumors of Larry’s Death Were Not Greatly Exaggerated (Part 8)

(Click on photo to enlarge)

Ten thousand and seventy-four days ago, a female minister named Linda Sutter (Olson) pointed to me as I sat in a pew of a small church and asked me to stand up. She then began prophesying to me: “God is doing a quick work in you…”

Even today when I look at her prophetic words, which I wrote down in the back of my Bible, I laugh at God’s idea of a “quick work” versus mine. I thought it would be months, certainly not 10,074 days or nearly thirty years.

But let me tell you a little bit about Linda Sutter Olson.

During the early 1970’s, the Lord told her to go into full-time ministry as a teacher and a prophetess, but she had at least three  problems. First, she was a woman. Second, her pastor would not endorse her ministry. Third, she did not have any contacts.

What could she do?

She sent out a few flyers to area churches, but had no responses. No one seemed to need her ministry.

One day, Linda was driving through rural Iowa and stopped at a diner in a small town. She sat down at a table and ordered her lunch. Linda noticed the couple sitting at the table next to her had received their meals and were praying before they ate.

She leaned over and said, “It’s nice to see a couple pray together in a restaurant.”

“Oh, you’re a Christian,” replied the husband. “Why don’t you join us for lunch? We would enjoy fellowshipping with you.”

The couple turned out to be a pastor and his wife. The pastor ended up inviting Linda to minister at his church that evening.

Linda eventually ministered in numerous large churches and then traveled to Russia, Albania, India, Eastern Europe, China, and the Philippines. But every door that opened to her calling could be traced back to that chance encounter at a diner in a small town in Iowa.

So, when I look at the boxes of books in our closets, I like to think that I’m just one divine encounter away from publishing success.

(Continued in Part 9)