She Has No Idea God Used Her

Sometimes God changes the direction of a life with one sentence… spoken by someone who never realizes what they just did.

I never told her what she did. Sixteen years later, I still haven’t. I didn’t understand it then, but God used her before either of us knew what was happening.

She was about ten. I don’t even remember where we were going that day — just the two of us, driving down the highway, the sun slipping in and out behind the clouds. I looked over and saw Courtney staring out the window. Then she turned toward me and said, with a seriousness that caught me completely off guard, “Dad… we need to go to church.”

She wasn’t asking. She was telling me.

I pulled the car over. “Where did that come from?” I asked her.

She just looked back at me. “We just need to be in church.”

There was more conversation after that — I know there was, I just can’t remember the rest of it anymore. Funny how that works. I’ve forgotten the whole conversation, but I’ve never forgotten the one sentence that changed my life.

The car got quiet. My heart didn’t.

Something in me sank — not because she’d said anything wrong, but because I knew she was right. For a moment I felt like I’d failed her as a father. We believed in God, talked about God, I’d taught my kids who He was. But we weren’t living it.

Then another thought hit me. Maybe I hadn’t failed as completely as I felt I had — because if my ten-year-old cared enough to look at her dad and say we need to go to church, somewhere along the way she’d learned that it mattered. She’d noticed something was missing before I let myself admit it.

That realization humbled me. She was right, and I needed to listen.

Where I Was Coming From

I grew up Southern Baptist. Then my father died, my mom remarried, and the church that followed didn’t feel like church to me — I won’t get into all of that here, but I struggled to relate, and over time I quietly drifted. Not from believing in God. From belonging somewhere.

After I moved away from the city I grew up in, I spent years visiting churches on and off. I’d go for a while. Something never quite felt right. Weeks became months, months became years. I always believed — I just never found a place that felt like home. Or maybe I wasn’t looking as hard as I convinced myself I was.

Until my daughter said one sentence in the middle of an ordinary car ride. The next Sunday, we started looking.

One Sentence From My Daughter

Looking back, that’s what still amazes me. It wasn’t a preacher. It wasn’t a crisis. God used a ten-year-old.

“You have taught children and infants to tell of your strength…” — Psalm 8:2, NLT

I didn’t think about that verse back then. Now, I think about it constantly. I started looking again — really looking.

Before long, God led us to the church I still call home today: The Chapel.

Falling in Love With a Church

I still remember walking through those doors the first time. Annita’s cousin had invited us, and we didn’t know anyone else there. I’ll admit it — I was nervous. Would anyone talk to us? Would we fit in, or would this be another place we visited once and never went back to?

Then worship started, and I’d never heard a team like that — not a performance, people genuinely worshipping. Pastor Todd preached that morning. In the weeks that followed, people kept introducing themselves, inviting us back, learning our names. Instead of feeling like visitors, we started feeling like family.

Then I began listening to Pastor Bill, the founder — since retired. Humble. Always smiling. No matter how many people surrounded him, he’d make his way through a crowd just to shake your hand and ask how you were doing. He had a way of making you feel like you mattered. And when I brought him the questions I’d been carrying for years, he didn’t answer with opinions — he answered with Scripture. He didn’t rush me. He taught me.

That’s what made me a member. That’s what made The Chapel home. Their mission is simple: “Move one step closer to God and each other through Christ“.

That was 2010 — more than sixteen years ago. I’m still there.

I Had No Idea What God Was Building

I thought we were looking for a church. God was building a life.

Within the first couple of years, Courtney accepted Jesus Christ as her Savior — the first of my children to do so. Watching the daughter who led me back to church give her own life to Christ is a moment I’ll never forget. I can still picture it. My eyes filled with tears.

As my family grew, so did I. I started serving in Ignite Youth Ministry, became a small group leader for sixth-grade boys alongside men like Jeff, Ron, and Ted, and eventually started teaching — some months once, sometimes twice. The kids probably thought I was there to teach them. What they never knew was that I was learning right alongside them. God used those students to grow me as much as I hoped He was growing them.

I won’t get into all the details, but I have to mention Ken. He was the staff lead over Ignite Youth Ministry, and more than most people in my life, that man poured into me — knowledge, faithfulness, Scripture, year after year. I admired him. I looked up to him. He challenged me, encouraged me, and helped me discover gifts in myself I never knew God had given me. Ken’s now leading youth ministry at our newest campus across the bay, and I miss him dearly.

Ken — if you’re reading this — I love you like my own brother. You’ve never left my thoughts. You were one of the biggest blessings of my life.

Looking back, I can see that God didn’t just use one person to shape my life. He used many. He used Courtney to get my attention. He used Ken to help shape the man I was becoming. And He used countless others whose fingerprints are still all over my walk with Him today.

Over the years I found brothers in Christ — men who laughed with me, prayed with me, cried with me, and walked beside my family through some of the hardest seasons we’ve ever faced. Our family has experienced more loss than I ever imagined we would. Through every funeral, every hospital room, every heartbreak, my church family has been there — not just for me, for all of us. That’s not something you stumble into. That’s something God gives.

I can honestly say God has used The Chapel to make me a better man, a better husband, a better father. There were seasons I believe it even helped save my marriage. I’m still learning, still have a long road ahead — but I’m not the same man who pulled that car over sixteen years ago.

She Still Doesn’t Know

Courtney’s an adult now, with her own life. I don’t know if she remembers that conversation. I doubt she thought anything of it. I think about it far more than she ever will.

I mentioned her once in another post without saying her name — I don’t even know if she realized I meant her. She probably thought she was making one simple comment during one ordinary car ride.

Looking back now, I realize God wasn’t just bringing our family back to church. He was shaping a future I couldn’t see — a church family, a place to serve, friendships that would carry us through loss, a deeper walk with Christ, even these words you’re reading today. All of it can be traced back to one little girl who looked at her dad and simply said, “Dad… we need to go to church.”

She thought she was making a comment. God saw sixteen years ahead.

Sometimes God uses the people we’re supposed to be leading… to lead us back to Him.

A Closing Prayer

Father, thank You for using my daughter when neither of us understood what You were doing. Thank You for a conversation in a car. Thank You for a church that became home. Thank You for pastors who faithfully taught Your Word. Thank You for friendships that became family. Thank You for never giving up on me.

Help me never overlook the ordinary moments You use to accomplish extraordinary things. And Lord — if there’s something I need to say to Courtney before she ever reads these words, give me the courage to say it face to face.

Amen.

Has someone ever said something small that completely changed the direction of your life? Have you ever gone back and thanked them? And is it possible God is using you in someone’s life right now without you even realizing it?