Will Graham talked to hundreds of young people in Peterhead, Scotland, Friday about purpose: “We were created to have a relationship with God. That’s why you were made." The event was live streamed at three nearby satellite venues and around the globe.
“The thought of standing, listening to someone telling me how I should live my life, it did not appeal to me.”
Dawn Smillie rushed around a cozy, three-story tearoom in the tiny coastal town of Peterhead, Scotland, Friday afternoon, taking orders and bringing patrons plates of sandwiches—up the stairs and down the stairs, busy, but all smiles. It was the first day of her new life.
But let’s back up a year.
That’s about the time Dawn’s coworker, Sharon Wall, heard through church that Will Graham was coming to town. The church was looking for people to counsel those who respond to the Gospel at the North East Scotland Celebration of Hope, and after putting her shyness aside, Sharon decided to do it.
She took the Christian Life and Witness Course for training, and through that, created a list of non-Christian friends to invite to the Celebration.
One of the people on her list was Dawn.
A Friend
The two have been friends for eight years now, and recently, Dawn has been going through some of the same things Sharon went through. Sharon has told her friend how God can help her through it, but before this week, Dawn had typically shrugged it off.
“As much as I believe in religion, I’ve never been a religious person,” Dawn said. So when Sharon invited her to this week’s Celebration, Dawn wasn’t looking forward to it.
Dawn and Sharon stand side by side in tearoom
Dawn Smillie, left, had no idea her friend and coworker Sharon, right, had spent months praying for her prior to Will Graham’s North East Scotland Celebration.
“I wasn’t really wanting to go. I was only going because I was invited,” she said, figuring she’d bear through it, then go home. “I didn’t think I’d feel anything. I thought I’d come out laughing.”
But that’s not what happened.
On Thursday night, Dawn took a seat in the auditorium where Will Graham was going to preach. He talked about bad relationships, broken marriages and pent-up anger—things Dawn could relate to—and how there’s a space inside only God can fill.
Then, he said something she knew was for her.
Just that morning, she’d logged onto Facebook where a post from four years ago popped up. “I’m sick and tired of being sick and tired,” she’d written.
Four years later, as she sat in the auditorium, Will asked, “Are you sick and tired of being sick and tired?”
OK, I literally just read that this morning, Dawn thought.
“I just felt like it was me he was talking about, in front of all these people,” she said the next day. “At the start, I was a bit humiliated because it felt like somebody had torn me open on the stage. And then I started to realize that it wasn’t me; there’s other people here thinking the same thing.”
Will invited people to come forward if they wanted to dedicate their lives to Jesus, but Dawn admits she was stubborn.
“When he said to come forward the first time, I was like, no.”
He asked again.
“Yesterday I was like, (sigh), I got this thing to go to. And today I’m like, well this is a new life isn’t it?”—Dawn Smillie
“My heart just started beating and my face went hot,” Dawn said. She felt like she should walk forward, but didn’t want to embarrass herself. Will invited people a third time, and finally, Dawn asked the friend beside her to go up with her.
That friend was Christina Spence, who, along with her mother Karen, owns the Kup Cake Tearoom where Dawn works. Sharon, who had invited Dawn to the event, was down the street at a satellite venue serving as a counselor.
“I knew Dawn was in the [auditorium], and I was praying away,” Sharon recalled Friday. “I came out afterward and found out that [Dawn] came forward.”
Now, Dawn has not only Sharon to come alongside her in her new faith but her employers, Karen and Christina, too.
“Yesterday I was like, (sigh), I got this thing to go to,” Dawn said Friday. “And today, I’m changed. I’m like, well this is a new life isn’t it?”
“The thought of standing, listening to someone telling me how I should live my life, it did not appeal to me.”
Dawn Smillie rushed around a cozy, three-story tearoom in the tiny coastal town of Peterhead, Scotland, Friday afternoon, taking orders and bringing patrons plates of sandwiches—up the stairs and down the stairs, busy, but all smiles. It was the first day of her new life.
But let’s back up a year.
That’s about the time Dawn’s coworker, Sharon Wall, heard through church that Will Graham was coming to town. The church was looking for people to counsel those who respond to the Gospel at the North East Scotland Celebration of Hope, and after putting her shyness aside, Sharon decided to do it.
She took the Christian Life and Witness Course for training, and through that, created a list of non-Christian friends to invite to the Celebration.
One of the people on her list was Dawn.
A Friend
The two have been friends for eight years now, and recently, Dawn has been going through some of the same things Sharon went through. Sharon has told her friend how God can help her through it, but before this week, Dawn had typically shrugged it off.
“As much as I believe in religion, I’ve never been a religious person,” Dawn said. So when Sharon invited her to this week’s Celebration, Dawn wasn’t looking forward to it.
Dawn and Sharon stand side by side in tearoom
Dawn Smillie, left, had no idea her friend and coworker Sharon, right, had spent months praying for her prior to Will Graham’s North East Scotland Celebration.
“I wasn’t really wanting to go. I was only going because I was invited,” she said, figuring she’d bear through it, then go home. “I didn’t think I’d feel anything. I thought I’d come out laughing.”
But that’s not what happened.
On Thursday night, Dawn took a seat in the auditorium where Will Graham was going to preach. He talked about bad relationships, broken marriages and pent-up anger—things Dawn could relate to—and how there’s a space inside only God can fill.
Then, he said something she knew was for her.
Just that morning, she’d logged onto Facebook where a post from four years ago popped up. “I’m sick and tired of being sick and tired,” she’d written.
Four years later, as she sat in the auditorium, Will asked, “Are you sick and tired of being sick and tired?”
OK, I literally just read that this morning, Dawn thought.
“I just felt like it was me he was talking about, in front of all these people,” she said the next day. “At the start, I was a bit humiliated because it felt like somebody had torn me open on the stage. And then I started to realize that it wasn’t me; there’s other people here thinking the same thing.”
Will invited people to come forward if they wanted to dedicate their lives to Jesus, but Dawn admits she was stubborn.
“When he said to come forward the first time, I was like, no.”
He asked again.
“Yesterday I was like, (sigh), I got this thing to go to. And today I’m like, well this is a new life isn’t it?”—Dawn Smillie
“My heart just started beating and my face went hot,” Dawn said. She felt like she should walk forward, but didn’t want to embarrass herself. Will invited people a third time, and finally, Dawn asked the friend beside her to go up with her.
That friend was Christina Spence, who, along with her mother Karen, owns the Kup Cake Tearoom where Dawn works. Sharon, who had invited Dawn to the event, was down the street at a satellite venue serving as a counselor.
“I knew Dawn was in the [auditorium], and I was praying away,” Sharon recalled Friday. “I came out afterward and found out that [Dawn] came forward.”
Now, Dawn has not only Sharon to come alongside her in her new faith but her employers, Karen and Christina, too.
“Yesterday I was like, (sigh), I got this thing to go to,” Dawn said Friday. “And today, I’m changed. I’m like, well this is a new life isn’t it?”
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