By Mark Ellis
Elizabeth Coll
A hideous violation by her second husband left her wondering if she could every trust a man again. Then her best friend died from cancer, and a series of prophetic words and dreams opened her heart to love again.
Originally from Canada, Elizabeth Coll moved to California with her daughter and second husband. “What we went through in our first year (of marriage) brought me to the end of myself,” Elizabeth says. A strong Christian, she had always pointed to her blessed circumstances to show others the greatness and love of God.
But then she faced the ultimate betrayal by her new husband. “It was horrible, the circumstances couldn’t look any worse. He appeared to be a strong Christian, but he was a sociopath hiding in the church,” she says.
“One day I thought I had a great man who loved the lord and loved me. But I was married to a monster.”
Years earlier, Elizabeth was distraught after her first marriage fell apart. “I never wanted to be divorced,” she says. “I went through a huge journey with God over that.”
A Christian counselor thought she was ready to marry again, and she went into the second marriage cautiously. “I looked for red flags. He had two amazing sons.” Everything looked right on the surface, until disaster struck.
“He was a predator,” she says. “He doesn’t have a conscience. It was the worst thing I could imagine.”
The violation rocked her faith and left her wondering what to believe. Could God even use this for good? she wondered.
“I felt betrayed by the whole church. To trust other Christians again would be a miracle,” she felt.
Elizabeth found a small church in Laguna Beach, California known as Church by the Sea, which she found to be a healing place. Slowly, God began to fill Elizabeth’s heart with peace and contentment. “I would get up each day and God would show me what to do and how to do it. I would be on my face at night. He would give me what I needed,” she recounts.
Elizabeth with her friend Karen
In the midst of Elizabeth’s journey toward healing and wholeness, her best friend Karen was stricken with terminal cancer. “She was the first person who loved me with the love of Christ. I shared with her the things I kept secret. She was so loving and kind. She shaped my Christian walk.”
Karen had been her soul mate as the marriage fell apart. “She knew everything that happened. She walked through it with me,” Elizabeth says.
In their last conversation before Karen passed into the arms of the Lord, she said something to Elizabeth that caught her off guard: “I want you to promise me you won’t shut your heart down. God has a lovely man for you who you will be able to trust.”
“Okay, I promise,” Elizabeth said half-heartedly. At that moment, she couldn’t imagine trusting a man and allowing him into her life.
About nine months after Karen’s passing, she had a God-inspired dream that left her wondering.
In the dream, she found herself standing on a pier in California. It was a place she had never seen before. “I was standing near a railing, with my hands on the railing. I looked down at the dark blue water.”
Inadvertently, her keys slipped out of her hands and fell into the water. What am I going to do? she wondered.
She turned to her left and saw stores and restaurants. Then she turned to her right and saw Karen’s husband, Marc.
Marc walked up and stood beside her. “What are you doing here?” Elizabeth asked. “Where are your kids?”
His presence by her side left her feeling that everything would be all right. Moments later, she found the keys on the beach near a volleyball court. “I found them and Marc went one way and I went the other.”
When Elizabeth woke up she pondered her “weird” dream. She felt prompted to pray for Marc and his children, for healing of their hearts. “Karen and Marc had been married for 37 years. I knew Marc was devastated.”
A few days later a friend named Patsi called and said she had a word for Elizabeth.
Elizabeth laughed. “What’s the word?” she asked.
“It’s only one word: Marc…”
Elizabeth erupted on the phone. “That’s inappropriate,” she protested. “I don’t want to hear this.”
“Okay, but it’s true,” Patsi said with assurance. “It’s going to happen. You two need to get together.”
After Elizabeth’s dream, Marc had a dream that he and Elizabeth were walking together on White Rock beach, south of Vancouver, holding hands.
Marc Sjoberg
In response to the dream, Marc looked up Elizabeth’s Facebook page and “liked” a few of her photos. Then he sent a message through Facebook saying he admired a photo of Karen and Elizabeth together.
The next day he sent a message asking Elizabeth to call his cell phone.
Elizabeth wondered what this could mean. She dialed his number and immediately asked, “Is anything wrong?”
“No, I just wanted to talk to you,” he said. “I think you’re a beautiful woman of God and I’m really attracted to you. I know you don’t feel at home in California. If you decide to move back up here, we could see more of each other.”
Elizabeth was shocked by his directness – “flabbergasted.” “I didn’t know what to say.” She thought of Marc as a nice guy, but the whole idea of a relationship with him seemed out of bounds.
After the phone call, Marc felt discouraged, deflated by her response.
A few days later, Elizabeth was at a friend’s house and described the unusual series of dreams and events. After she related the story of Marc’s phone call, she waited for her friend to gasp.
“I think that’s lovely,” her friend said unexpectedly.
“You don’t think its weird?” she asked.
“Tell me more about him.”
“He’s a really nice man,” Elizabeth said. “He has a strong faith. He is there for people. I saw him love Karen through the hell of the cancer.”
“Hmmm…Do you think you could trust him?” her friend asked.
“Of course…I wouldn’t even have to think about it.”
“But you told me you could never trust a man again…Can’t you see this is a gift from God?”
Then her friend’s daughter walked into the room, opened her iPod, and immediately it started playing the wedding march.
Both women burst out laughing.
Elizabeth’s friend happens to be a schoolteacher and said she wanted to give Elizabeth some homework: to call Marc once a day.
“I’m not phoning him,” Elizabeth shot back.
“OK, text him; your homework is one text message a day.”
Elizabeth left her friend thinking the whole thing was somewhat bizarre, but on another level, she could see God’s fingerprints.
She went home that night and sent Marc a message: “I have respect for you and I love your whole family. I could see how we could fall into step with each other.”
Marc texted back: “Thank you for telling me.” Then he told her about his dream.
Elizabeth thought about her own dream but didn’t tell him because she still felt funny about it.
Over the next two months, the two began to talk on the phone almost every day. “He was very direct, very romantic,” Elizabeth says. “He sent me songs he thought God gave him for me.”
Finally, Elizabeth told him about the prophetic dream.
Marc needed no further confirmation. He booked a flight to visit Elizabeth in August. “I want to look into your eyes for the first time,” he told her.
She could tell they were developing feelings for each other, falling in love over the phone.
Still, Elizabeth wondered, What will it be like when we actually meet?
Her plan was to pick Marc up at LAX and drive to the beach to watch a sunset. She thought about going to Santa Monica, but then her daughter suggested they go to Redondo Beach.
After she picked him up at the airport, they ended up at Redondo Beach pier, someplace she had never seen before.
With a fiery sun dropping toward the horizon, they strolled out on the pier together. Then Elizabeth
Redondo Beach pier
had a startling realization.
“I put my hand on the railing and looked down and it was the exact image in my dream. The shops and restaurants and people were all the same. And there was Marc!”
Marc turned to her and said softly, “I have fallen completely in love with you.”
“I felt such a peace,” Elizabeth says. “God orchestrated it and it was good and right. It all came together in that moment. We hugged and kissed. It was so romantic, out of a storybook.”
“This is the spot in my dream,” Elizabeth told him.
They both felt God was doing something. “We both just knew it was meant to be. We fit. Even when we hugged we knew.”
“We cried standing at that spot.”
Elizabeth moved back to Canada in August. Last week she and Marc had dinner with Marc and Karen’s children for the first time. “They have been so positive and amazing,” she says. “We all feel peace because we can see God’s handiwork.”
“Its been an amazing journey,” Elizabeth says, “but it feels like I’m finally home.”