Saint Lottie Hornbeck

When I was in seminary, I had an assignment to interview people in regards to their testimony. A testimony is merely the story of how the individual became a Christian. In the life of every Christian, there is a point when they place faith and trust in Jesus as personal Savior. For some people, it comes later in life, as a teenager or adult. Yet for others it is at an early age, five or six for example. A testimony will have a part about the time before the person was a Christian; the moment they became a Christian (conversion); and life after the conversion. What follow is the testimony of Lottie Hornbeck, a most remarkable woman.


Lottie was 70 years old when I asked her to share her testimony. The reason I had chosen her was for a story that I will share later. Lottie was a sweet, kind, and wonderful lady. She had a quiet, humble, and strong faith in her God. A simple woman, yet in that simplicity there was a great amount of rich wisdom and strength that was portrayed in her character.

As I sat with her to ask a few questions about her conversion she told me that it was a long time ago and not very interesting. And then she proceeded.

She said that she was about five years old when friends and family were gathered at her house for an occasion. There on the table was a plate of cookies. Lottie said that they looked so good and she really wanted one, so when the adults were in the other room, she reached up and took one. After eating it, she had this horrible realization that she had done wrong. And she also wondered how God could love a person as evil as her, one that would steal a cookie. She said that she somehow felt she was separated from God and wanted so desperately to undo what she had done. She wanted to replace the cookie that she had stolen. But she couldn’t because she didn’t know how to make cookies. So it was there, in the kitchen, under the table that she asked God to forgive her and trusted Jesus as her savior.

“I told you it wasn’t very interesting”, Lottie said. I was speechless. Over a cookie, I thought. That was amazing. Her whole life changed at five over snitching a cookie. I have certainly done a lot worse in my life than taking a cookie. So began the new life of Lottie.

Let me clarify and qualify a few things. It is not that God would hate a child such as Lottie that was the turning point. Because, we cannot fathom that God would or could do such a thing. But it is in Lottie’s realization that her action hurt God and because of that hurt, she felt a sense of separation from God. And in that realization was the understanding that she needed to make it right. And the only way of making it right was a twofold response. One, somehow there needed to be a replacement for the cookie. And two, there was the need for God to forgive her. Since she could not replace the cookie, somehow there still needed to be something or someone to takes its place. Enter Jesus. And for her evil actions (Lottie’s words not mine), forgiveness needed to be granted. Enter God.

This is the story of Saint Lottie, part one.