Hello to all the beloved family reading the blog and rooting
for my husband, Patrick. I cannot tell you how important your encouragement has
been for him-so in turn, for me as well. Patrick asked me to guest blog and
write about how I ended up here. I think it is safe to start off by saying that
I am no brave person or visionary and that the only reason I ended up in
Hillcrest was b/c of God’s prompting or should I saw many promptings.
I had always been the hesitant one deciding to move here and
especially during our first year of marriage I did not feel so ready (to be
fair though, I am one that is usually slow to “feel ready”). I had submitted my
worries and concerns to both Patrick and the Lord and still did not have
confirmation until one fine day on the couch. Both Patrick and I were
worshiping and waiting on the Lord when I saw a picture of a crescent moon
above the red Hillcrest city sign. I then saw tons of crescent moons everywhere
in the vision. I quickly dismissed this as flesh. But the vision kept
reappearing and I heard the Lord say very clearly “You will crest me in
Hillcrest.” I still dismissed this as my own flesh and even talked back to God
and said “God, you aren’t even grammatically correct!” Actually, I was so
wrong! The word crest can be used as a verb and it can mean “to crown.” I
literally had to look up the word in the dictionary multiple times to ensure my
skepticism/ignorance. The Lord was telling me through this prophetic vision that
I was go and crown him in a place where he wasn’t crowned as king in a loving,
very non-threatening, anti-sign-holding way.
The Lord slowly began to show me in other ways the urgency
of going to a land filled with broken souls and people who feel different or
lonely. He reminded me that this was also my opportunity and privilege to be a
“Ruth” to “Naomi” by following my husband in his ministry. I knew that I could
offer my humble service by: following him, hosting people, cooking meals for
the hungry, praying and interceding, befriending people, and telling my own
story of healing and journey to freedom.
The Lord reminded me also of how I constantly drew rainbows
as a little girl and how my mama received thousands of pictures of rainbows
that I drew for her. The Lord said to me that I have been drawn to the rainbow
and the people it represents even as a little girl. As many of you know, God
really speaks to me in symbols and this was him yet again revealing how he used
the rainbow symbol my whole life. I obviously want people to understand the
real meaning of the rainbow which is His everlasting covenant with us.
I also freely admit that I still struggle with the whole
“ready” feeling. I am but a mere patched- up girl who deals with fear and
questions all the time. I battle with performance issues and doubts and the “what
if” questions still but I now have peace knowing that there are friends out
here that have felt the touch of Jesus since we have moved here and that I am
only following His call to me. Just as God told the prophet Ezekiel ahead of
time the warning that not everyone would listen to him, that it would not be
easy but to simply obey Him- I want to be like him. Ezekiel’s measure of faith
was summed up by his obedience to God, not at how many people would respond to
his prophecies.
I want to end by
saying thank you to your responsive faithfulness to God and to us. We would not
be able to be here without you.
