True Inspirational Story of a Peaceful Healing Place

This is a true, inspirational story from my blog.  

I wrote This October 7, 2010

This was written not long after we moved to 

Rockingham, Virginia.  

We call this area our Healing and Peaceful Place. 

The Lord, writes themes upon my heart to share. 

I love being His Pencil in His Hand. 

I pray you are encouraged and blessed by this. 

He has spoken to my spirit for a to publish this particular story to you.

I couldn’t remember my blog address, it had been awhile since I have been on it. Then, in my memory newsfeed was the link to my blog and this story attached. 

He is so wonderful. I love Him so much. 

Our lives has been adventure in Yeshua.

My son is grown has a family of his own now. My husband is still an amazing godly man. Still is a dedicated professional Truck Driver, works now at a company here in Harrisonburg. I have since become chronically ill. I wasn’t doing well in my health then, at this season either…

I am so much in love with our King Yeshua. 

I have been giving friends, that is better than family. We aren’t at the same church we went to when we first got here…

This story is written at its season. 

 Abba wanted some of you all to read it. I listened and am sharing this, as He spoke to my heart to share it.  

Love Always, Kim 

The Beauty of A Home

We love living here in the mountains. It is a quite, gentle place. Filled with beauty and kind people. 

My husband moved us here to start a new life. 

To heal. To begin fresh. From alot of hurtful things done to us in our lives by extended family and to start a new adventure in Him.

God had plans for us to come here and He saw us through some tough times...

God has his reasons for the direction our lives took. 

We obeyed Him, even if it was hard. God is always good. 

Through all this, God was getting my husband’s attention. What it took to have that happen, cost us almost everything. Even nearly his own life. I will get to that in this story. 

Before coming to this great place we are now at…

We lived in Richmond for a short time…we started going to a church there called The Roc. He and my son, starting serving and helping in a couple of different ministries within that church, whenever they could. 

My husband is an professional road truck driver.

He was gone out a lot at that time. He made sure he was home on Saturdays…that was the day they did anything they could to serve at the church. Saturdays was a big day at the church…children’s ministries were in full swing, and plenty of activities to help and be apart of in it. That night was church service in general for everyone.

My husband and son always came home, so filled with joy and good things to tell me.

Iwasnot attending, because of illness. 

There is a lot of soul winning at this church as well. Groups would go out and minister to the needs of the inner city people and lead them to Christ. It is normal to know that at least 500 a week were getting saved. My husband and son loved going out soul winning. Telling others about God’s great love for them. They didn’t just do this during the times the groups went out from the church, they did it all the time, everywhere they went. 

To this day, my husband is a soul winner. It is in heart. It is his great joy to do so. 

He doesn’t just go to anyone…though, God has given him a gift of knowing who to talk to and who is saved and who is not. The Lord speaks to his heart, who to go to and talk to. Every time this happens between him and God, this person is led to Christ. 

I saw this many times while out with him. I will give you an example of the first time I saw this. While we were out one day, driving down the road, my husband turned into Taco Bell in Richmond. I was concerned, because I was on my way to a Dr. appointment and was running on time…stopping meant being late. I said, “What are you doing?” “We don’t have time to stop here.” He said, “I have to, see that man over there.” 

He pointed to a man standing with a group of people outside the restaurant. “That man, there.” “The Lord just told my heart, to stop and ask him if he wanted to know who Jesus is.” I said, “Go then.” 

Who am I to get in the way of eternity. 

I sat in the car and watched. 

I will tell you later why I did not get out or go out and do what my husband does. 

I sat in the car and saw my husband practically run up to the man. The man saw him coming. My husband had a huge smile on his face and gladness in his heart. It looked like he was seeing an old friend he had not seen in a long time and was so happy for the moment. I heard my husband say. “Hey man!” “I got something to ask you.” “Do you know who Jesus is?!” The man smiled at my husband and said, “No man, but I sure want to.”

I saw them move closer to each other and I saw them praying together. He then gave that man a big hug, and told him, “Welcome to the Kingdom of God!”

“You belong to Him now and He lives in your heart!”

The man was smiling the most wonderful smile I had ever saw in my life.

I was sitting in the car, tears running down my face. I just witnessed a moment in time that was priceless, it entered my heart and would stay for ever. 

This is what my husband does. The Lord will speak in his heart and tell him to say a certain thing to certain people and whatever that is, captures their hearts, cause it is meant just for them. He ends up praying for them, planting seeds, leading them to Christ.

I remember he told me once, the Lord asked him to tell a waitress something, at a truck stop he was at.

This was after we moved to The Mountians,were we are at now...

He said, he walked in and sat down to get a bite to eat before going back out on the road. The Lord said to him, “I want you to tell that woman, that Jesus is her friend and that I love her.” My husband did just that. He said, “I want you to know, Jesus loves you and He is your friend.” She broke down crying, sat down with him and told her of the pain in her life that she was experiencing and how she was needing to hear that, she was wondering if anybody loved her anymore or cared about her. He assured her that God did and was with her. He prayed with her. 

I do not have this special gift. I think sometimes, I sure wish I could do what my husband does….but God gives each person different gifts. Mine is in writing and in encouraging others. 

When we lived in Richmond, 

My son caught the fire of soul winning. 

He was attending a very violent middle school there. You would wonder, why would we put our son there…well, we were obeying God, even if it scared us or was not what we wanted….it was what God wanted. God took care of my son. My son made fast friends with one our neighbor’s son. He became a Christian and together they lead nearly 75 kids to Jesus in that middle school, during that time. 

During this time in Richmond, my husband was out in another state, a long way from home, his appendix busted. He ended up in the hospital. The Dr. said it was a miracle he survived it. Because he was 4 days out with a busted appendix. It was the grace of God that kept him alive.

Not long after that, he lost his job. 

The sewer in the house broke and for reasons we still can’t figure out, the landlord would not fix it. 

Our dog got hit by a car. (That is a cool story too though….God healed our dog.)

 My son and I prayed for her for 3 days, slept beside her and read Psalms to her. The vet told us she would not live out the night.. We didn’t give up….in 3 days she was up and herself again…she had a limp in her front leg…but she was alive. (She passed in her sleep a few years ago...here where we live now.

An old and happy dog)

After our dog got hit by a car..

Our car got repossessed. 

Then...

Our next door neighbor decided in her mind we were her enemy and relentlessly picked on us. She wrote us bad letters and put them in a chair on our porch for us to read. 

Don’t worry about her too much though, we kept loving her and doing good to her, praying for her…she broke down and cried, told us she was sorry and was scared she was going to go to hell for the way she treated us…we told her we forgave her and she went to church with us one night and gave her heart to Jesus.

These things all took place in a weeks time. One right after the other.

I learned much later that my husband had been praying for awhile about going into to ministry full time at The Roc and wanted God to do whatever it took, if that was His will for us. 

I said to my husband, “Good gracious!” 

“Couldn’t you just listened to what He wanted you to do the first time, with out being so hard headed.” “Look what we went through.”

I also learned God had a bigger plan and it didn’t just include us. God works all things out for our good. This I know is true for our lives. 

It came to the point when we had to move out of the house. 

My husband met with the Pastor of the church he was attending, told him what was going on and what was in my husband’s heart, to serve there and it was decided that we would go to the Roc and volunteer in full time ministry, in whatever way we were needed, give them all we had in our home and in return, while we would serve there, they would give us a place to live and provide our needs. 

(At the end of our season there though...we knew we had to leave immediately, without delay...something wasn't right with some of the leadership there. And Abba was about to shake the foundations there to expose some things)

Anyway...before we were to go there, after the decision was made...I had been suffering very much in my being. 

I was sick and I was sacred. I had not been well for some time and I suffered from sever agoraphobia and panic attacks. I barely came out of my bedroom. 

I was not well physically as well and was suffering. 

I would pray and cry myself to sleep each night, I wanted God to heal me, so I can live a “normal” life. I was on the inside looking out and missing life.

I also wanted to obey God and I wanted to support my husband. 

I had to drag myself out of the “safety” of my bedroom and go into the rest of the house and begin to pack things to give to the church, so my “treasures” could be a blessing to others.

It was so hard for me and I cried the whole time. My tears fell like a broken water faucet.

I felt I was giving away my life and it hurt and it was hard. I was giving up everything. My safe feelings I created for myself…my family, my life, my things…myself. 

I watched my comfy cozy bed, that had been my life and safe place to hide in for too many years...it was hsuled into a big truck for someone else. My dressers, my son’s bedroom set and things…pots, pans, dishes, TV, couches, chairs, lamps, microwave…everything…

but my pictures and Jonathan’s things I saved from when he was a baby. 

Just kept some very personal items…

stored in my in-laws barn on their farm at this time. 

My husband, hugged me and comforted me and told me God would take good care of us and would bless us. That all our things would be a great blessing to others. They were just things. Still I got to understand how hard it is to let go of “things.”

It was hard for me to give up everything, of what little we had left. I was upset about it. 

I was unsure of what was next. Plus I was very sick. I barely would come out of my bedroom, much less think of going into ministry at an inner city church.

I was thinking, how easy it would be to just put a mattress down on the floor of my empty bedroom and just fall asleep. Even in a house with the sewer broken.

We had $20 to our name the last day at the house. I said to my husband, “What are we going to do?” “I have medicines to get, we need to feed Jonathan and we have needs.“ 

I was crying. My sweet husband hugged me and he said, “God will take care of us.” Right after he said this...Right then, there was a knock at the door. Our neighbor from across the street, (not the one that was being mean), came over and she said, “I felt it in my heart to come over here and give you this.” She handed my husband $80.

We cried and thanked her. We prayed that God would bless her 3 times as much.

God was right then demonstrating the beginning of meeting all our needs, even before we set foot out of that house. 

The next day, I was to serve at the church’s thrift store. I had a terrible panic attack. I began to run...trying to hide...A beautiful woman of God, named Monica, I ran right into a besutiflu loving woman named, Monica.

Who also served there, saw my distress, she just grabbed me up toghtly into her arms, like a blanket and washed me over in prayer. I could feel the love of God covering me in her arms. After that I was fine and while there I did not experience another attack.

Inside of a week, we watched God bless others with all our things that we gave. I saw it with my eyes, it blessed my heart. I felt grateful to do it and humbled to be serving Him in all areas of my life. Joy entered me and I felt like It was like popcorn popping in my heart, none stop. 

I never felt so complete and humbled at the same time. I saw first hand in ministry there, real hurt, pain, and need. My own was a shadow compared to the needs in Richmond. I Thanked God for The Roc. And for any Church building and people willing to give themselves up so others can know God and to be a comfort and help to others that need it. I saw giving, by the people in there in such profound ways. No regard to self, if there was a need, that was the most important moment, nothing else mattered. Time stopped and surrounded each person in thier need, so they could be loved on and that need to be met. God touched me in the deep places of my heart. I came to know love like I never known it before. I reflect often at my times at The Roc. My heart is still there. I cry sometimes still, for missing it. Not the place...but the experiences. My husband, son and I repeatedly say to one another, we would do it again Lord. Yes Lord, we would. If He asked it of us again…we would not hesitate. 

My family and I were only there for a season. But in the time we were there God did a great work in our hearts. We are forever changed.

Now we are here. In the mountians (Since 2010) 

God has been restoring our lives, in His way. 

Gently healing me in His rest and peace. He has been blessing us ever so slowly and providing all that we need in His time. Replacing the things in our lives that we gave. 

But we get to keep what treasures He gave in our hearts, in the place of the “treasures” we gave away to others. 

Nothing compares.

Some have said to my husband, “How could you do that to your family, just give it all up and not be a man and take better care of them.”

My husband doesn’t get offended. I do though. In my eyes, my husband is my hero. He obeyed God. Even though it was hard. Even though we suffered. We encountered, things man can never give to us. 

We encountered God. People that lived Jesus out loud. We encountered a flowing of peace everlasting. A continual understanding of the realities of God loving a lost and dying world. 

We know God, we love Him and we serve Him. 

You can never out give God. 

Our life belongs to God. We give it freely to Him. After all, He gave His life for us. That is a debt no man can pay. Jesus paid a price we could never repay, out of complete and perfect love toward all men.

Each person’s life is planned different. No journey is the same. None should ever be judged by God's personal plans for them. Every relationship with God is different. Just like a child witn his or her parents...if there is more than one child each child has a unique relationship with their parent. I think it maybe the same with Abba. But what dosent just is that He is the Father and those who love Him...we all are His children. 

A petsonal relationship beyween Him and a child of His, is a personal thing. A sacred thing. A most prized experienced only between God and another. No one should compare their relationship with God to any one else. But only share into. Together. 

I am proud of my husband, I have deep respect for him. I honor him and love him. God chose this man just for me to share time and space with him on this earth.

I do confess, there has been many times since we moved to the area we are in now...that I freted over wanting this or that for the house to make it into a home. God cares about that for me. But He also reminds me what is most important. Depending on and testing in Him...He gives and takes away.

But what waits for us in GLORY is everlasting. 

Right before we left The Roc, my sweet friend Monica, gave me a love letter out of a book she had at the time. 

The book is called, Love Letters From Your King, by Sherri Rose Shepherd.

This is what it said.

My Princess…fill your home with peace.

I know how hard it is for you to feel content in your home when you’re always wanting one more thing to make it the perfect place. I long to give you beautiful things that turn a house into the haven of a home; but My Princess, you must first learn to let Me build in you a place of peace and contentment. Do your best to rest in Me and wait for Me, and then I will give you what I know will benefit you the most. I want you to make your home a place that builds relationships and reflects who you are in Me. Remember that your loved ones need you more than any material thing. So decorate your home with joy, fill it with timeless memories, and create a safe place to grow in Me.

Love, Your King and Resting Place

John 14:27 

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled.

Monica had no clue how God was using her right then. I keep this “Love Letter” handy, whenever I would get discouraged about homemaking, I get this letter out and read it. I wpuld then, get my heart set on what truly makes a home beautiful. 

Not too long ago, my husband and I were up early, sitting at the table having coffee and talking about God. We were discussing how we needed to please God with our lives and with our actions to each other in the home. So others that come into our home can see a reflection of Him in our lives. We prayed together and asked God to help us do that and to help us please Him with our lives in our home, so that others who come in can know His love for them. We asked Him to forgive us, for the times we have not being doing that and asked God to help us be more tolerant and forgiving of each other as well. 

After we prayed that together, I gave a kiss to my husband 

All at once, I had a type of vision. 

I saw a large water fountain in the center of my home. It was flowing smoothly and was refreshing and calming. Then I saw it with rocks in it and grim and dirt, stopping it up and it was running slower and then hardly at all, then none at all.

I got an understanding of what it meant.

The fountain is the spirit of the home, the Holy Spirit must run through our lives and in the home. Our bad actions, words and sin causes Him not to flow. We must work on keeping our fountain clean and flowing. (Our Spirit)

The Holy Spirit works through us and is the well spring of our lives. 

Fami,y and others should come into my home feeling refreshed, calm, safe and at peace.

The Holy Spirit can’t flow through our lives if we clog up our spirit with messy things, it is my responsibility to keep my spirit clean and available to represent Him in my home and in my life.

I am very grateful to have Jesus living in my heart and in my home. He is welcomed in both. I have invited Him to do so. He makes all the difference in our lives.

I wanted to add onemore true story to this...one night at The Roc.

It was night time about 7 pm.

Everyone was at their Homes. 

In the outside shelter building, of the Center...was where we were sleeping at the time, before they moved us into a House with others that were at the roc too.

We were hungry. We had not eaten a meal for 2 days. My son was 12 had some things, but not a meal. 

We discovered someone had locked the doors to the Shelter. And the person in charge would not answer his phone. So we gathered in prayer. 

We asked for Abba's help.  

Just then. A very special friend in our lives, drove up to us in the darkness. 

His name is Issac. He lived in Richmond. He was going Home from work...He told us, He was thinking of us and decided to check on us and ask us to dinner. Now let me tell you. 

The parking lot was huge. And we were all the way to the back of it and he did not even know where we were and it was dark. He drove up right to us, after we prayed. 

We told him what happened and that we had not eaten a meal in 2 days. 

God did this for us. Met our need through our precious family friend. 

He took us to dinner. 

When we got back later, the man over that building had the key to the locked shelter still did not answer his phone..so we had to sleep in the back of an empty box truck, that was on the property. The next morning, very early, we let the leader know what happened. They worked a bit harder to get us in that one house after that. Ministry, obedience, and such is not about comfort. But faith, hardwork, and trusting God. 

Everything has a season. And God does incredible things. It's all about not complaining as well. Work as unto The Lord in all things. 

We were grateful. For the whole experience there at the roc. 

It changed us on the inside in wonderful good ways. 

Kimberly Wenrich 

2 Corithians 5:17

Psalms 139