I’d like to introduce you to Kim. Kim Jones joined our team as the Director of Engagements last February, but she has been a friend to My Refuge House for many years. She currently resides with her husband and three beautiful children in Irving, Texas. Watch for news of upcoming events in the DFW area that she will be spearheading!
–Crystal
_________________________________________________________
A few weeks ago my family did its yearly 11 hour car ride to this beautiful place. Once we arrived, all five of us seemed to literally fall out of the car and instantly relax. The stars and moon shone in ways we could not see in the city. The smells and sounds were more vivid than they seemed to be in day to day life. There was a sense of peace that fell over all of us.
There are only a handful of times in my life that I have experienced that kind of peace. The kind of peace that my entire being longs for– when my senses are alive with possibility and my thoughts and imagination feel unchained and unconfined by life. Those moments are the ones that I most clearly see the hand of God at work in the space around me and in the inter-working’s of my own life. There is freedom there, in that peace.
What is peace to our girls at My Refuge House? Is it the bed they sleep in, the food that fills their bellies and the lessons they learn daily?
Yes, but it’s also when each girl walks through the door, landing in a space so different than what she’s known before. It’s here that she experiences something that is other worldly in both the land and in humanity.
When My Refuge House was looking for property their prayer was “God, help us find land that is therapeutic in itself,” and this place most definitely is. Perched on a hill in a country comprised of over 7,000 islands, overlooking the dense green tropical island landscape, and from afar the deep blue ocean, My Refuge House is a place of peace. And there is freedom there, in that place.
In her housemothers and in her teachers and in her new friends, the edifying relationships are very different for the girls at My Refuge House also. It doesn’t take long for the girls to start calling each other words like “Brad” (Similar to calling someone “Bro” in English) and creating new nicknames for everyone. There is a sense of shared experiences, familiarity and shared hope that propel them forward. And there is freedom in belonging, and peace that makes your soul come alive.
We all long for peace in our lives. The kind of peace that surpasses all understanding, the peace – shalom of Christ. It’s the thing that helps to make the crooked things straight, the empty refilled and bring comfort to the discouraged.
My Refuge House is more than just a location or a cluster of buildings. It’s a place that embodies peace.
When I think of our girls I’m reminded of the verses in Isaiah 55:12-13. This is my prayer for them, but I believe it’s God’s hope and plan for all of us. Rescue and Renewal. We will be monuments to our God who is everlasting and our ultimate peace.
“So you’ll go out in joy,
you’ll be led into a whole and complete life.
The mountains and hills will lead the parade,
bursting with song.
All the trees of the forest will join the procession,
exuberant with applause.
No more thistles, but giant sequoias,
no more thorn bushes, but stately pines—
Monuments to me, to God,
living and lasting evidence of God.”
