My dad’s miniature windmill
that was in our backyard
The love of my life,
Don Wilson
My beautiful family
Much like Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz, I grew up in the wheatlands of Southwest Kansas. My dad owned and operated the local IGA Grocery in Hugoton, Kansas. It was my second home and I cherish the memories of times spent there as a child. Many times my siblings and I would take turns pretending to be a shopper or a check-out person while we waited after hours for my dad to be done with his day.
My parents were strong believers in Jesus and our family attended church regularly. Because of the example and teaching from my parents and my church, I grew up with a strong faith in God. By the time I was a senior in high school I knew that I wanted God to use my life to build His Kingdom.
I began my college days at Manhattan Christian College in Manhattan, Kansas in the fall of 1966. It was there that I met my future husband who was studying for full-time ministry. We were married after our sophomore year of college. The only career I was interested in at that point was being a wife and mom, so I dropped out of school to begin our family.
As my husband and I continued to seek God’s will for our lives, we eventually found ourselves living in Phoenix, Arizona, a place we never expected to be. In 1975, we felt like we were in some exotic dream living among palm trees and swimming pools, but along with our three children, we put down roots and built a life as we walked through the doors that opened before us.
In 1982, we felt God leading us to start a church from the ground up, and we watched as He used our efforts to grow a church of a few people meeting in our living room to a congregation of over 20,000 meeting in multiple locations across our valley of the sun. There was never a weekend when I didn’t feel in awe of what God was doing in and through these two small-town Kansas kids who just wanted to be used by Him.
After 35 years leading Christ’s Church of the Valley, known to nearly everyone as CCV, we felt God calling us in a new direction. We had seen so many pastors and wives walk away from their calling to ministry because of discouragement and disappointment, and we felt led to be a source of encouragement and support for these couples, with the hope that they would be renewed and refreshed to stand strong in the quest to show people God’s love and His desire to a part of their lives. And so, in 2017, my husband and I left the ministry of our church and began a non-profit organization. Accelerate Group exists to stand in the gap for ministry couples and help them to understand that they are not alone.
But now let me tell you about what God has been doing in my heart. From the time I was a little girl, I have always loved stories. I was a reader and I loved to write. I loved words and the pictures they could paint for me. I have come to a time in my life when all the words and stories that God has been building up inside me are ready to start coming out. This site is a dumping place for my brain to begin downloading the ideas and thoughts that are anxious to be set free.
Thank you so much for visiting and for reading. I would love to hear from you, so please leave whatever comments you so desire.