There once was a little girl named Stacey, who wasn’t much of a dreamer. Sure, she occasionally had a passing thought about one thing or another but nothing that resonated with her. She often wondered why that was. What should she do with her life?
Stacey knew she had administrative skills as early as age eleven but was underwhelmed with the thought of what kinds of jobs that would be useful in. She told God whatever he gave her to do, needed to be creative, since she enjoyed this most. What she didn’t realize was that while she may not have been dreaming about her future, God was and he had all kinds of things in mind for her that would be both challenging and fulfilling.
First God gave her six children at a young age, when she hadn’t even given a thought to motherhood. In the midst of this he called her to homeschool her children, even though she had been barely an average student.
Stacey became very thankful for her gift of administration as it served her well in both of these areas, but God had more. He began to call her in to ministry while in the middle of her homeschooling career. After two years of praying, the doors open to helping women who had experienced domestic abuse, something she knew very little about. Still, she moved forward in obedience.
Her only plan was to lead a group of women through their healing journey but God turned it into a non-profit. It grew and grew and grew, reaching across the US and internationally. Stacey wasn’t sure how that happened except for knowing God was in it. She’d always felt the only truly amazing thing about herself was that she kept getting up each morning and saying ‘Yes’.
With her children grown and a dozen grandchildren, she is still, to this day, in full-time ministry, but God wasn’t finished. Stacey began to write for fun when she would go away to rest. Telling no one because it felt silly to her, even though it brought her joy. She hadn’t read much growing up and didn’t learn to like to read until her late twenties.
After Stacey finished her book, Escape from Nowhere, a book reviewer friend asked to help her. Many years and editors later and multiple revisions, she decided now is the time to share it with others. She resonates with the main character, Timorous. As a ‘play-it-safe’ kind of person, Stacey knows none of what she accomplished would have happened had it been up to her. She understands God believes in all of us (more than we do) and he always dreams big.