Jill's Journey: Mission of Hope

My Unexpected Journey to Romania

My husband, Bruce, and I married in 1982. Within five years, we had two sons, and like most people, we had good times as well as hard times throughout our marriage. We had times of plenty but more often, we struggled to pay the bills. My husband went through multiple periods of unemployment and we moved from city to city because of it. Every move meant I was leaving my old friends, and often it was difficult for me to make close friends.

I became a believer in Jesus Christ when I was 11 years old, and through all of the challenges in my life, He has remained an anchor in the waves, helping keep me from despair when life was hard, because even as a child, I experienced loss and sorrow. My mother died when I was 5 years old and my father remarried a few years later. I had a very rocky relationship with my step-mother through the years before her death in 2017. After she passed away, I was working to rebuild my relationship with my father, but lost him suddenly to a massive stroke in 2021.

In 2009, Bruce was diagnosed with prostate cancer and he underwent treatment that thankfully was successful to rid his body of the cancer. However, in June of 2017, he was again diagnosed with cancer. This time it was bladder cancer and it was already advanced when it was discovered. Although he received very good medical care, he passed away on April 28, 2018.

I spent many long nights lying awake during the 10 months of his doctors’ visits, lab tests, surgeries and chemo treatment, wondering what God’s plan was in all of this. I was anxious about being left alone and losing my beloved husband: he was the love of my life, my best friend and the steady rock in my life. I prayed that God would heal him, and yet at the same time, I felt that I needed to be realistic about what I would do if he died. Bruce maintained a very positive outlook throughout his illness, convinced that he would beat this cancer like he did in 2009, so it was hard to talk to him about my fears of him dying.

Worship music became very important to me during this time, as listening to it could bring me comfort, peace and hope. I also did a study of the Psalms that I look back upon and realize what a gift from God it was during such a season of sorrow. There are many Psalms that were written in difficult times by people who were desperate for God’s help, and yet they also displayed a sense of confidence, trust, and security in God. Other passages of Scripture were also helpful in grounding me on the solid Rock of the Lord: Deuteronomy 31:6-8; Isaiah 61:1-4; Matthew 11:28-30; Romans 5:3-5…and so many more!

After Bruce died, as I stood in the ashes and ruins of our life together and the dreams we’d had, I began to lean into my faith in deeper ways than ever before. The pain and sorrow of loss pushed me closer to Jesus, as there was no other place to find comfort or peace, hope or joy. Over time, I learned to hear His voice better as I prayed and read the Word of God. I experienced His love and provision, which built my trust in Him. I turned to Him as my Rock and foundation rather than leaning on the presence of my husband or on my own strength. I found new hope in seeking God’s will for my life in this unexpected journey.

Because of my grief, I chose to take a break from my job. Eventually, I asked God to show me what to do next. Slowly over that first year after Bruce died, God revealed a plan for me to move to Romania to minister to widows there. Oh, but that was not the original plan! Before I was ready to listen to Him, God took me on another unexpected journey: first, I climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, Africa, to raise funds for cancer research. I learned a lot about tenacity, endurance, and surrender on that trip and in the months of training leading up to it. A month later, I went on a mission trip to Zambia, Africa, with a group from my church in Colorado. There, I met people whose lives were being poured out in service to help others.

Coming home from those back-to-back experiences in the spring of 2019, God had worked the soil of my heart to prepare me for what was coming. First, a friend introduced me to Greater Europe Mission (GEM) and the many opportunities to serve in Europe, making disciples and building Christ’s church. Through exploring opportunities with GEM, I heard about a dental clinic being built in Southern Romania. Since I had worked in the dental field for over 36 years, it made sense to me that God had prepared me to come to Romania to help with the clinic. God’s ways are not our ways, though! He knew the future would include the pandemic, the war in Ukraine, the supply chain delays…all of which delayed the construction of the clinic. I arrived in Romania in July of 2021, committed to serve overseas for 3 years, and eventually realized the clinic was not why God brought me to this new country after all. I surrendered to His plan and found purpose in bringing hope and encouragement to widows in Romania and the neighboring country of the Republic of Moldova. God surely had equipped and prepared me, just not for the job I expected!

I began speaking at events for widows, making encouraging cards and bookmarks to give away, visiting other churches that had already established meetings for widows, and eventually, helped start a monthly widows’ meeting at the church I was attending in Timișoara. God helped me build relationships with many different people to share Christ’s love and the hope of the gospel, often in unexpected places, like at a small shop where I purchase craft supplies or with neighbors in my apartment bloc. As I have served from a place of my own pain and healing, the Lord helped me to “rebuild the old ruins, to raise a new city out of the wreckage, to start over on the ruined cities, to take the rubble left behind and make it new.” (Isaiah 61:4 MSG) His grace helped me build an altar on the ruins of my life to worship Him for all He has done for me, in me, and through me. God truly has redeemed my sorrows, but it took removing me from the comfort of my home in Colorado, exiling me, so to speak, to a place in the wilderness where He had my full attention. A place where He could mold me into the person He created me to be. A place where I learned to surrender my burdens to Him.

I have learned that God can use me for His kingdom no matter how old I am, or whatever sorrows or difficult circumstances I have experienced. Through His grace and mercy, He has given me many new friendships and a renewed purpose in my life to serve Him. He is my hope for eternity, but also for my life now, and He has filled my life with joy. He truly has brought beauty to my life where I thought there were only ashes and ruins left. He comforts me when my sorrow comes in waves and fills me with peace. Not only did I learn to speak Romanian, my journey and ministry in Romania has taught me the language of hope.

As I waited on the Lord for hope, healing, guidance and purpose, He renewed my strength to love Him wholeheartedly! As I anticipate my return to America in a few months, I am reminded of Psalm 126:4-6 in The Message – “And now God, do it again – bring rains to our drought-stricken lives so those who planted their crops in despair will shout ‘Yes!’ at the harvest, so those who went off with heavy hearts will come home laughing, with armloads of blessing.” My story continues…because in God’s love and wisdom, the ending of one chapter turns the page to the beginning of something new, something that He has designed just for me, to make me more like Jesus!