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THE JOURNEY / 2014 WINTER
TRUSTING GOD WITH THE
PROCESS Hollie Wilcox
Hollie Wilcox has a great love for Boone. She loves the way this small town mixes with the University culture and mostly, because she gets to call this place home. She and her husband Joel serve at Cornerstone Summit Church and Hollie is the Community Prevention Coordinator of the Western Youth Network. She has been a part of the WYN staff since 2008.
I
t was an indescribable feeling. This is what I felt at age 14 while at a youth conference in Texas, like “every knee shall bow down and confess that Jesus is Lord.” I had heard about Jesus because both my grandmothers were devout Christians, who prayed all the time, but my first encounter was in that big stadium. I felt a draw in my spirit for something I couldn’t wrap my head around. It was a weird feeling and I sort of left it at that. It would be a matter of years before I would have another encounter with Jesus. It took a few turns around some hard corners between adolescence and adulthood to see God’s handiwork in my life. Looking back, I feel thankful to have spent the first 17 years of my life growing up in my parents’ little red house with a barn and a pond. We lived a simple life in Sugar Grove. My mom was a teacher, and my dad, a contractor. We had everything we needed but we didn’t have anything in excess. Not that it mattered. Being able to run bare-feet through the yard, climb trees, pick blueberries, and garden with mom are some of the favorite
things I have learned to appreciate about my childhood. I had a great childhood. My parents were always present. They were helpful when it came to homework, loving my brother and me, and providing a safe and strong structure to our home. My brother and I didn’t spend our nights watching television or playing video games. Rather, we loved the outdoors because we had the prized luxury to run on safe territory. I didn’t begin to appreciate this hallowed liberty until I grew older, realizing how many children live around crime and unsafe neighborhoods. I am fortunate to have tasted and experience such a jovial freedom as a kid. Although I experienced such joy as a child, I was taking one of the worst turns when I started the sixth grade. I entered middle school at 5”7 and weighed 140 pounds. I had an unusual stature for a 12-year-old. I became the laughing stock and often got picked on by the other students. Bullying wasn’t a term yet developed in schools. Then, it was an unspoken uni-
