The Vision

by Stefanie Brown
(Mechanicsburg, PA, USA)

Helping people restore their lives was to become, unbeknownst to me, my destiny when mine fell apart.

My educational background consists of a degree in Psychology and two years of Sports Medicine. I have been a Legal Assistant for the last 21 years. (All I ever wanted to be was a cosmetologist!)

In 1999, I began the process of my second divorce, which is what began the onset of what I would call the beginning of my destiny. It seems I was put in every situation and experienced every emotion a person could have at this time to the extreme and didn't know until later years it was so I could help people.

One night I had an "encounter" so to speak with "someone" in my room who began speaking to me. Having a psychology background, I thought I was headed for padded walls!

I thought God (and people use many different names for God, I just choose God) was someone you meet when you die. I was spiritually ignorant of just about everything, but I knew what I heard. Being the naive person, I would question and say, "If it is You, make the phone ring." Sure enough, it rang.

I then needed more proof and said, "If it is You, make the phone ring and let it be so and so." Sure enough, it did, it was and I became a total mess!

I began to listen and do what I heard and while I would like to say all was a bed of roses, I cannot. What I can tell you is that for the last 12 years, it has a been a journey that I would never trade one moment in time for, not even the bad ones. I must emphasize I am not "religious"; I know God, and the two are quite different.

In 2003, I began to counsel adults/children going through divorce and abuse and one thing led to another and I was soon teaching/counseling and became a part of a local coffee shop/ministry facility/radio station where I taught people how to hear from God. I appeared on television and spoke at conferences, but not even that prepared me for what was going to happen next.

One evening while at a conference, I had a vision of a room with blue carpeting and cream colored walls. Shortly after having this vision, I was in need of a space to counsel/teach and I asked God where that room was and He said "Rosemont".

I found Rosemont Avenue in Camp Hill, PA and sure enough, a building with space to lease. The property owner took me to the 2nd floor, opened the door and there was the room with the blue carpeting and cream colored walls. So much happened during the time of Vision of Hope.

I heard God speak that "all would be provided". The space was empty and there were about 50 people who were there and we had no chairs. God said to me clearly, "The chairs will be provided by a church" (even though we were not a "church" as one would consider by this day).

So January 1, 2005, we were gathering and week after week people would say they would buy chairs and I said absolutely not, God said. Well, a few weeks later I received a phone call that someone contacted a person who came to Vision of Hope that their church would donate the chairs! We received 55 chairs!

I "heard" also that we would provide food and clothing to the people in need. I "heard" to get one box and one flyer. A woman in the group took it to her post office and lo and behold, 8,000 pounds of food showed up at the door to Vision of Hope. LITERALLY! More clothing than I knew what to do with came by the truck full also.

One day in looking at all the clothing, I said God, we need racks. He said, "By the end of the year." It was June. In December, I received a phone call that a store was going out of business at a local outlet and they wanted to donate their clothing racks!! Sure enough, on December 31st, we had the clothing racks! MANY people in the area and outside the area welcomed the food and clothing.

When He told me to close Vision of Hope, He said, "Now the Vision becomes a reality." Since that time, much has occurred to "birth" Take Your Destiny. It is time for people to come to know who they are, use what they have been given and not slumber any longer.

My purpose is to lead you out of the wilderness and remove the obstacles that are in your way in order for you to TAKE YOUR DESTINY!