About me

Hi there. I'm Rachel. Thanks for stopping by. =)

I'm going to tell you a little bit about myself. 

I was born in East Texas, into crisis. 
Seven and a half months earlier, when my mom was only six weeks pregnant with me, my dad, brother, and sister, all died in a small plane crash. I have one sibling, Rebekah, who was one year old at the time of the crash, and thankfully was not on board. Grateful every day for her!
Doctors said it would be a miracle if my mom didn't have a miscarriage given her grief and her early stage in pregnancy. Well,  people prayed and prayed. I still meet people to this day who tell me they were praying that I would not be lost.
My dad was a very well known christian recording artist. More than that, really a forerunner for contemporary christian music.
His name is Keith Green. He and my mom, Melody, moved from California to Texas in the 70s with a large handful of Jesus movement hippies to have more land for the ministry the Lord called them to start, it was called Last Days Ministries.

So I grew up on a ministry base, with hundreds of people, tons of land, lots of kids, free as a bird. Sort of..

We traveled a lot when I was young. My mom was asked to speak and give her testimony in many churches all around the world. There were weeks I lived on the road or in hotels. Oversees for months at a time. People (with the best of intentions) would line up to meet my sister and I to tell us how amazing we were. I was always a little confused at what I had done. We always had nannies who lived and traveled with us. A few became like second moms to me. So grateful for them. Some things were fun living in that way. Always going somewhere new and doing different kinds of things. There were also things that were hard, as there are with everyones story. 

I was twlve years old when the physical ministry base closed down, and everyone dispersed. Our family moved back to California where my mom was from. That was slightly traumatizing. Leaving all my friends and all I knew. But I immediately fell in love with Cali.

When I was eighteen, I considered moving to Kansas City to do a Leadership Development school called Masters Commission. I was extremely hesitant about going. It was the last thing I thought I would ever do, especially in the midwest! I thought I would never leave Cali. My sister had done the same program 2 years before me, and it was awesome for her. So, somehow the Lord got through to my hard headed brain and I applied. Many applied and weren't accepted, so I prayed one of those would be me. It wasn't.
That year in itself was rough, and I felt like i wasn't really learning anything. Some of it was because of my attitude. I may have been SLIGHTLY stubborn, and I MAY have broken a few (many) rules. The things that I learned that year were priceless. It just took a while for them to sink in, and then I had to be brave enough to apply them.

After Masters Commission, I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life. I felt lost, even depressed. I felt like I didn't know who I was.  I decided to go to Hawaii and stay with a friend who was at one of the YWAM bases there. My plan was to be there for 6 months, live with her, and clear my head. Trying to hear the Lord on what was next.

I should mention here.. Growing up the way I did, and with my legacy, I have always been under an extreme amount of pressure to be a certain way. Some from people and some from myself. There have been seasons where I was hard, and put up walls to protect myself. I acted like I didn't care and was the rebel of the bunch. And other seasons where I would be extremely quiet and didn't know how to be. It felt easier at times to just be quiet, than to not live up to peoples expectations.

OK... moving on... during my time in Hawaii I was in a long distance relationship with a boy who lived in California. It was mostly superficial. I had a long time friend who I grew up with in Texas. He would occasionally call me to keep in touch.  My friend was on the road with a ministry that traveled around and did assemblies in public high schools. There was a new guy on the road named Bobby. One time when I was talking to my friend on the phone, Bobby took the phone from him and started talking to me. We talked for a few minutes. He had a strong southern accent. Although someone grabbing the phone and chatting should have felt weird. It felt weirdly normal. I thought..."hmmmm.. that was interesting." I came to later find out, Bobby had seen a picture of me in one of my friends family albums. He has 4 sisters who I'm very close to, which was why I was in the album. When he saw my picture he said. "I want to meet that sister!" My friend said that I was not his sister, I had a boyfriend, and Bobby didn't have a chance anyway. But Bobby was determined. 
After our first short conversation, he wrote a song about marrying me and how I would become the mother of his son. (which he played for me after our first date... yes.. it's true)  He told my friend to call me back in a few weeks and he was going to take the phone again. So he did, and we talked for an hour. He asked tons of questions, was extremely respectful, and kind. He stole my number out of my friends phone and asked me if it was okay if he called me sometime. Something was completely different about him. He wasn't overly trying to impress. He wasn't crass or sarcastic. He was genuine, and kind. His love for the Lord was evident in all he said. He knew how to pursue. I could tell he was a leader, one even a girl as strong as me just might follow. Something I could expect at the end of every conversation was him asking, in his thick southern accent, if it would be ok if he called me again in a few days. ummm.. hmmmm.. yes I think that would be fine. =)
Long story short.. even though this is already long.. we talked on the phone for 3 months before we ever met in person. Back in that day there wasn't Facebook, or even Myspace. So I had no idea what he looked like. (freaky) During that time, my Cali fling and I broke up. I met Bobby around Thanksgiving in person, which was after I flew back to KC from Hawaii. We Started dating at New Years. We got engaged in March and married in August. And then... we lived happily ever after.. (with many issues to work out)

We have been on staff at Metro Christian Fellowship now for almost 6 years. Bobby is the full-time worship pastor, and I lead with him regularly. It has been an awesome experience and I love this church and the people in it. We have 3 children now as well. 
Being a pastor's wife has grown and changed me in ways I would have thought were impossible. I went from being fearful of people and their expectations -  being afraid of church and ministry- to absolutely loving and genuinely caring for people. I love local church, and I really love supporting my husband in his work and working alongside him. That doesn't mean its always butterflies and rainbows. uh.. this is church we are talking about. Church can be messy!! (dare I say it) 

My journey has been long and hard. Probably like so many of you. But the Lords faithfulness is the testimony of my life. He has brought me through, healed my heart, filled me, and gifted me with things I thought I would never have. All because I invited Him to.

I am not doing a blog to be cool and hip. I doing a blog because I felt led to. To tell stories of everyday life and of encouragement. Stories of struggle and victory. When we share our stories, it does a work in US. And that possibly, by sharing with all of you, the Lord will do more of a work in me. And just maybe, something will speak to you as well.