The Love That Changed Everything
Long before EPIC existed, there was Wim — my husband, my greatest champion, and the most beautiful reflection of Christ-like love I have ever known.
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Wim saw me differently than I saw myself. He saw a powerful force for good. He saw a vessel for God's glory. And his life's calling became beautifully simple: to help me become the highest and best version of myself so that I could serve the world with everything God had placed inside me.
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We loved fearlessly. We loved fiercely. We spent countless hours in conversation — dreaming, praying, imagining how God would use us together for His glory and His honor. We talked about legacy. About impact. About what it means to lay down your life as an offering to God and to one another.
Two weeks before Wim went to be with Jesus, he looked at me with a clarity that still echoes through my soul. He asked me to make him a promise. He asked me to step away from the distractions — the money-making ventures, the real estate pursuits, all the things that pull us away from our true calling. He asked me to immerse myself in writing, in serving, in the sacred work of the Kingdom of God.
"Surrender to your calling," he said. "Write. Serve. Transform lives. And trust me — God will take care of you."
Fourteen days later, he was gone.
The grief that followed was the deepest pain I have ever known. I lost my partner. I lost my lover. I lost my greatest cheerleader and my closest ministry partner. I lost the man who believed in me when I didn't fully believe in myself. My world shattered. The silence was deafening.
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But in that valley of shadows, in those dark nights when I didn't know if I could go on — God met me there. Not with explanation. Not with comfort that erased the pain. But with a presence so real, so tender, so undeniably powerful that I knew: This is your time. This is your calling. Step into it. I am with you. Wim was right.
In my deepest grief, God empowered me. He transformed my pain into purpose. He took the charge that Wim had given me — Keep writing. Keep serving. Keep transforming lives. — and He made it holy. He made it Kingdom work.
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Now, seventeen years later, every coaching session, every author I mentor, every leader I serve, every word I write — it is all an offering. It is all in honor of Wim's sacrificial love. It is all in service to God's transformative power. It is all for the greater good — so that broken hearts can be healed, silenced voices can be heard, and pain can be transformed into the most powerful force for change this world has ever known.
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This is why I do what I do. This is who I am. I am a servant, empowered by grace, called to transform lives through the power of God's love.