The Vision

     I will now begin our thrilling eye opening as well as heart warming  journey of faith , totally befitting the saying; "Our lives are a classroom and God is the teacher."

     Our adventure in faith to The King's Tavern , like Dorothy traveling the Yellow Brick Road on her sojourn to get HOME, began on a sultry September evening. Kit and I were just about to nod off into slumber-land. It was the year of 1997. We resided within a quaint city in Arizona. Our little cottage was a lovely historical, one bedroom with a partial wrap around porch. We were all snuggled up together in our cozy and  high four poster Rice bed. I had just closed my bible after talking with the Lord when suddenly, my spirit felt overwhelmed with a warm, elated feeling. It was the presence of the Lord. It is the kind of feeling you wish would never leave you, one you want to bask in forever. His peace was majestic. I began to fall into a restful sleep as an epic and quite vivid vision appeared before my closed eyes. What I saw was a brilliant and  immense home. It was a mixture of a remarkable Greek Revival and a stunning Victorian architecture. This whimsical home was a soft white with several beauteous columns. The foliage surrounding the home was striking, serene as well as comforting, resting close to a body of water. As the vision of this resplendent home shown before me, I heard a voice softly speak to my spirit saying;

     "The house by the water is yours. It will all come about  just as My amazing occurrences came to Esther in the bible. It will come through step by step obedience to my Spirit."

     Suddenly, I was no longer in a slumber-land mode. My heart was racing and I was ardently filled with awe and excitement at what the Lord had placed within my heart. The revelation He had just imparted to my spirit was life changing as this home was grand, spectacular and inviting. Somehow I knew that it was not just a dwelling place for Kit and I but for many. I felt as if God were granting us ahead of time, a heart felt dream come true. I wanted to get up and read the entire book of Esther, asking God to please tell me more, tell me everything . Where would this home be? When would He give it to us? But the vision was over and the Lord was quiet. I pondered it over and over within my heart and finally fell asleep  only to wake up with the same fervor and excitement within my soul, as the night before.

     As I shared with  my husband Kit the vision and words that the Lord had given to me, we both became elated with excitement. We recalled how we had both had a dream to some day own and operate our own Bed and Breakfast. It would not be the average B&B, for it would be a beautiful and fabulous Inn all designed to be a safe harbor for people in ministry to come and stay, get refreshed and receive a healing touch from the Lord. Could it be that the Lord was igniting and confirming that dream within Kit and I at this time?

     As time passed, we continued to ponder and talk over the vision God had given. There soon became a knowing and an assurance within our spirits. Both Kit and I obtained a certainty that this sensational  home would one day be ours to host  so that the plans of God would be fulfilled.  He was calling us to be His vessels , to be willing to take the journey with Him  to be trained up and host a home to allow His love, pampering, ministry and healing to be available to those who needed a refreshing and a touch from Him. Not up to us, but God, King's Tavern, (though He had not given us this name yet) would be created all by God's miraculous power, in His perfect way as well as time. Our hearts and spirits were filled with awe and excitement as we waited to see what the Lord was going to do next.

     Of course in our elation, Kit and I believed that God was going to begin fulfilling this vision and call on our lives immediately. Little did we know that there would be a 'time of waiting'....many seasons of the Lord making us ready in  both character and spirit to be the hosts of this home. We often say to each other that if he had shown us our 'journey' before hand, we would have said, "Lord, can you offer us a plan B?" Just as God's call to Abraham to have Issac, and His call to Joseph to be an amazing leader, there was first the magnificent call, then the training to fit the call. Why Kit and I thought He would just hand us our ministry, I don't know. Perhaps it was our excitement and eagerness to accept and obey and begin this wondrous home.