In the middle of what? Dezarée Case is an intern who has seen the middle of many things. Many of you with any connection with Vision of Hope may be thinking Dezarée? Who is Dezarée? Let me introduce you to the newest member of our intern team, Dezarée Case from northern New York state. On the day I am writing this, she has been at the house for exactly one week! While the rest of us are busy going on about our already established schedules and duties, Dezarée finds herself in the middle of a steep learning curve.
Dezarée was on schedule to come join our team in July, but for reasons I will discuss shortly, she was not able to come at that time. Though it seemed like it would be best to assign her to the new team in January, 2014, God had other plans. Though our God doesn’t change, our situations sure do! So, Dezarée joined our team in the middle of the internship season and is a willing learner, hopping into her shifts and learning in the middle of the VoH milieu.
Last summer’s change of plans came as quite a shock to Dezarée. One day before she was scheduled to depart for Indiana, she got a call from her doctor saying she could not go. Although Dezarée readily admits her disappointment and many tears, she could see that, “this was totally God!” While working through some medical issues, she learned a very valuable life lesson. “I have no control over my life whatsoever. I may as well get used to that now.” This was not a lesson she begrudgingly accepted but one she embraced with patience and trust in a good and sovereign God. Being at home, she had her family for support and was cared for by a gifted medical team who, “were incredible to me.” Because of the grace of her Savior, Dezarée was able to have peace in the middle of an unexpected and sudden hardship.
When it became clear that she could not join our team in July, the immediate question became, when should she come? It was deemed best to move her to the January rotation. This was the plan until circumstances changed in Indiana, and the intern coordinator called her up. Much to Dezarée’s surprise, an invitation was offered for her to come very soon. Her first reaction to the invitation was that she didn’t want to come before the rest of her team in January. She knew she would be at the bottom of the knowledge chain. Since Dezarée was used to being a leader and a teacher, she knew this would take much humility. But, Dezarée accepted the challenge. And, just as she suspected, she is already learning much since her arrival. “I’m just here to love [the girls]. I’m just here to represent Christ.” Dezarée can already see areas where she needs to grow. Here at VoH, she is in the middle of fertile soil for spiritual growth.
Even from the moment Dezarée learned of her delay in coming to VoH, the Lord has been comforting her. The Sunday following her decision not to come in July her pastor preached about life not going the way we want. “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God” (2 Cor. 1:3-4). It sure seems like God has Dezarée in the middle of both being comforted by her Lord Jesus Christ as well as learning to comfort those to whom she ministers.
So, why did the VoH internship sound appealing to Dezarée in the first place? Dezarée, like a few of the other interns that have come through VoH’s doors, has a home church with a similar vision and ministry to help hurting women. Her church has renovated a house and is ready to accept three girls for residency. Her future will include applying what she learns here to help streamline the systems back home to maximize her church’s ministry to those hurting around them. Someday she hopes to be able to serve in a counseling capacity as well. Dezarée sees VoH as the perfect place for “getting trained” so she can jump back into the middle of the Kingdom work going on back at home.
Welcome to the middle of the team Dezarée Case!
