The Blessings Of Charity

As I celebrate My Sweet Sixteenth Birthday in Christ, I can’t help but reflect how the Lord has made ‘My Mess into a Message’! On the 4th of April 2004, I gave my broken heart to God at ‘Bribi Ministries International’ in Surinam. A couple of months later, I got baptized at ‘Maranatha Ministries’ in the Netherlands. On that day, I was able to call myself a born again Christian cleansed by the blood of Jesus and forgiven for my sins. A new creation! While I am writing this article, my eyes are filled with tears because of the mercy He has bestowed upon my life. It has been quite an adventurous journey and I know the best is yet to come!

Allow me to share how The Most High has ordered my steps into the life’s of His children. For His word says this: “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” – James 1:27 NIV

After 11 years of being planted in ‘Maranatha Ministries’ (2015), I left the church due to rebellion. Thankful for laying down the foundation of my faith, still I was disappointed that certain heart’s desires were not yet fulfilled. This ‘rebellion’ lasted a whole year! Eventhough I left God, He kept speaking to me in my dreams: showing me a concert setting, but it also felt like church! I had no clue what He was trying to say but the feeling of: come back home my prodigal daughter! I have been blessed with a prophetic gift, which means that God speaks to you in dreams and visions. I didn’t really understand this gift at first, but I knew the Lord was calling me!

I am not proud to share this story but it is part of my testimony of His grace. Soon enough, I came to the realization that life without God didn’t make sense. I started my search for the church I saw in my dreams and He lead me to ‘Hillsong’ which was held in an ‘Escape Club’ in Amsterdam. I couldn’t believe it was exactly like my dream! I started visiting their services and during an altar call, I surrendered and made my peace with Him. ‘Hillsong Church’ (2016) was my re-connect with God as well as learning how to serve. I never felt the need to serve in my previous church! I figured it was time to pay back my dues. Ministry was new to me, but not working with teenagers. So I started serving as a youth leader at the Young & Free. It felt natural and I had a great time as you guys can see in the pictures! If you are looking for an international church, check them out: www.hillsong.com!

This is how I met Ellen & Desmond Gootjes in 2017! Their three sons were in my ‘Young & Free youth group’ and I met them at a ‘Hillsong home connect group’. They told me about their children’s home named ‘The Family Hut’ in Sumatra, Indonesia. My heart has always gone out to charity abroad. This was a great opportunity to support their foundation named ‘Dare2Give’. The Lord started opening doors at my school, where we could do the fundraiser dinners, Indonesian cooking workshops and we even won 1st prize during a ‘Multi Cultural’ project week at ‘Clusius College’. In 2018, I received the opportunity to travel with the family and meet the children in Sumatra, Indonesia. If you would like more information about the children’s home, visit their website: www.dare2give.org!

At a certain point, I started asking God ‘who am I in Christ’? I wanted to learn more about my Christian identity and prophetic gift. While on vacation in Curacao, I visited a conference at ‘Crusader’s Family Church’. I received prophecy over my life by Prophetess Michelle McClain-Walters in 2016! I prayed to God if it was time to move to the next level of serving. I would wonder if Hillsong was still fertile ground for me to grow in the prophetic. I received a dream, which once again I didn’t understand but it spoke to my spirit that it was time to move on. A sister in Christ, advised me to follow the ‘School of The Prophets’ by Arleen Westerhof in God’s Embassy Amsterdam (2018). I was intrigued and started my prophetic training and completed it within a year. It was such an amazing experience to be in a church, where most believers operated in this gift. I felt so acknowledged and asked God if this was where I needed to be planted and grow. I waited for an answer and pretty soon I received confirmation that this was my new home! If you are looking for an apostolic-prophetic church, check us out: www.embassyamsterdam.nl!

I was so excited to serve this ‘House of Prayer’! Eagerly, I attended conferences to learn more about the apostolic and prophetic. This was exactly the environment that I needed to be in! I met the right people in the right time. For example: a brother in Christ, believed in me and motivated me to start writing my poetry. Soon enough, I was organizing my Spoken Word Events! Once you give your ‘YES’ to the Lord, I once again felt the call to serve as a youth leader. During this time, I met my darling friend Esther Knott-MacNack and she introduced me to her mother, Regina’ MacNack’s Foodbank in Amsterdam. Mother and daughter both really live and breathe the word of God: “Defend the weak and the fatherless; uphold the cause of the poor and the oppressed.” – Psalm 82:3 NIV. Every month, she feeds thousands of people! I love the to see the fruit coming from this ministry and gladly support these women of God! I truly believe in the blessing of giving. Not just financial blessings, but also your love and time! God kept opening new doors in this church and I was able to organize a ‘Dare2Give Fundraiser Lunch’ whereby we taught our ‘Red Gen youth group’ the goal of serving. One of my favorite activities was to volunteer at a yearly ‘Christmas Gala’ organized by foundation ‘Hoop voor morgen’ for the less fortunate. For more information about the foodbank check out their website: www.hoopvoormorgen.nl.

I always say: “It’s a blessing to be a blessing!” Grateful for all the open doors and immense growth, my body was warning to slow down! I was experiencing burn-out symptoms. I figured that this wasn’t the goal of ministry! So I took a little break from leadership at church, work and charity. I just wanted to go back to the basics and focus on being a teacher and develop my ‘Gilleon’s Hope’ brand. I am a giver by nature and love to help people but I had to retreat and take the time to recharge for the next level! As a vessel of God, I had to go through a process of deliverance, healing and sanctification to be launched into the next dimension! For His word says: “From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.” – Luke 12: 48 NIV

Looking back, 16 years ago I would never have dreamt where I am today! I am grateful to all the ministers, family and friends who have been a part of this journey! After a period of rest in 2019, I started with a ‘Kingdom Training School’ given by Dick Westerhof to put what was prophesied over my life into practice. I have to prepare for what is to come in 2020! Curious, what that will be? I am as well! If you would like to find out, stay tuned my beloved!

As you guys already know, I am just a high school English teacher who loves her job very much! Recently, I have upgraded my repertoire and combined my profession with my passion for word art. This resulted in teaching ‘creative writing’ in various forms of ‘Poetry and Spoken Word Workshops’, but also organising my very own ‘Spoken Word Events’. Just so you know, the workshops can be provided in the English as well as in the Dutch language.