Kicking It seeks more help for 'Church Ladies Potluck'

Have you ever had a dream come true? It is a flash when your mind tells you you’ve already been there, done this. Have you lived this experience before?

I have experienced it twice. The dreams started when I was going through radiation treatment for cervical cancer in the late seventies. The both dreams happened regularly. So many times, I can still recall it all them years later.

The first déjà vu I experienced was walking up the stairs with my daughter to our second-floor hotel room in Menton on the Cote de Sur in the South of France in August 1991.

I’d been having that same recurring dream from 1979 through 1991. It wasn’t scary, just confusing.

In the dream, I always climbed a staircase to a wide hallway and found my way to a room with a window that overlooked what appeared to be ancient ruins.

What it actually turned out to be was a view from our hotel window onto the vacant lot next door filled with chunky construction debris. I was struck with the awe by it. That dream never returned.

The second dream continued to recur until 1993. In that dream, I always spied a big yellow house on a hill overlooking a vast amount of water. In the spring 1993, this dream turned out to be a boyfriend’s family home on Lake Tahoe. And like the dream before it, this one ended, too.

Looking back, I am still amazed that I had been given a look into my future when every doctor told me this fight could go either way. I could survive or die. Anyone who has had stage 4 cancer knows it’s a roll of the dice.

I am still humbled by both déjà vu experiences. I see now, what I couldn’t see then. It was God’s way of letting me have hope for the future while I fretted about my children if I didn’t survive.

I have not had a recurring dream since 1993. Life has been pretty peaceful, and my dreams are of little consequence when I can’t even recall them after waking.

Here is the thing. As a self-proclaimed, step-aside Catholic, I lost allegiance to priests and all things religious, after decades of service to the church founded by St. Peter, everything changed when I divorced the children’s father. My priest was no longer available.

Yet, I never doubted God or his son, and with his help, I was able to cast cancer out of my body. I am still cancer free 40 years later. Amen.

Instead of attending mass, I have chosen to follow my heart and do the best I can at every turn. Asking for forgiveness when I stumble, trying to be kind and mostly keeping a happy thought and always seeing the good in all things. I am a sinner. Still, I try to follow God’s word.

As a bona fide Pollyanna. I won’t stay down. I won’t give up.

So how does one know, if they have a calling? And why me? Why not someone more worthy? Why me, Lord? Who am I to bring the word of God to the masses?

Yet, that is the hope that goes with my show, “Church Ladies Potluck.” Along with the pure hearts of those who offered support to the first episode of “Church Ladies Potluck.” Thanks to the efforts of Mary Fry; our first episode will be taped at Christ the King Lutheran Church in Fallbrook in September. Under the supervision of pastor Mark Johnson offering grace, the church ladies will cook not only to fill stomachs but to fill souls with his word.

I ask you to consider kindly asking the ladies in your congregation to come together to do his work. Assemble four obscure recipes from appetizer, salad, main dish, to dessert and let the pastor, minister, imam, rabbi or priest know you’d like to support bringing his word into the homes of people you’ll never meet. It takes about four hours to film.

It is faith that keeps me looking for second venue. Remember He always opens a window.

Elizabeth Youngman-Westphal can be reached by email at [email protected].