I was in the backseat of a car hurtling down the highway in Romania, headed back to my hotel where I would sleep ALONE. My mind was racing. How on earth was I going to be able to sleep?
After just a short time in Romania, it quickly became apparent that “the bad guys” knew what I was up to. I won’t go into details, but things happened that proved to me that they knew who I was, where I was, and what I was up to. This made me very uncomfortable. Obviously we were dealing with some ruthless and reckless individuals that were capable of incredible acts of violence. These people were capable of horrific things. If they want me “gone,” they could make that happen.
I was shaking with fear in that car. At that moment, I heard a friend’s words in my mind saying, “Kim there are going to be times when you are filled with fear. And it’s ok to FEEL fear .... but it’s not okay to give into fear.” At that moment, I prayed, “Ok God, I am coming to you filled with fear. I need you to surround me with your peace and protection. I will not give into fear, but you have got to help me here.”
An hour later I was crawling into bed, wondering how on earth I would sleep. Oddly enough, I don’t even remember my head hitting the pillow! The next thing I know, I was waking up at 6 am. And I awoke in the midst of a profound dream...
In the dream I was with my “first love” from high school. This was interesting to me as my devotionals in the previous days had talked of how Jesus is to be our first love. In the dream there was a profound, deep and pure love between me and my first love ... like nothing I have ever felt on earth.
He looked at me with incredible love in His eyes and said “Kim, I have a word of blessing for you from my Father.”
I responded, “Oh, what is it?”
With a glint in His eye he said, “Tumin.”
A little confused, I replied, “I don’t know this word. Is it an old Greek or Hebrew word from the Bible?”
He just tilted his head with a grin and said, “You don’t know this word?
At that moment I woke up. I fumbled for my phone and immediately typed “Hebrew translation for Tumin” into the search bar. Nothing came up.
Next I typed “Greek translation for Tumin.” Nothing showed up ... except at the bottom of the screen it said “Romanian translation for Tumin.”
I had goosebumps. I screen captured it quickly and sent it to my European Director immediately with a note, “Can you tell me what this word means?”
He immediately called me and said, “Where did you get this word?”
“You wouldn’t believe it,” I told him. Then I thought about his life, which has been full of incredible miracles. “Well, actually you might believe it,” I said, “It came to me in a dream.”
He replied “Well ‘tum’ is what we pave our roads in, so ‘Tumin’ means paving the road.”
What a moment. I realized, in the midst of fear and total uncertainty, my First Love’s Father was telling me that He was paving a road. In fact as we studied the word a bit more we learned the deeper meaning: the process to fill the cracks in the road, to prepare ways. It comes from the French word “bitumin” which translates to covering the road or making ways.
And my First Love’s Father has been making a way ever since. Paving the FREEDOM HIGHWAY that will bring Romanian trafficking survivors home to Romania where they will experience their healing journey. They are walking down the road to Freedom, paved by their Heavenly Father.
I am so encouraged. He is in this. It is His work. And He has been so faithful in reminding us that He is with us, paving the road.
Thank you for joining us in bringing FREEDOM to His children in cages.