Rachael Garrett is one of the best examples I know of a woman who speaks hope.
Rachel and her mom, Risa, have become great friends to me. They love God and share a love for the creatures He created. Their home is filled with joy and several rescued animals.
A few years ago I had the opportunity to photograph Rachael and some of her animal pals. I have included a few of them in this post.
A couple of these animals have gone on to heaven. It’s always sad to lose a loyal friend and family member. Even so, joy and love prevail in this household. Other needy critters always seem to find their way into Rachael and Risa’s home to fill the void.
Rachael is a dancer and an artist. She uses her talents and heart to speak life into people with the love of Jesus.
I hope you are encouraged by her interview. She’s most certainly a woman who speaks and lives hope every day.
January 25, 2019, Conifer, Colorado
Sherie:: It is January 25th, 2019, and I am in Conifer, Colorado. And I am with Rachael Garrett and I am about to interview Rachael on hope and what she feels about hope.
Sherie:: And Rachael do you understand you will not be compensated in any way for the results of this interview?
Rachael:: Yes.
Sherie:: Thank you. So glad you understand that. (Both laughing.) So how old are you?
Rachael:: Forty-one.
Sherie:: True story?!
(Much laughter in the room)
Rachael:: Sherie has just fallen over but she has pulled herself back up! She’s like “What?!” But it’s true.
Risa:: How old did you think?
Sherie:: I thought she was in her thirties. So—there goes my whole millennial thing.
(More laughter)
Sherie:: And where are you from?
Rachael:: I am from Maryland.
Sherie:: And where are you now?
Rachael:: I’m from Colorado now, Conifer, Colorado.
Sherie:: Okay. So tell me a little bit about yourself, like career, married, single?
Rachael:: Ah, lets see, I did have a dance career, I was a dance teacher for over 16 years. And so I am not married, I am single and I will remain single until God delivers the man for me.
Sherie:: Okay. So what do you hope for?
Rachael:: What do I hope for? I hope to fulfill the call and destiny that God has put on my life to the best of my ability.
Sherie:: And what is that call?
Rachael:: That call is to bring as many people into healing and freedom and salvation through dance and prayer and healing.
Sherie:: Okay. And so what gives you hope?
Rachael:: The scripture that I kind of base my hope thought on is one that says, “I would have lost hope if I hadn’t believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.” I don’t remember where it’s at.
Sherie:: Okay.
Rachael:: So what gives me hope is knowing that the goodness of the Lord will always prevail.
Sherie:: Okay: What gives you joy?
Rachael:: Currently, what gives me joy are my three dogs.
Sherie:: Your three dogs are…?
Rachael:: My three dogs are an American Bull Dog, a Pit Bull, and American Bull Dog Pit Bull mix.
Sherie:: And their names are?
Rachael:: Their names are Boss, Jemma and Anya, ages four, three, and one.
Sherie:: So that’s kind of like having a bunch of kids, right? All of a sudden instantaneously you became a mom?
Rachael:: A mommy, right. So yeah, that brings me a lot of joy and then outside of that what brings me joy is when God just reveals small things to me in either just nature or in something that somebody does or just when he kind of blows my mind by showing me just a simple thing that I’d been thinking about a couple of minutes before and He answers it so fast. And that just brings me just, yeah I just break out laughing because I’m like, “You’re so good! You’re so crazy, You’re so good!” Yeah, so that brings me, that’s probably the height of it.
The Holy Spirit will put somebody on my heart that needs help and I will kind of step in when they don’t expect to be helped.
Sherie:: Cool. Are you doing something to encourage hope in others?
Rachael:: Yes, yes. I’m very selective with how I encourage others. The Holy Spirit will put somebody on my heart that needs help and I will kind of step in when they don’t expect to be helped or they don’e expect any handout at all and the Holy Spirit will say, “Now. Go help them now.” And so it’s the, the last thing was helping a friend of mine with a horse who was really sick and she didn’t have time to do everything she needed to do so I kind of swung in and helped her. And then there’s an elderly woman at church who has dementia and the interesting thing about that is, just my sitting with her and taking care of her, so many people will actually walk by and comment on just what that has done for them by watching me take care of her, and the hope that, that has put into them, that there are still good people in the world.
Sherie:: So is there, let’s see, is there anything specific that you would like to do, that you might not be doing now to encourage hope in others? Something that you might have in your mind going forward.
Rachael:: My dream is to do dance works all over the world after natural disasters to help with the natural disaster recovery and then put on a show afterward and pray for people and minister to them afterward. And just let them know, kind of rebuild hope that life will continue and life will kind of get better, just build up the hope that they’ve just lost everything and that things are going to get better.
SherieL: That’s awesome. Are you doing anything specific to make that happen?
Rachael:: I’m praying a lot. A lot, a lot, a lot. And that’s pretty much it, is just praying and yeah, right now that’s where I’m at.
God doesn’t waste anything and even though it seems like they have no hope and there’s nothing left, just to let them know that there is no time that all hope is lost.
Sherie:: What would you like to say to someone who’s struggling and has lost hope.
Rachael:: Pretty much that love never fails and God doesn’t waste anything and even though it seems like they have no hope and there’s nothing left, just to let them know that there is no time that all hope is lost. God will always bring something out of nothing and that He, due to His great love for who they are, He will really just push through this dark time and that He is waiting to pull them back up out of the dark place.
My hope for this nation is that it remains a nation under God.
Sherie:: Okay. So, what do you hope for this nation?
Rachael:: My hope for this nation is that it remains a nation under God. The direction it’s going is so scary. I just, I really hope that God opens everybody’s eyes a lot to see how much the media actually lies and controls everything that we see and we hear. And that people really just come to their senses and stop believing that they are a victim when they really are not, and it’s not all about them, it’s about everybody else around them. And the good thing is if they believe that, then they will be touched and honored also because their neighbor feels like it’s all about them and not themselves.
Sherie:: Awesome. Well, thank you Rachael.
Rachael:: You’re welcome. Oh yeah, that’s the other thing I really hope for this nation, is that we openly see Satan be crushed under God’s feet and under out feet as true sons of God, true kings and priests and sons of God. I’m hoping that He makes an open show of the devil in front of this nation, so that he pretty much is just ripped open for the devastating liar he really is.
Sherie:: Thank you Rachael, that was a really wonderful interview.
Rachael:: You’re welcome Sherie, any time, you just let me know.
