Deborah Hill | Indiana Wesleyan University

Deborah Hill

Debbie.Hill@agsfaculty.indwes.edu

Allow me to introduce myself. Please feel free to call me Debbie. I am not Professor Hill, nor am I Ms. Hill. I want to be sure that you feel comfortable with me as I begin this learning journey with you. Because my own graduate studies and learning experiences have been so transformative for me, I am thrilled to serve as a member of the IWU faculty, which allows me the honor and opportunity to make this learning journey with students. As a writer, I believe that we communicate, learn, and teach through the sharing of our stories. Long before I was a writer, or a teacher, I’ve been many other things in my life, including a college drop-out when I attended college for one semester after graduating from high school. It was many years before I was able or ready to return to college, even though it was something I always wanted to do. When I finally went back, I was the single parent of two teenagers. I knew it was going to be a challenging journey, both for me and my kids, as I tried to incorporate reading, studying and attending classes into family schedules, work commitments, church activities, and the many other things that are the fabric of daily life. Yet, despite the challenges, I believed it was imperative for me to model to my children the importance and value of continuing education, the importance of continuing to grow, and the importance of honoring dreams and callings, no matter what the age.

Once I began my collegiate journey, even amidst the challenges, I was awed at the sense of personal transformation and empowerment that was occurring as a result of my learning process. After graduating with a B.A. in English, I continued into graduate school, graduating with an M.F.A. in Creative Writing. Those degrees have allowed me the opportunity to contribute to the larger community, teaching English and creative writing at an area high school as well as serving as a member of the IWU faculty. I’m blessed to be able to make this journey beside my students, growing as they grow, giving back a portion of what was given to me in my own educational journey.

My spiritual journey began long before I was aware that I was on a spiritual journey. As a child of abuse, God was what I silently clung to . . . the only thing I had to cling to . . . my sole hope that there was something better in the future.

My parents were both deceased when I was in my 20’s. After a failed marriage, I felt entirely alone except for my children. I can still distinctly recall taking my children to church one Sunday, after my husband and I were separated. It was their first time in church because my former husband had refused to have anything to do with church. I can close my eyes and still envision sitting in that church with my three year old son snuggled close and my infant daughter in my arms. As I settled into the pew, a quiet peace filled me. I closed my eyes and vowed silently that my children would come to know Christ.

Throughout the years, regardless of the challenges we’ve faced and continue to face, there has never been a doubt about God’s presence with us. I’m aware of God’s presence in my life each and every day in a myriad of ways, but perhaps the greatest testimony to God’s participation in my life was evidenced in my reunion with my only sibling who had been missing for 16 years due to mental illness. After praying for my brother through the years, I received a telephone call one evening advising me that my brother had been found; homeless and suffering from terminal cancer. Although he passed away 6 months after our reunion, it’s a story of celebration for the community who reached out and served as a reflection of God as they embraced my brother and me. It’s a moving story, not only of God in my children’s and my life, but in the lives of a community. It’s as always, the very story that supported me through my early years of abuse . . . the story of the hope that prevails, because of God’s presence in our lives.