Have you ever been somewhere in public and noticed someone who radiates pure joy? And you wonder what the source of that wonderous attitude is? For the past several Sundays, I began noticing the happy joyful group of college age students in church. And one young man always stood out to me, and I enjoyed his devout energy that he had during the music portion of the service. In pondering who to write about for October, I was drawn to this young man, Luke Hoover. And one Sunday before services started, I walked up and asked for the interview and Luke graciously agreed.
Luke began his story saying he had the classic Christian
upbringing as his family was active in their church in Alaska. His mom is a nurse practitioner, and his dad
is a pilot. Luke recalls as a young lad
that he accepted Jesus one day while sitting on the sofa with his dad. And his life has centered around being a child
of God ever since.
Luke describes himself as being a people pleaser and says he
would often be described as having biggest heart. And as a child, he didn’t
understand the phrase of having a big heart, this just came naturally for him
as he deeply cared for people. Ironically,
Luke did have a heart condition and had to undergo treatment. Around 7th
or 8th grade his parents divorced. And his first thought was, “how
can I be of help to my family?” Luke
admits he never thought about himself, his focus was outward working to be a
support to his siblings and parents. And
that is where he describes Satan as coming into his life to work against him.
Luke found himself trying to being what the other person wanted or needed him
to be. He would be one way for one person and another way for someone
else. He was trying to be the person
that everyone wanted him to be. And this
began a downward spiral as he couldn’t say no and Satan pounced on that and ran
with it. Luke was in emotional deep pain
but couldn’t share it with anyone. He kept it hidden as best he could. Luke
relied partially on God and like many of us, we ask for help, however we never
fully give those burdens to God. Instead, we step in and try to figure our life
on our own. I’ve done this multiple times
and maybe you have too, and Luke fell into that same trap. And finally, when his heart and soul were
depleted and he couldn’t give anymore, he shut down emotionally. He stopped caring about others as he was
trying to deal with his own emotions and problems. However, his outward actions
continued on as to appear as the caring kind of person. No one knew his
personal struggles. Having an analytical mindset, Luke studied psychology in
high school to try to understand emotions and their effect on the human body
& soul.
In Luke’s freshman year of college, a female friend made the
observation that made him stop and re-examine himself. The young woman said “Luke, your emotions are
too perfect!” She said “emotions are
hard, messy and imperfect. You have to feel your emotions, good or bad!” This got him to thinking about that and a
shift began. God was there, waiting to
help. And not long after that, when he
was reading a scripture, it hit him and realized his friend was right. And Luke
didn’t know where to start to begin the healing process for his own heart and
soul. And that is when a message from God said, “don’t worry, I’m going to get
you where you need to be”.
Shortly after that Luke began attending the Christan group
on the University of Idaho’s campus called Chi Alpha. Its name means “Christ
Ambassador”. Luke describes himself as
being an all or nothing kind of guy, so he jumped in with both feet. Besides attending the meetings, he began
taking a discipleship class to become a Facilitator after getting a nudge from
God. Gradually he began caring for
others and found a true loving community.
In Luke’s own words, “he genuinely loves these people”. Today he and the other Facilitators hold
bible studies as well as mentor others. While
helping others Luke realized he still had a long way to go to begin his healing
journey and first, God showed him his gracious and all consuming love, the God’s
lesson was developing “Trust”. Trusting himself, trusting others. He began
opening up to others about his pain and in his vulnerability true acceptance came
from others. And it has helped Luke in his inward journey to get 100% healed
emotionally.
The next lesson from God has Luke working on learning about
“Hope”. Hope in Luke’s words is a by-product of trust. Hope is the fruit from trusting in God. Luke
discovered true joy during Chi Alpha’s worship nights. And one evening while
talking to a friend about denial of feelings, they read a scripture from the book
of Luke and it hit home. Living
joyfully, loving, caring and bonding with others is one of God’s blessings for
us humans.
Luke went on to describe other activities that Chi Alpha
does. A few were the Fall Breakaway Camp, Winter Camp wherein the chapters in
the NW come together for worship, studies & game; and the Spring Break
Outreach to other campuses without chapters of Chi Alpha. As a facilitator, Luke meets/mentors others
and this has led to a focus on a career pathway. Luke did an intern as a Christinan Biblical
Counselor and experienced ways a trained professional can help guide a
Christian through their problems.
When I asked Luke what his future looked like after college,
he wants to complete his Certified Medical Assistant (CMA) certification. The purpose of the of the (CMA) “medical
assistants work alongside physicians, mainly in outpatient or ambulatory care
facilities, such as medical offices and clinics.” Luke felt this would benefit him when he takes his MCAT to
pursue his dream of becoming a MD with the final goal of becoming a physiatrist.
After listening to Luke’s
story, once again I was in wonderous awe of God’s perfect plan for this dynamic
young man. And I can envision how Luke’s past experiences with emotional
burnout and his recovery following Our Creator’s guidance and lessons would one
day help his fellow man kind, medically as well as spiritually. Hallelujah! I call that silver linings..
P.S. soooo happy you stopped by to read the blogpost. And if this inspires you or maybe you know someone who may benefit from reading this. Wishing you a blessed day. Gayle
