As I offer a glimpse of this interesting experience through pictures, let me say that pageant competition itself, for me, has been a golden key to unlock a huge door that leads to doing great things in the world. Some people would be shocked to hear this, but I am not really a “pageant person” - I have only watched one pageant in my whole life! Now looking back, that one time was actually a tiny seed of inspiration toward the harvest to follow many years later. But in a different way than you would think:

I was 10 years old and spending a week of that summer with my grandma in the small town of my birth place: Tiffin, Ohio. We curled up on the couch with our traditional root beer float and watched the ever-sparkly Miss America pageant. After my nails were almost demolished from biting and the winner was finally being crowned with tears of joy cascading her cheeks, my grandma reached over, patted me sharply on the arm, and stated in a matter- of- fact manner, "That could be YOU someday." I loved her for her special belief she always had in me - looking beyond my chubby, bashful image and seeing stars that seemed only she could see. But something sparked in me this time, in that tap and those 5 words. It carried a lot more weight than an empty, biased statement. It felt like a seed from God that I was suppose to plant and not dismiss with the usual shy-girl doubt. 

Plant I did, I guess, and exactly 20 years later, there I was: in this awkward position a dear friend put me in by pushing me into the Mrs. Colorado pageant. I hadn't stayed the chubby, shy-girl beyond 5th grade. I sprouted, became an out-going "over-achiever", as some would have labeled me, and even became a model; certainly something no one at my age of 10 would have guessed for me. Maybe it was their teasing and my hidden pain that drove me to modeling - to prove something to them and to myself. But I grew up in a big way and eventually decided the "glamour industry" didn't fit into my priorities, so shifted to the better fit of ministry work. Though I may have still possessed a certain image, the idea of being in a pageant was so foreign to me. The sharp shift was when even my pastor, whom I consulted, confirmed this direction with a scripture out of the story of Ester, "You were called for such a time as this." 

Hopefully you have already visited the other pages of this site and have learned of all the purposes that poured out of following this “foreign” path. So, I would like to offer some encouragement to the person reading who may need to here this: whatever path lies before you, don't so quickly dismiss it as not being a good fit for your life. God may be wanting to perform His perfect will in you (as well as through you, to the world) in a way you have never imagined, but He has always planned. A passion for people was birthed in me as a teen and God chose a specific path to fulfill that passion. It just so happened to be one that would restructure me (in ways I didn't know I needed), redeem me (when I didn't even need it), and reward me (for sacrifices I gladly made to do the right thing)- isn't God good?

What we could consider for ourselves as the best plan, usually always pales in comparison to the Master plan. We need to surrender to the One who knows the perfect ending to our story. He already wrote it before each of us was conceived (Psalm 139:14-16), now we need to partner with Him in performing it and bringing it to pass. 

So, go take your stage, your audience is depending on you. It doesn't have to be in high heels and sequins (please!!). Just GO SHINE!!!

Please visit Victoria's Pageant Photo Album for more pictures of her on and off stage experiences.

(This is quite a "hefty" page to load so if you do not have broadband, it make take a while to load.)