The Meaning of “Holcomb”
Holcomb Ministries is here by so many details orchestrated by God. He is such a creative author.
Three years ago I found myself lying in a hospital bed in Birmingham, AL after unexpectedly going into extremely preterm labor with our second daughter. The air was sterile. We’d been given a 6% chance for her survival. We hadn’t yet shared her name.
With our older daughter (born healthy; full term), we started the tradition of choosing our kids’ middle name in accordance with a place that is special to us.
I want to tell you about Holcomb.
Paul and I are high school sweethearts who moved to Indianapolis, IN from the south a few years into our marriage. It was a move 6 hours north filled with uncertainty, but the Lord provided an incredible church and community for us there through the almost three years we called Indy our home. One mile from our house was Holcomb Gardens. I stumbled across it once on a walk with our dog, and it quickly became a consistent landing place for our family. God’s creation there always captivated us.
As I laid there waiting for her arrival, I clearly heard the verses of Psalm 23 running through my head. I hadn’t memorized those verses or even read them recently. “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil….your rod and your staff they comfort me…” every verse mulled through my head over and over. I have a screenshot on my phone of Psalm 23 from 11:30 PM on February 17, 2020 as I prayed through those verses and wrote this to share what we were praying over her name:
“Holcomb gardens in Indianapolis was always a place of rest, refreshment, conversation and thought. Paul loved his runs with our dog there, and I loved strolling from our house with our oldest. My favorite was when we were there as a couple or as a family. It’s the first place we went together after finding out we were pregnant. It’s the last place we went before going to the hospital to have her. It was our place of solace, hoping for the future and processing God’s plan. I’ll never forget the day I found the garden - the bright green grass field took my breath away and I felt like I had found a secret garden of eden. I couldn’t wait to tell Paul because I knew he’d love this gem one mile from our house. I’ll never forget loving the most stunning spring flowers flourishing there. The flowers captured all the joy from a cold winter ending and a new spring season of growth beginning. You know in our two and a half years there I don’t think I ever saw a gardener once. It’s almost as if everything appeared by magic overnight
..but I know the gardener.
I couldn’t be more grateful for the way HE dug into our hearts in our time in Indy to produce growth in so many ways. I pray these verses of Psalm 23 over our daughter. That she will see the Lord as her shepherd - as her gardener. To nurture, prune, weed, trim and fuel her to flourish for HIM in this life. I pray that she will enjoy playing and laying in a comfy bed of grass..thanking God for the little things. As the canal flowed through the gardens, I pray that she would know that only our maker will provide the source of water for her life to satisfy. I pray that as we found our souls restored in HIM and our time in the garden, that she will find a similar place of rest in her life. One where she can go and breathe, think and pray. As a blanket of snow covered the garden in the winter, I pray that she would know that her Savior has washed her clean and whole - seeing her righteous and pure before His eyes. In spite of our circumstances, she will not fear. Her shepherd is with her and she has so much goodness to look forward with Her Savior. We pray she knows this life is a mist and understands our Savior has an eternal home for her in heaven.”
She was born the next morning.
At 1lb, 2oz and 10in, she let out a cry at delivery.
She survived the transport from our delivery room to the Neonatal ICU.
Then began our NICU journey
.…what we didn’t know would end up being 6 months.
The biggest desire of our hearts was for God to be glorified through our daughter’s life - no matter how short or long her life was. In that room, we decided to share her story and held our hands open as we walked into the unknown.
These hospital days are where our vision for this ministry was born.
…As I walked from my car in the parking deck and through the long concourse hallways. As we paid countless parking tickets. As I made notes on my phone of the ways that people gifted us tangibly or with acts of service so I could remember how to love other people in future hard seasons.
As we watched wide-eyed at exhausted caregivers sleeping in their baby’s room month after month with nowhere else to stay.
As we witnessed an overwhelming amount of parents going through a hospital journey alone. Without family or community support. Without a meal train. In survival mode. In need of hope.
We saw a mission field.
We saw the need to serve hurting parents walking through the unknown with their child - whether for a few hours, days, months - or even longer.
We experienced how much of a gift of kindness from a stranger can make - a toothbrush, face wash, a hot meal, a gas card - anything tangible to feel seen by people in the outside world - meant the world.
My heart broke for the hurting and all the layers that we saw - more hard than I ever could have imagined.
We saw parents of babies who weren’t married, didn’t like each other, or didn’t even know each other.
We saw single moms, teen parents and situations where the mom wouldn’t send updates to the father about their child.
We saw parents not able to be present during their baby’s stay due to lack of childcare or the ability to leave work.
We saw parents experiencing the challenges of having a child in the midst of addiction, lack of healthcare, financial struggles, and so much family trauma.
Most heartbreaking of all, we saw parents walk out of the hospital without their child.
My heart would drop as I saw an empty room and I’d lift my hands with an aching heart - knowing my savior now holds their son or daughter in heaven.
But why did it have to be this way?
We asked God so many questions.
We praised God on the day he allowed us to drive our daughter home - and we forever hold the thankful tension in our hearts that our outcome is not every family's reality.
We will never forget.
“Deep Valley”
Fast forward when our daughter was 10 months old and home - one day, I realized I’d never googled the meaning of Holcomb.
My heart skipped a beat as I read, “deep valley”. Holcomb means “deep valley?” Only God.
It was God who knew our daughter’s story and name before she was even born. It was God who was our shepherd and led us through the valley of shadow of death with her again and again. It was God who led us beside still waters, carried us through our grief, and gave us hope in the unseen as we looked to His new mercies every morning. And it was God who ordained for her middle name to mean “deep valley” all before we knew what we would walk with her - weaving it directly with the Psalm 23 verses He had given me.
The Holcomb Story all points to God. I don’t know your story, but I do know our God is your creator and author. He is such a God of details. He goes before you. He is with you.
Through Holcomb Ministries, we are honored to turn our “misery into ministry” and deliver help and hope to families in the midst of their deep valley.
Why the word deliver? It all ties together.
They just delivered a baby.
We deliver practical help & hope.
God delivers us.
Psalm 23
‘The Lord is my shepherd;
I shall not want.
He makes me to lie down in green pastures;
He leads me beside the still waters.
He restores my soul;
He leads me in the paths of righteousness
For His name’s sake.
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil;
For You are with me;
Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.
You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;
You anoint my head with oil;
My cup overflows.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
All the days of my life;
And I will dwell in the house of the Lord Forever.’
