Learning the mind of Christ: Detailed dependence on God brings Duluth woman victory through hardships that included homelessness

Severe shyness, rejection and homelessness might be enough for some people to believe that God has abandoned them. But for Kim Kuehl of Duluth, Minn., those things became a training ground to prove God’s faithfulness and love. Despite personal hurdles and hardship, she found victory in prayer and in what God desired to teach her.

Early on, Kim, 48, believed God was at work molding her to overcome her intense shyness and sensitivity.

“God knew I needed to toughen up,” she said.

Like Timothy, the Apostle Paul’s protégé in the New Testament, Kim grew up understanding the Scriptures that were able to make her “wise unto salvation,” but she said that alcoholism also played a role in her family. The adage was, “A drink in one hand, the Bible in the other,” she said. “I didn’t have boundaries or know how to stand up for myself.”

But she didn’t think a lot about that until her early 20s when she ordered a set of checks decorated with a symbol of praying hands. God used that simple icon to convict her heart and steer her life in a new direction. When someone would ask her to buy alcohol after church on Sundays, or when she’d use the checks to purchase cigarettes for herself, she sensed the Holy Spirit pricking her conscience.

“I felt strange using the checks,” she said.

Kim is amazed at how God used the praying hands. “I was this close to having them taken off,” she said, holding up two fingers only millimeters apart. But she decided to leave them on the checks. Her prayer became, “I’ll let them do what You want them to do.” 

Kim said allowing God to use the symbol as a reminder taught her how to set boundaries, stand up for what she believed in and even quit smoking. That took 13 tries.

“I finally succeeded,” she said. “I was so sick of failing that I determined to kick it -- and I did. At 27 I surrendered my whole life to God.”

Kim’s relief was evident in her voice.

“The double-minded lifestyle was becoming single-minded,” she said. “I wanted to learn what He wanted to teach me instead of making myself comfortable.”

But when Kim’s emotionally lonely marriage ended in divorce in 2005, she felt shunned by others and entered into a dark, devastating time.

“I was down. Satan wanted to kick me again and again … to destroy me. He almost won,” Kim said. But she believes that God even used that time of rejection for good.

“All you can do is cry out to God. You become better for it in the long run because you only have God to cry out to. You find out how much He cares and how much He loves you,” she said.

Unable to return to her home, Kim lived in various transitional housing arrangements, including spending two months in a tent at a campground.

Laughing, she said, “I learned that you could use four pails of water or sand to anchor your tent to keep it from blowing away.”

She also spent some time at Duluth’s CHUM center (Churches United in Ministry). There, she lived in a dormitory room with four women. It was a structured living situation that featured a clean environment and even a “lights out” type of schedule.

“I was very impressed with that,” she said. “It was a nice place, and there was a sort of bonding with the women there,” said Kim, adding that it reminded her of being a kid going to camp.

Kim Randolph, spokesperson for CHUM, said, “It gets very collegial. They share groceries, cook for each other and kind of become good friends. It’s like (being) war buddies.”

According to its Web site, CHUM is “people of faith working together to provide basic necessities, foster stable lives and organize for a just and compassionate community.”

Randolph also noted the diversity of CHUM’s population.

“We cram in every type of person from different cultural backgrounds, different racial backgrounds, even different economic backgrounds,” Randolph said. “They get along surprisingly well.”

Though the upheaval of moving around was emotionally difficult, Kim described her homelessness spiritually as “literally an eight-hour day of quality time with the Lord. I felt His anointing and His love.”

The time she spent at CHUM also helped her get back on her feet and she eventually was able to purchase another home suited specifically to her answered prayers.

“Satan and his army are very disciplined and strategic. Christians are sometimes all over the page. God wants us to be trained,” Kim said.

Of course, like most of us, Kim understood some of God’s instruction in hindsight. Even though she always believed she would endure God’s loving discipline, “not for rebellion, but for training to be a good soldier,” she didn’t expect to be stripped of everything.

“God confirms things to you,” Kim said. “Dark times come and it’s hard to remember those things until after. It’s dark in the darkness! You don’t see what He’s doing.”

Since that time, Kim has reveled in God’s love. He answers prayer concerning all of the detailed needs she brings to Him. Kim said that she asks God to take the place of a husband for now and that she told Him, “I need You to be my carpenter, my landscaper, my electrician.”

“I trust Him for every little thing,” Kim said.

Whenever she has a need, it seems that within 24 hours He provides.

One example was when she was moving rocks from her backyard. Physically exhausted, with a job that loomed ahead for the entire day, she asked God for help. Moments after her request, two young men arrived in her yard. They asked if she needed help. “Are you serious?” she asked. Half an hour later, all of the rocks were moved and they had picked up the wind-blown apples from her tree as well.

Within hours after praying, God also provided her with an electrician to make a number of needed repairs at phenomenally little cost. When she needed them, God even sent a handyman and landscaper willing to exchange work for a room to rent.

“I fall on my knees every time He answers my prayers like that,” Kim said. “He always sends me the best!”

One day, shortly after praying about advertising for her cleaning service, God sent an advertiser right to her door who charged her a year’s worth of advertising for much less than the going rate, and with very good results.

“How faithful He is. He’ll listen to every little thing!” Kim said.

Throughout her trials, God taught Kim the mind of Christ and the edifying power of Ephesians 6:18; “praying at all times in the Spirit with all prayer and supplication for all the saints.”

“God just kept revealing His truth to me,” she said. “Instead of being crushed, I just do what God wants me to do. To be obedient, live the love walk, pray for (your) accusers.”

Kim’s face shines when she talks about what God has done and His incredible answers to prayers that are specific and detailed.

“The joy is unspeakable.”