10/11/2026
Recently, someone asked me what inspired BiG North Florida.
My answer is simple, yet it carries the weight of my entire heart: God and Jacob Christman Yeager.
Twenty-two years ago, God entrusted me with one of His greatest gifts—my beautiful son, Jacob. What followed has been a journey of extraordinary love, unwavering hope, unimaginable challenges, and, at times, profound trauma. But through it all, God’s faithfulness has remained.
I want to be vulnerable for a moment and share a part of our story that is deeply personal.
Around the age of 18, Jacob began experiencing frontal lobe seizures that would forever change our lives. Those seizures led to significant traumatic brain injuries, fractures to his skull and neck, and nine long weeks in intensive care as we prayed for healing and worked to stabilize his medications.
There were moments of fear that words simply cannot describe. Moments when all I could do was surrender my precious son to God and trust that His hands were holding Jacob when mine could not.
By the grace of God, and through the extraordinary care of Dr. Julie Buckley and Dr. Danny Pulido, Jacob survived. And for that, I will be eternally grateful.
Today, Jacob is still on his healing journey. His nervous system continues to struggle, and he is not yet able to attend BiG. But I see God’s healing hands upon him. I see glimpses of progress, signs of restoration, and reasons to keep believing.
And I hold tightly to a beautiful dream—that one day, Jacob will walk through the doors of BiG, in whatever capacity God has planned for him, and experience the very community his life inspired.
Jacob is my heart walking outside my body. He is my breath, my love, and one of the greatest purposes God has ever placed in my life.
And this is why BiG exists.
BiG was born from a mother’s love, shaped by unimaginable adversity, and brought to life through faith in a God who wastes nothing—not our pain, not our struggles, and certainly not our purpose.
I believe with every fiber of my being that every life has meaning. Every person has purpose. And every soul has a calling, regardless of ability, circumstance, or the challenges they face.
Jacob may not be able to participate in BiG today, but his life is woven into every single thing we do. Every citizen who discovers a new ability, every friendship formed, every accomplishment celebrated, and every life touched is a reflection of the purpose God placed on Jacob’s life.
BiG is Jacob’s legacy.
It is living proof that his life has meaning beyond what this world might measure, that his purpose reaches far beyond his own circumstances, and that his calling was never diminished by his challenges.
What began as my love for one extraordinary young man has become an opportunity to love and serve so many others.
And I believe that is no coincidence.
It is a Divine appointment.
To God be the glory. And to my beautiful Jacob—your life has already changed the world in ways you may never fully understand.
I love you beyond words, my precious son. ❤️
