Hill Country Ministries: 192 countries, 10 million emails, Stage 3 cancer, and ‘use it for my glory’
“God impressed on me: use it for my glory,” she said Monday on The Lead Live’s Nonprofit Week — the final guest of the final day of The Lead Live’s Fifth Annual Nonprofit Week.
Debbie Williams was not a smoker. She had never been a smoker. In August 2024, she was diagnosed with Stage 3 EGFR gene mutation lung cancer.
When her surgeon drew a red circle around Stage 3 on the staging chart, Williams went to her knees.
“God impressed on me: use it for my glory,” she said Monday on The Lead Live’s Nonprofit Week — the final guest of the final day of The Lead Live’s Fifth Annual Nonprofit Week.
Williams founded Hill Country Ministries in March 1999. What began as a local Bible study in Kerrville has quietly grown into a global operation. Her teachings and downloadable resources are used in 192 countries. Her daily devotional, 365 Days of Praise, has been emailed out free of charge every day since 2013 — 5,000 days of consecutive delivery, more than 10 million total emails sent.
Rather than stepping back from the cancer diagnosis, Williams expanded. She launched the Hope for the Cancer Journey podcast, gathering testimonies from patients and oncologists navigating the disease. She extended her children’s book, Ruba Dubdub, to 21 Ronald McDonald Houses across 14 states — placing it in the hands of families whose children are fighting illness far from home.
She also talked about her grandson, Logan Spalding, starting quarterback for the Ingram Tom Moore football team, who led the Warhorses to the regional semifinals last year and is beginning his senior season. When Logan suffered a freak baseball injury — a dislocated collarbone that pressed dangerously close to his aorta — the family prayed through emergency surgery that saved his life. He recovered fully.
On the floods and the questions they raise about faith, Williams did not deflect.
“God doesn’t mind us asking all those questions,” she said. “But the bottom line is knowing that he is a good God. He is loving. He is there for us and he will help us find a way through it. Hill Country Ministries’ part is coming alongside and helping people be assured that they know where their soul will be when that tragedy hits, when that illness hits.”
Hill Country Ministries resources — all free — are at hillcountryministries.net.
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