The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me,
because the Lord has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor;
he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives,
and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor,
and the day of vengeance of our God;
to comfort all who mourn;
to grant to those who mourn in Zion—
to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes,
the oil of gladness instead of mourning,
the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit;
that they may be called oaks of righteousness,
the planting of the Lord, that he may be glorified.
Isaiah 61:1-3 ESV
This is my life verse for a reason.
Since 2009, God has transformed my life. He gave me beauty (identity, healing, and wholeness) for my ashes (the dirty, dead, worthless things of my past). Then He commissioned me to see His daughters set free. Both the captives, those in bondage because of things done to them against their will, and the prisoners, those in bondage because of their own doing.
My Story
Leading up to college, I experienced many hardships. Being born legally blind, raised by a single mom in a low-income family, knowing the sting of what I was missing by not having a father, experiencing sexual abuse, and deep loneliness during high school. After my freshman year, those wounds began to surface. Without a way to find healing from past trauma, I pushed those feelings down and decided to live how I wanted. Although I was in church in high school, I only knew religion. I did not have a deep, intimate, loving relationship with a Heavenly Father and did not know I could experience the Father’s love and care that I so deeply desired.
Since coming back to the Lord in 2009, I have been passionately pursuing inner healing, discovering my new identity in Christ, and stepping into the calling God has prepared for me. That journey has included many years of internships, ministry positions, mission trips, discipleship schools, and starting and leading Bible studies for college women.
What God Has Been Showing Me
Young women who grow up without safe housing, without a father present, without healing from past trauma, and without a loving community around them are among the most vulnerable people in our society. These are the conditions that traffickers look for. Isolation, unmet need, a longing to belong, and no one watching out for them. What the enemy intends to exploit, God desires to redeem.
This is not abstract for me. It is my story. And it is the story of many young women I now walk alongside every day.
The Vision God Gave Me, Now Made Real
In 2009, God showed me a vision of a college women’s discipleship movement. A sisterhood where young women could grow in their God-given identity, intimacy with God, and their kingdom inheritance before the enemy had a chance to tell them a different story about who they are and what they are worth. I spent years imagining what that would look like and praying for the door to open.
That door is open. And it looks different than I expected, which is often how God works.
I now serve as a Youth Housing and Support Coordinator at Turntable Housing, a Bay Area nonprofit dedicated to ending youth homelessness. The young people I serve are college age. Many of them are actively enrolled in college while navigating housing instability, trauma, and a lack of safe community around them. They have aged out of foster care, fled unsafe homes, or found themselves without any stable ground to stand on. These are young adults on the exact path that leads to exploitation, and I get to step into that gap.
The vision God gave me in 2009 was never just about a building or a campus program. It was about reaching young women in the most critical season of their lives, before they are lost to the streets, to exploitation, or to a version of themselves they were never meant to become. That is exactly what I am doing now, every single day.
I bring the love of Christ into these moments not just as a coordinator, but as someone who understands what it means to be unseen, unprotected, and searching for belonging in all the wrong places. This is not preparation for my calling. This is my calling, alive and in motion.
How You Can Partner with Me
This work is only possible because of faithful prayer and financial partners who believe the next generation of young women deserves to encounter the love of God, walk in their God-given identity, and step into their Esther calling for such a time as this.
If you would like to receive prayer updates and stay connected to what God is doing, please email me at Isatel@IsatelDutra.com.
Thank you for standing with me. Your partnership is changing lives.