Krista Heimbigner

It still surprises Krista how, after six years, it sometimes feels like she only just arrived at 26 West Church. When she first stepped through the doors in December 2018, she had barely begun serving on the greeting team before COVID brought everything to a halt. Now, beginning to feel fully at home within our church years later has proved as a reminder that God often works slowly, quietly, but faithfully—in the transitions, in the waiting, and in the details.

Over time, Krista found not only a place to grow in faith but a true community to lean on at 26 West. In a season when she could have easily slipped through the cracks, she instead found people who noticed, listened, and showed up. Through relationships formed in small groups and shared moments of prayer, she experienced the kind of steady support she didn’t know she needed until it was there.

Now, as a member of the women’s leadership team, Krista brings that same presence to others. Her desire is to meet women right where they are—in their struggles, questions, and hopes—and offer the kind of encouragement that helped carry her. 

Krista has spent over two decades in the medical field—not as a doctor or a nurse (she knew early on she didn’t want to deal with blood or surgeries), but in a role shaped by her own story. Born with a congenital heart defect, Krista had her first surgery at just nine days old. More followed at ages two, five, and beyond. By five, months in the hospital had become her norm. Her world was a haze of IV poles, charm bracelets, and hospital beds.

Yet even in that season of trauma, joy still broke through. She remembers the janitor who pulled coins from behind her ear. A childhood friend battling kidney cancer. The matching nightgowns their moms picked out each night. These small kindnesses, woven through pain, became early evidence of God’s presence.

Change has never come easily to Krista—but life, early on, taught her to adapt. Looking back, she sees how God used those experiences to shape in her a quiet strength and a steady peace in the midst of uncertainty.

Provision, for Krista, has rarely looked flashy or quick. Her faith hasn’t been built on sudden windfalls or easy answers. It’s been forged in places where God’s hand was undeniable, but His timing was slower, deeper—often perfectly precise. At age five, after receiving multiple blood transfusions, Krista unknowingly contracted hepatitis C—something doctors didn’t test for at the time. She wouldn’t learn of the diagnosis until three decades later. By then, medical treatments had advanced dramatically. There was only one problem: the medication cost $100,000 for a two-month supply. She applied for financial aid and was approved—by just $19 under the income cutoff. She didn’t owe a single penny.

Stories like that have stacked up over the years, shaping Krista’s unshakable conviction that God’s timing is never random. The heart patch she received as a child had only been used ten times before. Her most recent valve replacement was delayed just long enough for a less invasive procedure to be approved in her region, sparing her a lengthy and painful recovery. The doctor who performed it was doing it for the first time. To others, that might seem risky. To Krista, it was just one more piece in God’s perfectly orchestrated plan.

Although she was raised in a Christian home, Krista remembers her first personal experience with God when she was just five. Before a somewhat high risk surgery, her mom gently explained what could happen—she’d either wake up to see her parents, or she’d wake up in Jesus’s arms. At an age when most children would be terrified, Krista felt peace. It wasn’t something she produced on her own. It was a gift—quiet, certain, and unmistakably from God.

Today, as she works on building her very own business in functional medicine, Krista doesn’t pretend to be fearless. Change is still hard. Letting go still takes effort. But she doesn’t question whether God will show up. She’s seen it—again and again—in both the big picture and the smallest, most unexpected places.

One of her favorite verses is 2 Corinthians 1v4: “He comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.” That’s what she hopes her story becomes—a way to pass on the comfort she’s received, and a reminder that God is always working. Not just in miracles. In the details.