1. How long have you been attending Women of Heart and where are you volunteering at Women of Heart? How did you decide to volunteer?
I have been attending Women of Heart since Fall of 2007. I am co-facilitating a class with Sarah Grunau. I started volunteering when I was invited to the Leadership team meetings by Sarah and Beth as an observer. It was cool to learn about the work that goes on behind the scenes in order to have the Women of Heart program activities run so efficiently. Beth handed me the Strength Finder book and I was astounded by my five talent themes. They sort of matched perfectly with my passion and helped me to fully know my strengths. Being encouraged to grow in the areas of my strength has been pivotal to the clarity that I have, of God's purpose for my life.
2. Why is Women of Heart important to you?
Women of Heart is important to me because I love to connect and have real life conversations with other women through Bible studies, Book studies, other activities and general interactions. Through these, my knowledge of God is deeper and I have grown spiritually. God has been watering me in tremendous ways as I have come to realize more than ever before that I am not intended to do life alone, but I am expected to live my life out in community and how together we have been able to achieve unimaginable things to the glory of God. The projects we have done together to reach our marginalized and underprivileged groups have been an inspiration to me. In all God is teaching me to embrace and celebrate the uniqueness of others and to be open to share the gifts God has deposited in me.
3. How have you felt "A Touch with Kindness" at Women of Heart?
I have felt the "touch of kindness" from the women I interact with every week. Within our group, the prayers that are shared mean so much as they touch all our souls and I recognize that the prayers go beyond the ones said in class. We learned recently about "clandestine prayer" - to pray for those who do not know you are praying for them, like yoga class members or people at the grocery store check out line. Since the best gift to give is the gift of prayers, I am blessed to know that other women are praying for me. In my class, one lady touched all of us with kindness by baking a delicious pumpkin pie for us to share. I was blessed by an invitation for lunch for Opportunity International Program.One lady is periodically helping me improve my skills at my newly adopted hobby by freely giving of her time and resources. I enjoyed a two-some hike up Nose Hill Park (first time ever) and enjoyed a bowl of homemade delicious soup with one lady after the hike. The conversations we had were deep and soul-stirring.
