A Profound Impact- Part 2

Enjoy Sarah's thoughts on being involved in her local church!

Now that you are older, you have gotten very involved in church.  Can you tell me about the things that you do with your church?

I have to say that my church which is now Grace Fellowship Church is completely and utterly awesome! ! !  My family and I have been attending Grace regularly for about the past 5 years or so now.  There is so much I could talk about that I can’t decide where to start. First thing is first.  When you just step inside the doors at Grace Fellowship Church, you automatically feel accepted and loved just by the awesome greeters who stand at the door every Sunday rain or shine.  What I also I fell in love with at Grace was that the physical building itself was already totally wheelchair accessible.  The building didn’t look “churchy “ which I personally liked and still like.  I think I was around age 22 or 23 when my Mom and I started what is called Women In The Word which happens almost every single Wednesday morning from late September to early May with a winter break. That is where my brand new “church world “ literally opened up and took off running. My first year at Women In The Word was just amazing.  

I will just share 2 or 3 of my experiences. # 1= when I started, the classes were broken up into semester classes.  My first two semester classes were taught /led by two amazing women in my eyes. I remember the very first morning when I “walked “ into that classroom.  Ginny Becker and Christine Beck welcomed me personally.  I would say probably after just 2- 3 weeks just from watching my amazing mother communicate with me, Ginny and Christine picked up how to communicate with me basically all by themselves.  I absolutely loved that! ! !  experience # 2 = I “walked “ into class one morning and without my Mom saying anything, Ginny and Christine immediately knew something was very very wrong with me.  I didn’t smile at them.  They stopped what the rest of the class was getting ready to do and they prayed over me.  I had hurt my back at home the night before.  I couldn’t stay in class that morning.  Christine told my Mom “I will take Sarah out and I will take good care of her.  You stay in class and pay attention and let the other women take good care of you."  I love my church! !  

Another thing I have the privilege to get to be involved with at my church is what we call REST days.  Rest day is where we take 4 Saturday afternoons during the school year to love on families affected by disabilities.  Basically what a typical rest day looks like is: first we setup the entire church for the afternoon.  Second , we have a little training from 12 o’clock – 1 o’clock for the volunteers who might need a little help.  All the kids with disabilities come at 1 o’clock and stay until 4 o’clock.  The parents leave and they get a break.  We have 4 – 5 activity rooms where each group will rotate through.  When the parents come back to get their kids, they get a fully prepared dinner which the kitchen team prepares for them during the afternoon.  It is just an awesome afternoon to see God work! ! !  I used to be a “kid “ who participated in rest days but now I get the privilege of serving kids! !  Another thing I get the privilege of doing every year with my church is decorating the whole church building for the Christmas season.  It is just a awesome morning to serve and work alongside my church friends! ! ! 

How has it been meeting regularly with women like Sarah Batley and Kit Elmer?

Totally awesome!  I didn’t really meet regularly with Sarah Batley and Kit Elmer until just this past year.  It is a privilege to me that they would take time out of their busy schedules and busy lives just to hang out with me.  This past year Sarah Batley and I have been meeting once a month to just hang out and do different activities outside my house.  Some activities we do are: going to the mall to go Christmas shopping, going to the movies and then lunch afterwards, going to her house and doing different activities like helping her make cookies for a bake sale, and going to an art museum.  This past year Sarah has been a huge blessing in my life.  

This past spring was when I really started to hang out with Kit Elmer.  Kit is such a amazing woman in my eyes along with Sarah.  Now that I am a young woman at 26, I was outgrowing Capernaum and everything that goes along with that.  I kind of feel like God has put these two amazing women along with some other amazing women like Ginny Becker to bridge that gap for me.  Again, it is just amazing to see God work and it is amazing to watch how God weaves people in and out of our lives! ! !