One of the most thrilling things about being the author of Woman on a Mis­sion is  hear­ing from women about what they’ve been doing since their WOM class ended.  Here are 4 brief snapshots:

o   When Ash­ley Wadsworth had triplets, one lit­tle guy named Parker had to remain in the hos­pi­tal for three weeks. Dur­ing that time Ash­ley was struck by the num­ber of par­ents who must camp out in the wait­ing room while car­ing for their kids.  That’s when God planted the idea in Ashley’s heart of remod­el­ing her home to pro­vide hous­ing for par­ents with kids in Children’s Hos­pi­tal who live out­side Lit­tle Rock and who could not afford a hotel.  While Ash­ley was going through Woman on a Mis­sion years later, God reignited the vision.  The boys are now 8 and Parker’s House is open for busi­ness.  Ash­ley has dis­cov­ered her works pre­pared before­hand and one day dreams of help­ing fam­i­lies all over the coun­try open Parker’s Houses to serve the needs of those in their com­mu­ni­ties.  (Photo below: Gabe, the son of Ashley’s first guest, now has a new heart!)

Ash­ley with Melanie, PH’s first guest

o   Sandy Zern of Pitts­burgh turned her job into a mis­sion.  While work­ing through WOM, Sandy decided to start an Inter­act Club, a Chris­t­ian out­reach pro­gram where stu­dents give back to the com­mu­nity through ser­vice projects.  At the first gath­er­ing of the club at New Brighten High School, Sandy was pray­ing for 12 — 15 stu­dents to launch the club, but God had other ideas.  45 showed up.  I can only imag­ine how the Lord is going to use Sandy in the lives of those teenagers and in that community.

o   Each Christ­mas for 4 years King­dom Quil­ters of Fel­low­ship Bible Church has pro­vided between 80 and 100 hand­made lap quilts for Hos­pice patients in Arkansas. Elaine Green reluc­tantly greed to orga­nize the effort after a Hos­pice worker called the church with an unusual request.  “I won­der if there might be women in your church who would like to sew quilts for 75 Hos­pice patients for Christ­mas?”   Given that it was already Octo­ber, I thought it a laugh­able request, but promised to pass it along to my cur­rent Woman on a Mis­sion class.  Elaine raised her hand and said, “I love to quilt, but I’m going to need help. With my job (in excess of 55+ hours per week), I can’t orga­nize it.”  Because no one else stepped for­ward, Elaine did take it on.  Fif­teen months later, 100 quilts were wrapped and ready for delivery.   At last count over 40 women from var­i­ous churches have offered their time, tal­ents, and prayers to craft a sym­bol of God’s love for peo­ple whose death is emi­nent.  On each quilt is a poem I wrote to let recip­i­ents know Christ cares and that some­one has prayed for them.

o   Twice a week Mary Lynn Nel­son leads a team of “track­ers” at Easter Seals of Arkansas who serve as the arms and hands of dis­abled chil­dren and young adults as they cre­ate orig­i­nal art.  Laser lights attached to the artist’s heads enable them to select paint col­ors and tools and direct the tracker’s brush strokes.  An art show at the Governor’s Man­sion was held in Octo­ber to show­case and auc­tion the mas­ter­pieces.  To the packed room Mary Lynn gave God all the glory, and the artists beamed with pride.