JOURNEY

• March 1, 2023 – In a recent Leadership Development Workshop, we explored the question, “How can you make sure the pain of your past doesn’t determine your future?” What stood out and meant the most to you in this workshop? Lisa said: “The only way to make sure the pain of your past doesn’t determine your future is to change your mindset. When someone changes his/her mindset, he/she will change. For example, Jabez in the Bible was born in sorrows and the pain he went through because of his past but he chose to be who he wanted to be, not who others thought he would become or even what his past defined. What made Jabez stronger was talking to God. In his time, he learned about the Lord who changes names, like he once did for Jacob and turned his name to Israel, he believed that he could also change his, too. He prayed and believed and just like that God did it! He turned his future into brightness. What stood out and meant the most to me in this workshop is what the facilitator said- that it’s not where you come from that defines your destiny. In the journey to the future you must look forward and never look back because sometimes bad beginnings can have glorious endings. You just have to keep moving forward.”
• September 8, 2022 – Lisa discussed the biggest changes in her life since the end of the COVID restrictions: “The biggest changes in my life since the end of the COVID restrictions were the removal of masks and being allowed to meet together in one place, all at once again. For me, these were the biggest changes in my life because, with the face masks, we were so used to it, it was one of the essential things you could never forget when leaving your house and now not wearing them is one of the biggest changes. With gatherings, like our training workshops, we were all praying hopefully that we could do it again and now that we are allowed to it feels so amazing.”
• September 13, 2021 – Lisa shared her favorite song and what it means to her: “My song is “Highs & Lows: by Hillsong Young and Free: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ESO6SHEwGk. “Highs and Lows” is a song about the love and mercy of our Lord. It’s about how we can’t hide from His love. In highs and lows, the Lord is with us. Either way it goes, there’s nothing that can happen to us. Even so, his mercy is ever flowing in our lives. He’s too good to let us go. Every time we fall or when it feels like the dark lingers longer than the night, there’s always his hand to fasten us ever closer to his heart. His mercy waits at every end like He planned it from the start.”
• July 16, 2021- Lisa shared what resilience means to her: “Resilience is the ability to be happy and successful again after something difficult or bad has happened. For me, resilience means the ability to cope mentally or emotionally with a crisis and to return to pre-crisis status quickly. In short, resilience means the ability to mentally adjust easily to misfortune or change.”
• March 1, 2021 – Lisa said her biggest lessons from 2020 were: “2020 taught me that life is short. For me that means dreaming about something, making plans and taking the leap at the first opportunity I can. It also taught me that we are stronger together, when we help each other we can all survive this crisis. It also taught me to make self-care a priority not a privilege, hence looking after my own mental health has to come first. To support my friends and family in their time of need, I need to be working from a strong base. And lastly it taught me to never stop learning. As one of the great joys of life is to learn new skills, new language, though the world stopped around us.”