Hello friends & family!
Hope Heals is a retreat experience offering rest, resources, and relationships to families experiencing disabilities - regardless of diagnosis, age or location - which it is completely free of charge to the campers and their families that attend!
A few years back, I came across Katherine’s story and this ministry that they have. I have been so moved by her story. Katherine was 26 years old when she had the stroke. It has hit me so close in my heart since 26 was only a few years back for me.
I have been listening to her podcast, called the Good Hard Story. I love how she ends each episode. She always asks the guest speaker:
- What is good in your story?
- What is hard in your story?
- How do you live in the tension of both in your good hard story? because here on the good hard story podcast we know too much to think that life is one note. It is always both good & hard at the very same time.
One of the guest speakers answered the questions by saying her disability is what’s good in her story & disability is what’s hard in her story.
Katherine often talks our invisible wheelchairs. She said in her book, Suffer Strong:
My invisible wheelchair is a seat of honor chosen purposefully for me, from a perspective of limitation, I can expand my vision of what a good/hard life can look like.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I want to give a bit of a back story to why I want to serve at Hope Heals.
I remember being pretty fresh out of college, looking for what God has in store for me for a career. While I knew I needed to make a living, I wanted to have a job that had purpose. But I didn’t have one thing or another that I was running after.
I knew I enjoyed spending time with kids. I knew I loved learning and the educational environment. I knew I loved developing relationships with people especially in one-on-one settings.
Little did I know what God had in store for me.
Through my home church, I landed a job at Potential, which is an organization that provides services to adults and children with autism and other behavior health diagnoses. I started as a behavioral therapist, then moved into an admin assistant role, and further became their Scheduling Coordinator.
From my time spent working at there, God planted and grew a passion to serve and care for people with disabilities in my heart. And to just simply spend time with people who have visible disabilities.
While I was working at Potential and serving my clients and my co-workers in love and compassion, I felt in many ways my clients served and taught me so much more than I ever could teach them. I would come home exhausted but also so touched and full of joy because of how I was being humbled and loved by my clients. I don’t think that the Lord is leading me to work in direct care work with people with disabilities in the future as a career, but I’m praying to have an open mind in all of it. I have enjoyed working in administration in non profits, like Potential and where I am currently at, COBYS Family Services.
Throughout my childhood every summer, I attended overnight summer camps (some Girl Scout ones but mostly Christian camps). I had a dream to be a camp counselor since I was young. I was able to fulfill this dream during one of my summers during college at Victory Valley Camp in Zionsville, PA.
Camp does something to you.
That you don’t really find any where else. Through spending a lot of time outdoors, spending time and fellowshipping with other believers, and doing active & passive activities together … through this small list and more, the camp experience changes you.
So this is WHY it’s so neat to have Hope Heals that invites the whole family to have like a party for them to spend together.
I’m not sure exactly what my assignment will be until I arrive at camp for volunteer orientation so the planning side of me is kinda freaking out but the other spontaneous side is all good with the unknown and anticipation.
I submitted in my application that I would enjoy being a
- Compassionate Companion - paired up with a person with a disability OR paired with a typically abled child (who is a sibling or child of a person with a disability) to act as a friend, encourager & helper
- Activity Crew - help facilitate kids or teen daily programming and special events
- Logistics Crew - help do behind the scenes work
- Nursery Crew - childcare workers spending time with little ones who are disabled and typically-abled campers
Some specific prayer requests that I’d ask you to pray for me as I prepare:
- To keep Jesus to be my #1 priority and center in my life
- Continue to be humbled in my walk & journey with Jesus
- To grow to be a better active listener
- To continue to get into good physical shape so that I can serve the campers & families to the best of my ability.
I would greatly appreciate for you to join me in being a prayer partner and financial partner, if you feel led. Excess funds go to the rest of the volunteers serving at Hope Heals.
In order for every Hope Heals camper to attend at no cost, volunteers pay a tuition that covers their expenses and partially contributes to a camper's expenses. By supporting me, you’re allowing me to serve the families affected by disabilities and making it possible for those families to attend Hope Heals for free.
My main request is the you would pray for me and all of the other volunteers at this camp. I am very thankful for your support! Thank you!!
In Christ,
Heather