At age 23 with two years of teaching in a very small Texas Panhandle town, I accepted a 1st grade teaching position with Oil Companies School in Tripoli, Libya, North Africa. The furthest I had been from my Texas home was east to Kentucky and northwest to Yellowstone National Park. I had flown one time and that was only to Houston. This time my flight took me from Amarillo to DFW to JFK in New York then to Zurich and finally landing at Tripoli International Airport.

Now you might think that making the decision to take the job was the boldest thing I did at that time of my life, but really the bold thing I did was to take swimming lessons at age 23. I can hear you laughing, but you see I had a fear of water from about age 5 when I got caught in an undercurrent off the beach of Galveston. Fortunately, my dad was very close and pulled me out of the water. After that, I would have panic attacks just standing in a pool. I decided that if I was going to live on the Mediterranean Sea, I needed to overcome my fear and so swimming lessons is what I did.

Those three years of living overseas were amazing in so many ways and prepared me for more bold actions in both my personal and professional life.

Approaching new opportunities throughout the years was done with confidence. My parents were instrumental in my confidence building and even though I wasn’t actively involved in a faith community until coming to Fort Worth, I sensed that God was very much involved in my life. I didn’t talk about it except with my parents, but as I look back at some of my journal entries over the years, I was pleasantly surprised to see numerous references to God and Christ.

Obviously, I eventually landed in Fort Worth in 1993 to serve as Executive Director of CASA of Tarrant County. I came to Fort Worth not knowing anyone and although the CASA network was warm and friendly, I needed other avenues for friend making.

Toward the end of the year, I started attending FUMCFW worship and became involved in New Horizons Singles. Many of those NHS acquaintances are still in my life including my husband. Much like it is today, First Church was welcoming and provided many opportunities for me to dive deep into building a relationship with Christ which is something I had not done previously. Activities like Disciple Bible Studies, mission trips to Belize, Costa Rica and Kenya, lay leadership involvement, and FSMM volunteering enhanced my personal faith journey and expanded my sphere of friends to include many like-minded disciples.

Joining the FUMCFW staff in 2017 was another bold move equivalent to my Libyan move. When I first heard of the position two years prior I wasn’t interested simply because I didn’t think it was something I wanted to do or had the skills to do. Thank goodness God did not give up on me and thank goodness he put me in the place where I could immerse myself in the fragrance of Christ’s love every day!

In the last 6½ years I have had many opportunities to become bolder in all areas of my discipleship:

• WORSHIP: Sunday mornings worship is now much more than just sitting in pew; it is a time for reflection, thanksgiving, and community.
• LEARN: Challenging myself to be a faithful member of a Bible Study and Sunday School class so that I develop a broader understanding of how Christ is working in my life every day.
• PRAY: Recognizing the importance of prayer as a heartfelt practice and not just a quick and easy phrase to say to someone on a whim.
• SERVE and PLAY: Gifts I give myself by engaging with wonderful kindred spirits and looking beyond my own needs and desires.
• GIVE: This may be the most challenging discipleship practice to do because I like traveling to fun places, shopping for “must have” items, and experiencing life to the fullest; in other words, I was choosing frivolous and fun over God. Thanks to honest and inspiring conversations with various church members who shared why they are generous in their church giving, I began to truly trust God, putting him first and practicing sacrificial giving out of gratitude for his constant presence. And by the way, my life is still very much full of frivolous and fun for the better.

My boldness is paying off. Today I am living a joyful Christ-filled life that overflows with blessings as numerous as the stars in the heavenly skies.

As we spend time thinking about our 2024 Stewardship Campaign, It is my prayer and hope that my boldness inspires you to be BOLD, or even BOLDER, as you contemplate your own faith journey.

Thank you for being BOLD!

Together through Christ,

Director of Stewardship