St. Francis of Assisi Grateful Believers
Lay Witness Talks
Page 3

Betty Davis

I want to share with you how God called me into ministry.

In 1975 I attended a seminar at St. Leonard’s. The speaker talked about how we make little gods in our life. As I sat there smoking, I said to myself, ‘No, I don’t do that.’ And then she mentioned smoking! Everything within me screamed “NO! I like my cigarettes”!

The more she talked, I knew I had to put the cigarette out for the last time. As I did, a lady behind me said “God has something else He wants you to do with your hands.

I didn’t tell my husband I quit, but 2 weeks later, he came home from church and said, “I signed you up to be a Eucharistic Minister”.

Those same fingers I used to hold a cigarette now was going to hold the Body of Christ!

Great sacrifice! Greatly rewarded!

Two years later, I read a story about a woman who wanted to serve her church, but physically wasn’t able. So, she prayed. She was then inspired to start a Telephone Prayer Chain and her action contributed a much needed ministry in her church.

That story intrigued me, BUT we just had our fourth child and I was so busy, I barely had enough time to brush my teeth. Getting involved up here was out of the question.

But in the midst of all the holy chaos of taking care of 4 little children, God whispered to me and said, “You can do that”! Reluctantly, I said “yes, I can”.

So, I asked other people if they wanted to do this with me, and before I knew it, a Telephone Prayer Chain was put into place.

I want to say “thank you” to all the members that serve this ministry, for being so faithful and willing to pray for the needs of others.

Several years ago I became aware that there was something missing from my spiritual life. This yearning or desire went on for about a year.

Then I met a woman here named Paula Trimbach. She had been experiencing the same thing! We wondered if there were other women who felt this way.

We decided there must be, so we booked a Retreat Center, passed out flyers, and 38 women responded. That was the birth of the Annual St. Francis Women’s Retreat!

It was on the 3rd retreat that a woman challenged me to accept that I was being called to a ministry that served women! It took some time for me to accept that.

But, I kept getting ideas for new retreats, and was recognizing that, beyond the spiritual need, some women needed affirmation, some needed to be loved and accepted, some needed a safe place to share their feelings, and some needed compassion. This was going to be a big task!

Other women came forward and offered their time, talents, financial support, guidance, and best of all, their commitment to continue this ministry.

God provided all that I needed. I just had to say YES!

I am extremely humbled and thankful for the women that serve so generously on this team. They love this ministry as much as I do.

February will be out 14th year. And ladies, listen up. The theme is “Seeking a Mary Heart in a Martha World” & our director is Fr. Joe. Rigalli.

After Mass, please take the time to visit all the ministries that serve us in this community. They represent God’s blessings to us.

Be sure to ‘Thank’ the members who give so much of their time. And more importantly, thank the Holy Spirit who calls all of us to serve, not for our glory, but for the Glory of God.
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Pidge Ward

My name is Pidge Ward and I am a grateful believer. I’m grateful fo my parents who passed on the richness of our faith by their examples. I would truly need in the years ahead.

I’m grateful for my marriage and my spouse, for the good times and the difficult times when our faith would be tested beyond measure.

I’m grateful for the 5 children we were given, 3 of whom we had to give back to the Lord due to having Cystic Fibrosis. I must tell you though, that their lives were not taken in vain. God sent them into the world to bring forth love, joy, happiness, caring, sharing and compassion. St. Francis Parish played a major part in all that. I will always remember and be forever grateful.

Years before our daughters died, I wanted to do something for the Lord in appreciation for their good years. I taught CCD for many years and loved every minute of it. Children are our greatest treasure and I found them like sponges, much more willing to absorb things and learn than we give them credit for. So many times their openness in sharing touched my heartstrings and I learned along with them.

In addition to teaching CCD, I took communion to the sick at Bellbrook Rehab and spent extra time visiting with them. They loved sharing their history, family memories and much wisdom. They were some of the strongest people I know.

After the last of my three daughters died, life was difficult because our oldest son, Jim, was working in Tampa and our other son, Tom, was going off to college. I vowed though that my family was not going to be the glue that kept me together. After all, our boys were grieving too and they needed a new beginning, a wonderful life to look forward to.

I sought the one who knows me best and has my best interests in mind. I prayed, “Lord what is my purpose in life now?”. He answered me, My last daughter’s favorite nurse was losing her baby sitter and she wondered if I could help her for a while. I was her sitter for eight years along with another little girl down the street. Jason, Zachary and Maggie are all in college now making their parents proud and myself happy to have been a part of their lives. I am blessed with another family of three children that I have been sitting for 12 1/2 years now and I’m having the time of my life.

During this same time frame, I was asked to join and facilitate a Small Christian Community. We meet every Friday morning and incorporate prayer, scripture, faith sharing, service to the parish and evangelization. We have grown in our relationship with God and one another and this is our 18th year together.

When Father Tom came to our parish, He, along with Suzanne Power, introduced us to Centering Prayer. In Centering Prayer we take time out to be with our Lord in silence, just because He is present to us and we love Him. Once a month we practice Lexio Divina ( divine reading) in which we read scripture, reflect on it, respond to it and rest in what it has been spoken to us. Father has also taught us about a Welcoming Prayer which has been such a gift to all of us. The next time he teaches this, I encourage you to plan to attend, for you won’t be disappointed.

I’ve talked to so many people who don’t feel they have any gifts or more than likely do not know what their gifts are. It saddens me because I see them as so gifted. I believe it is up to all of us to see that everyone in the parish is part of the whole picture, gifts and all. We are much less than we could be when someone is left out or whose gifts are not appreciated or taken into account. So let’s stoke the flame of Christ’s light, we received at our Baptism, in one another and continue to spread the fire that is burning brightly in St. Francis’s 66 ministries.

May God grace each and everyone of us and equip us with all that we need to do His will in our life and here at St. Francis. May we continue in our journey with commitment and passion in our heart.
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Jeanne Fehskens

My name is Jeanne Fehskens. I’d like to tell you a story that recently came across my email. It’s the story of a woman who died and found herself at the doorway to Heaven. She was greeted by an angel who presented her with a quilt representing events of the woman’s life. The woman noticed how threadbare and full of holes her quilt was. She was ashamed of the tattered life quilt she was about to present to the Lord. Somehow, through much prayer, she managed to have the strength to get through the difficult parts of her life and she was thankful for the friends who helped her through those times. When Jesus unfolded the patchwork of the woman’s life, light flooded the holes, creating an image of Christ. He said to her, “Every time you gave your life struggles and hardships to me, they became my life struggles and hardships. Each of these holes in your quilt is where you stepped out in faith and let me shine through you.”

This story made me reflect on my life. Where have I stepped out in faith and made room for Christ to shine through? Most often it was when I was feeling deep hurt or need. For example, when my marriage was falling apart, I prayed asking God what was I supposed to do now? I thought I was asking how I would go on by myself with two small children. But instead I found God answer by offering me a new beginning with my husband through a ministry called Retrouvaille. My husband and I attended a Retrouvaille weekend offered by a community of people committed to helping couples heal their marriages.

Four years later, I was feeling overwhelmed, trying to be “super mom”. I was teaching Religious Education classes, volunteering at my kid’s schools, parenting a preschooler at the same time as being the primary care giver to my mother in law who had Alzheimer’s. I felt lost and on the edge of having a nervous breakdown. I attended a St Francis gathering of women where I met Judith Dunlap. She listened kindly, through my tears, to my tale of woe. She said, “take some time to take care of yourself” I thankfully took her wise advise and I felt like she saved my life, or at least my mental health. I also attended the St. Francis Women’s retreat. That was another experience of taking care of myself and attending to my spiritual health.

What I received as a result of risking those leaps of faith was the gift of renewal and healing in my marriage. I received the gift of discernment that I cannot do it all or alone and the gift of a community of women to love and pray me through all the holes in my life. Out gratitude for these blessings in my life, I have been committed to the Retrouvaille ministry team for the past 16 years where my husband and I have shared our story of how our marriage nearly failed and how through that community, we received help and healing.

I learned that discerning what I am called to do, rather than thinking I can do “it all” is very important. I learned I need to take care of myself in addition to caring for others. I felt called to start a ministry for mothers. I prayed that God would send other women to me to help me. At the first invitation to start the Ministry of Mothers Sharing, seventeen women showed up. God called me to fill a hole in our parish, but He also called other women too. He did not leave me to do it alone. In gratitude for that lesson, I am committed to the MOMS ministry in our parish. I wanted other women to know the empowerment and freedom they can claim by discerning where God is calling them to take a leap of faith.

And in gratitude for the sisterhood of hospitality and love and prayer that the St Francis Women’s Retreat has offered me, I am committed to the planning team who create a nurturing environment for other women to experience God’s love within a welcoming community.

All of these life lessons required a risk on my part:
~Risking revealing the shame of a failing marriage yielded the fruit of healing.
~Risking my failure to be the perfect mother who can do it all, yielded the fruit of discerning God’s instruction of what HE wants me to do.
~Risking bearing my feelings and fears in an accepting community yielded the fruit of Love and knowing I am part of a bigger family called St Francis Church.

The ministries of our parish fill the holes in the quilt of our personal lives and in our community life. I invite you listen carefully to where God is calling you to take a step out in faith.
~For it is through our tattered life where we allow others to minister to us and where Christ shines through and heals us.
~It is with others in community that Christ shines through and gives us hope.
~It is in saying “yes” to where God is calling us to commit to taking a risk to expose the holes in our life that we become whole W-H-O-L-E.

THROUGH, WITH, AND IN this body of Christ we become Whole and HOLY.
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Jeff Cutlip

JUST SAY YES!

I am Jeff Cutlip, a parishioner with my wife, Joan, for nearly 30 years. Over the years, I have been a very public figure at St. Francis for one primary reason … God keeps finding things for me to say “Yes” to.

In retrospect, I am grateful because such invitations have led me over those years to be:

  • President of PAC (Fr. Ed)
  • Recruiter of Small Christian Communities
  • Producer of the Church Building Campaign Video
  • Master of Ceremonies of the Annual Mardi Gras

Now I am invested in our Choir and therein lay my greatest testimony to the value of saying YES. As the choir will sing in a few minutes, “Oh Music” … music gives wings to the words of God. It sings my joy, my pain, even sings what I can’t say. My spirit rests with your song.

I’ve been a choir member for 25 years and that one connection has blessed me more times than I can count ….

  • In every struggle in my life – there is a prayer or psalm set to music.
  • For every joy that I can’t express in words, music does it.
  • I have been given the courage to minister to others by singing at personally important events, from my father’s funeral 10 years ago to Dorothy Meixner’s funeral yesterday.
  • It’s allowed me to sing at the weddings of two of my three children.
  • Today I am a member of the Jubilee Singers performance group which will be performing “Stations” at STF in February.
  • Choir has become a place to pray and, as some of my choirmates will attest, a place to play during practice.
  • All of this by saying “Yes” years ago.

In the past four weeks, we’ve heard 15 other people share how grateful they are for their gifts from God and how they use those in service to the church. In listening to their stories, do you know what decisions you need to make about your stewardship?

What are you being asked by God to do? If you’re still unclear, I have a suggestion …

  • Open your booklet, “Grateful Believers” Parish Action Plan (PROP)
  • Read about each ministry. There are nearly 70 from which to choose.
  • Pick one – just one – that appeals to you.
  • Talk with God about it.
  • Contact the person in charge to tell them, “Yes. I want to get involved.”
  • Then – do it!

When Jesus said to his disciples, “Follow Me” they said, “Yes.” They left what they were doing and look at what they experienced over the next three years and for the rest of their lives. Imagine what God has in store for you when you say, “Yes.”

Still not sure? We need 3 Basses for the choir. Thank you.
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St. Francis of Assisi Roman Catholic Church, Centerville, OH