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“In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.” Matthew 5:16.

The Fearless Leader and I have been on the women’s ministry team of our church for nearly 7 years. (Can you believe it, friend?) Joanne and The Robyn were with us early, and Kristen has been a blessed addition to the team these last 2+ years. Each year, we organize a women’s retreat held in October.

We start our planning in January: finding a location, looking for available speakers, requesting budget funds to cover the cost, searching for a topic, etc. God gives us direction along the way, but His timing is not our timing. Year after year after year, it all comes together not in June as we hope, but in early October as we scramble.

This year, we found a beautiful new retreat location, and put down the deposit. Then, starting in the spring, Mary contacted speakers. She got one “No,” and a boat load of “No Reply.” After a summer of praying and pleading with God to “Please send somebody our way,”  we moved to plan B – each member of the team would teach one session during the retreat. After a few months of searching, we found a book to use for our sessions, Treasures of Encouragement by Sharon Betters. Over the course of the last year, many women in our congregation have gone through hard bits of life, loss, sorrow and sickness. We felt God’s call to encourage them. At this point our team was down to 3 members for 4 sessions.

Earlier in the summer, Mom had planned to join the Manry Clan for the September campout. She called in early August and said, “I think I’d rather come to the Women’s Retreat.”

“Great!” I replied, “Do you want to be our guest speaker?”

Thankfully, she said yes.

She had 2 1/2 months to prepare her talk, “Treasures in the Wilderness of Suffering and Loss.” She read the book and started writing down much of what she has experienced in the 4 years since Dad’s stroke. Her dear friends Karen and Debby suggested additional ideas, edited it, and typed it out for her. Somewhere along the way, we convinced my sister, Marie to join the party.

Mom arrived the week before the retreat and I helped her edit the talk. Marie arrived 2 days before the retreat, and listened to Mom read it to us in a sad mournful voice while we were sitting around my kitchen table. Marie gave me a questioning look and offered more suggestions to improve the flow and pick up the mood.

The morning of her talk, after frying the hash browns, Mom dressed in her business attire. When it was her time to present, she stood up and suddenly it was, “Thus Saith the Lord!”

God was speaking through her.

Marie looked at her in shock remembering the kitchen table from 2 days earlier. “Are you my mother?” She thought.

When Mom finished, everyone was crying, but they were good tears. Tears of belief – knowing God is seeing us through really hard things that we would rather not endure.

I have been blessed to be a witness (as I have been my entire life) to Kathy Meloch letting her light shine before men, that they may see her good works and praise her Father in heaven.

If you’re in need of a guest speaker anytime soon, just contact her booking agent, Rob Meloche who may make demands for a nice room, good coffee and not having to fry potatoes before she presents her message from the Lord.