Servant From Experience

This Servant Spotlight is on Jo Willet, the Facilitator for the Single Mom's Support Group.  She shares in her testimony how her own experience prepared her to help other women.  Read what she has to say.

"Just over a year ago I participated in a Wednesday evening Growthgroup on “Friends” led by Carol Ann Poore and Lisa Lucas.  It was a wonderful opportunity to open up and share our hearts.  It was then that God placed on Lisa’s mind that I could be a facilitator for the Single Mom’s Support Group which she was leading at the time.

Before I married Ron, my husband, I had been a single mother for 10 years.  As I prayed about the group, I felt God leading me to accept the responsibility because I realized that there was probably nothing one of those mothers would face that I had not gone through.  I was drawn to this group also because I understand their isolation and difficulty in finding a niche among all the different groups in the church.

We started with 3 women in the group and now have 9 who meet with us on a regular basis.  In the meetings we do not follow a regular agenda, although we have studied a couple of books.  What works best for the group is an opportunity to talk – to share their deepest needs.  When you are reluctant to discuss your personal issues with others who might not understand your situation, it is a positive thing to be able to talk about what is going on in your life – both good and bad.

What is hard for me?  As I get to know the group members, I want to get involved at a deep personal level and help.  The biggest challenge for me is resources to meet needs.  I want to get in there and fix things and I just can’t do that for everybody, so I follow God’s leading and do the best I can.

What has blessed me more than anything else is to watch the ladies as they come and open up to each other.  As they have made friends and ministered to one another, they have grown in their spiritual walk and confidence in themselves.  They have become each others’ listeners.  One will have advice for what another is going through.  It is a close group, but open enough to welcome newcomers and minister to them.  While group members receive support from one another, some also reach outside the group to serve in other ministries of the church.  It is a wonderful group and I am blessed to serve them.