Coincidence or Opportunity- Just Do It!

I just read Katelyn's blog about searching for and following her passion in life. I'm not sure if I wanted to shout for joy or cry with emotion and love. I can see that what I really felt was pride to be able to tell myself that "She got it". She wants to make a difference- make her mark. I guess that I do recall looking into sponsoring a child when I was her age. I became discouraged and didn't follow through when I found how little of my donation would actually reach the child. That must have been a nurturing instinct that was then followed by starting our family. I don't remember feeling that deep passion to get involved with too many other things since I was so focused on continuing to work while raising a family. It was more like an involvement that revolved around the kids- school volunteer, girl scouts, boy scouts, church,etc.- typical mom stuff.
As the kids became older and pulled away from those activities I just stayed around to make sure that there was someone home for them. That probable was my time to start to regroup and refocus. I found that I wasn't needed as much for them but I started to notice my patients needs more. There were alot of lonely people out there. They just needed someone to listen to them and care.
As I said goodbye to Katelyn leaving home, I saw how lonesome I became. Gary died and many lives changed forever. There was this open sore that just wouldn't heal- it broke my heart to see such pain. About 6 months later an opportunity came before me to become a Stephen Minister in our church(one-on-one christian caregiving in the community). I accepted the job with the understanding that if my family needed me or my parents became ill I would have to step back. There were 12 of us that trained for months (50 hours total). I have been assigned 2 carerecievers over the two years and meet regularly to walk along side of them and listen to their concerns. All done in confidence. I know that there are many people that do this without having a label or organization such as Stephen Ministry. This is different than forming a friendship- we are assigned these people that are in need of a listening ear, smile or hug. Many of the carereceivers are not even affiliated with my church- they have come to us from the community out of need. For some, their caregiver is all that they have to go to. The video in the post below describes our mission.
Wow, how did I end up talking about that? I guess I just went off about where my passion led to. I remember this past winter very vividly, when I came up against a life and death situation, my friend Jennifer said that it was no small coincidence that I became involved with this ministry. So, if I can take this gift and just reach out to one person at a time- that person that is facing loneliness, illness, death or just uncertainty- that's my passion.
So to my daughter, who is developing this sense of need and self-worth. Yay. Open your heart and be intune to those opportunities that enter into your life- just may not be a coincidence after all.