This week our ISBC WOW! is Kathy Singleton. As church
secretary many of you may have spoken with Kathy and even benefited from her help on a project! (I know I have!)
Now hear Kathy's story in her own words:
Before moving to the Tri-Cities in November of ’07, my husband Jimmy, and I lived in Seymour – south of Knoxville – for 26 years. We are the proud parents of two daughters. Amanda, 32, lives in Asheville. Melissa, 30, lives in Chattanooga with her husband, Bryan, and their 17-month-old son, Owen -who will become a big brother in June! I’m not ashamed to say that I’ll show you the newest picture of our “Little Man” and talk endlessly about him and our girls with little or no encouragement.
I am an only child – born to parents who were both told that they would never have children. God; however, proved their doctors wrong when 11 months after their wedding I was born! My father was in the retail business and so we moved A LOT – beginning when I was 6 weeks old. By the time I graduated from high school we had moved 25 times. Since our marriage in ’75, Jimmy and I have moved 12 times. The first move was to Sacramento, CA where he was in the Air Force. In ’93, we actually had 5 different addresses! When you move that much, you have a couple of choices: 1) Withdraw for fear of always being the “new girl” and thus the outsider; or, 2) Throw your arms open wide and embrace people quickly, because you may only have a short time to get to know them. Those of you who know me are probably smiling now because you know which choice I made. A good friend of mine refers to me as a “child of the world” because I love people and have never met a stranger.
Over the years I’ve held many jobs and enjoyed
each of them. I’ve also been active within
our church: working with children and
youth, choir, and drama productions. While our church was involved in building a
Family Life Center, God gave me a heart for that ministry. So, true to my nature, I marched up to the
new Minister of Recreation and Senior Adults and expressed my interest in
working in the FLC. To my surprise, and
his, he hired me on the spot! I spent six of the most amazing, busy, crazy,
fantastic, and often, exhausting years, in God’s service. I came
to realize that God had been preparing me for this ministry all along – from
the day of my birth – all the moves – all the people I’d met – all the
different jobs I’d held! It was all
part of His perfect plan!
My parents (now divorced) were having
serious health issues as was Jimmy’s Mom (a widow), so we began to pray for
guidance about our future. We felt God
urging us to move back to the Bristol area where they all lived. I can’t say I was always patient and that I
never questioned Him because I did. To
be honest, the answers just didn’t come when I thought they should and they
weren’t always the ones I wanted. I
loved the friends I’d known for 26 years and my ministry at the church. However; He is always faithful when we remain
obedient to Him. When His time was
perfect, He gave me sweet peace and I saw His hand move as everything began to happen
quickly. Between July ‘07 and Dec. ’07, Jimmy
was interviewed and hired, our house sold (in 3 weeks), and we bought our
perfect house here in Blountville, and moved in.
For a while we went to church with a different
parent each Sunday, but we needed our own place of worship. Again, we began to pray and God led us here
to ISBC. We are one of those couples
that Pastor Roc says visited for 140 years before they joined! I can say, with great joy, that we’ve been
members now for 2½ years. I became involved
with Awana and the Women’s Ministry, but I wanted more so I began to pray about
it. In October God answered that prayer
when I began sharing the job of church receptionist with Kaye Poirier. I am excited about the future and what God
has planned. He is continuing to prepare me for whatever
happens tomorrow and I pray that I am always available!! Praise the Lord!!!!
Submitted by:
Kathy Neal
ISBC Women's Ministry
Communications Coordinator
