Have you ever felt worthless, helpless and hopeless from a broken relationship? Have you ever been crushed by life ‘s unexpected storms? Back in 2002, I went through a devastating relationship breakup. It made me feel so broken, little did I know that my brokenness was going to awaken and enlighten me to be a better Christian woman. This is very much a part of my journey from a tragedy to ministry.
For few years, it felt like I was living in a deep dark valley of despair. I felt like an outcast, an alien, an abandoned property. All my time, sweat and energy invested in the relationship came down crashing. I was shaken to my core. I lost my zeal for life. For months, I had even lost my thirst and hunger for life, little did I know God was working from the inside, little did I know God was about to use that tragedy to show me a new opportunity to serve in ministry.
In the months and years after that crisis, I started noticing other women who were also down-cast from similar or worst issues in life. We live in a broken world and I know many others face other forms of brokenness. In my home country Cameroon and Africa as a whole, somehow, women suffer more from the tragedies in life. Almost in every culture, women suffer from one type of burden or another. Break-up in relationships, breakdowns in family, professional breakdowns and more. Unlike men, we can’t dust up ourselves and move on so easily. Often, we remain broken-hearted as victims, and suffering all sorts of social stigma. Together, we can turn our stigma into common good.
During one of those dark days, I had an unprecedented spiritual experience that left me with an awakening. I had an unmistakable 360 degrees of transformation, an unshakable bout of clarity that said, “Carole, stop seeking validation from anyone; start seeking validation from God.” Even though I had been a Christian before that moment, my newfound epiphany was simply revelatory. Upon me, came an unquenchable thirst of spiritual renewal and revival, that I could not contain to myself. I could not resist its grip on me and a greater urgency to share this message of truth with my sisters.
By 2006, I started praying, sharing and mentoring a group of young women in my village. Sometimes, we met in my mother ‘s kitchen. At other times, we sat under a tree near my mother ‘s home. Together, we studied the Word of God and prayed for hours to have the strength to face our trials and tribulations with empathy and support for one another. Slowly but surely, we came to realize that our virtues and values as women do not depend on who is by our side, but He who has called you from your mother ‘s womb. In the course of holding those meetings, we had no idea we were sowing the seeds of a what we now call today, Women of Distinction Worldwide.
When I arrived in Oregon in 2008, I went about my business trying to settle down. As I was learning to find my way around, the burden of sharing the word with a community of sisters kept flooding my mind. Of course, I resisted it. As I went around job-searching; the idea grew bigger on in my mind. Even when I went around to get my social security number, the idea was on my mind. As I went to buy groceries; the idea was on my mind. I could not escape the conviction of that idea. When I got so fade up of the idea, I recall sighing and saying, “But Lord, I don’t even know anybody here. I don’t have no contacts, no cash and no connections, how am I going to do such a thing?
Unbeknownst to me, in the weeks that followed, I was introduced to certain Kwin in Eugene, Oregon. As it turned, it was not just a random Kwin. She was my high school classmate from 10 years back in Cameroon. With her help and with support from many other sisters, we held our first retreat in March 2009 in Eugene, Oregon. At our first USA Retreat, we had 7 attendees from 4 countries, mainly friends, and strangers. These were 7 sisters praying together. Look how far we have come with no cash, no contacts and no connections.
I must say it was God ‘s grace that guided us to muster the courage in the midst of all those challenges way back in 2008. From 7 sisters in 2008, we had risen to 80 sisters at the 2018 Retreat in Silverton, Oregon, from over 15 countries. When you have over 80 God-fearing women in one room, can you imagine what God can do through us? We cannot measure the impact of what God is doing in our lives and in the lives of others that we have the potential to reach as part of our ministry.
As we continue to grow, let’s not forget that we all have once faced brokenness. We live in a broken world. As Women of Distinction, we are a community of sisters who strive to pray together, praise together, and sing together; so that we can strengthen one another through Christ. We must strive to go from broken to enlightened, and above all from personal tragedies to ministering in faith as Women of Distinction Worldwide. Together, let’s be guided by Eph 2:10. “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”