Kathe Wunnenberg - Hopelifter: Creative Ways to Spread Hope When Life Hurts

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.

2 CORINTHIANS 1:34

T ake a busload of women away for a day with God!

What a crazy thought. At that time in 2006, I was on a personal retreat seeking rest, replenishment, and direction from God. My life was busy and full. I was struggling to balance marriage, parenting three sons (ages five, seven, and sixteen), a speaking and writing ministry, and a growing new organization called Hopelifters. How could I possibly find the time or energy to organize a bus trip?

But when I shared the idea with my friend Debbie Mis, to my surprise, she got excited. So we spent a day researching bus companies, and Debbie made a notebook to organize the information. Debbie loves details and organization. I lose things. She finds them. Our friendship is truly a gift from God.

Prayer is foundational in anything I do, so Debbie and I prayed together about taking women away on a bus. We prayed specifically for a Christian bus company.

Four years passed.

One day while cleaning out a closet, I found the notebook Debbie had created for me years earlier with the title Hopelifters Hope on Wheels on the front. Nows the time for the bus trip! I thought. Though sometimes I get frustrated with myself and question my big dreams or ability to realize them, Im learning to embrace the truth that Gods ways and timing are different than mine. His timing is always perfect. I realized this a few days later when I received an unexpected call from Masters Touch Tours, a Christian-owned bus company. Debbie and I met with the owners, and by the end of the meeting I had chartered our first bus to take women away for a day with God.

However, I now faced two obstacles. First, I didnt have the money. And second, I didnt have women for the bus trip! But one thing Ive learned in my life is that when God asks me to do something, even if it doesnt make sense (as long as its not contrary to Scripture), then JUST DO IT!

I prayed hard. Every day, I asked God to show me who to invite, and every day He led me to women in need of fresh hope, many of them strangers. Then I sensed I was to make my first bus trip an offering and not charge women to attend. Another crazy thought. A few friends heard about my bus trip and couldnt attend, but felt prompted to underwrite some of the expense, so God even provided most of the funds.

March 2010 finally arrived, and thirty-three women ranging from ages thirteen to eighty-one arrived for an early morning breakfast and boarded the bus for a two-hour ride to Living Water Retreat Center. From my personal experience of going there, I understood the value of removing myself physically from my environment and releasing my emotions, so that my spirit could be still enough to hear God. I looked forward to providing this opportunity to other women. Together, Debbie and I served women that day and watched the Holy Spirit at work through their laughter, life-to-life exchange, tears, praise, healing, and changed hearts.

We continue to make it a practice to take women away on a bus for the day to spend intentional time with God and experience His transforming power. We call our day trips Hopelifters Hope on Wheels. Hope spreads as women on the bus reach out to other women in need of hope. This intentional lifestyle, which I call hopelifting, is for anyone who wants to make a difference in hurting lives and spread the hope and comfort of God through creative compassionsimple, practical, creative acts. Hope is contagious. It is carried from person to person and is transmitted by contact. Our bus trip is simply a venue for a life-giving transfusion of hope.

All aboard! shouts Ernie, our bus driver. Ernies warmth, humor, and experience as a former grief pastor always enhances our Mothers Day bus trip and makes our two-hour drive from Phoenix to Living Water Retreat Center a meaningful experience. This particular bus trip is dear to my heart, because it is for women who have lost children. Each mother there represents a life and a unique circumstance: unborn children lost through abortion, miscarriage, or stillbirth. Infants lost through premature birth, rare disorders, or unknown causes. Young children and teenagers lost through accidents, sickness, or suicide. Adult children lost through murder, accidents, or health issues.

Although the womens ages, stages in life, and grief vary, they share a common bond and sisterhood of loss. Some are fresh in their journey and preparing for their first Mothers Day without their child. Others are veteran sojourners, well familiar with suffering and this bus trip. We call them hopelifterspeople who have been transformed by their own experience with grief and who are now willingly offering themselves as the hands and feet of Jesus to comfort other hurting women. Amazingly, Gods power at work in and through their broken hearts spreads hope in the hearts of others. Ive seen it happen every year. The hopelifters presence, personal touch, prayers, practical advice, and individual stories of Gods help and healing power in their own lives lifts other women and points them to the God of Hope. And in time those receiving hope will spread hope too.

As the emcee and spiritual tour guide for the trip, I stood up and faced the two long rows of women. On one side sat many brokenhearted women in need of knowing Jesus personally or knowing He is with them in their pain. Across the aisle in the other row sat the hopelifters, women persevering through their pain yet willing to help others.

Welcome! I said. Im glad you are on todays bus, but Im sorry for your loss. Many of us are here today because we believe we go through what we go through, to help others go through what we went through. Unlike other bus trips I emcee for hurting women who need a day away with God, todays busload of grieving moms is one of my favorites because I share in their suffering and know what it feels like to lose a child. I also know how Gods miracle-working power can transform lives and bring healing, hope, and freedom.

On the bus, women are encouraged to be real and share their raw emotions or feelings with no judgment from others. Women may choose to be silent or choose to share pictures or stories of their lost child. Passing the microphone for show and tell is another meaningful way for women to express their joy or sorrow.

I dont know if God is even there, sobbed one woman that day. Im going crazy trying to figure out why this happened! said another. I started a nonprofit ministry this year to honor my twins, and we provide hospitals with boxes filled with meaningful items for women who have lost babies, said another. Then Deborah shared about her loss, her hardened heart toward God, and her severe health challenges. I have a hip tumor with severe pain and difficulty walking, she announced. As women continued sharing, a sense of camaraderie started to develop. By the time we reached our destination and the bus pulled into the gravel driveway of the lush thirty-acre retreat center, women knew they were not alone.