Lisa did not have a relationship with the Lord until she was married and had children. After she and her second husband were married, they moved into a new neighborhood where her daughter from her first marriage became friends with a girl across the street. This little girl’s mom was a Christian and Lisa quickly observed something different about her. Lisa had chosen to stay home with her seven-year-old daughter and looked forward to being a devoted mom.

Because of her circumstances, Lisa was able to develop a relationship with her new neighbor Diane, as their daughters were quickly becoming close friends. Although Lisa went to church, she began to realize that she had no relationship with the Lord and was missing out on something essential. Lisa’s neighbor, Diane, worked with stained glass and made beautiful windows. It was while Lisa observed her working on a stained glass window portraying Noah’s Ark that she realized she needed the Lord. "It hit me like a ton of bricks one day," Lisa said. "The water is rising and if I don’t act now it may be too late." It was then that Lisa began a transforming relationship with the Lord.

After working as a proofreader, Lisa thought she would pursue employment in the school system. Doing so would enable her to be at home when her kids got home from school. Instead, the Lord led her to take a temporary job as the assistant to the CEO of Legacy Marketing. It was at Legacy Marketing that she observed a number of young moms working and occasionally glancing up at the pictures of their children. Lisa approached the CEO about starting a lunchtime MOPS group.

While her CEO was supportive, both she and Lisa knew that the human relations department of the company might have questions and doubts about this goal of reaching out to working moms. Lisa contacted Pacific Justice Institute about their concerns. In response, this ministry sent an attorney representative to meet with the human relations department and other local business leaders. After being convinced of its legality, the human relations department of Legacy Marketing gave Lisa the okay to begin a lunch-time MOPS meeting.

Lisa began this ministry in faith and was faced with many opportunities and challenges. While MOPS is an effective program in many churches, Lisa and her partner in the ministry, Cindy, agreed that women in the workplace are inundated with programs. In response to this different need, Cindy and Lisa co-founded a ministry called Moms at Work.

While Moms at Work is not a Bible study, their goal is to pray for and support working moms. Lisa has faced many challenges in the workplace while staying faithful to the ministry God has called her to fulfill. The first challenge she faced was in the human relations department. A second challenge was simply responding to the group of moms who reluctantly entered the room and sat with their arms crossed, waiting to hear something they did not like. Thankfully many of those moms have come back week after week and are excited to be encouraged and hear how the Lord can work in their lives. A third challenge exists in those who do not think Christian moms should work at all. In response, Lisa explains that every situation is different. Many moms do not want to work, but need a way to pay the bills. Just because one is a working mom does not mean she is working to live up to certain standard of living.

Many moms are in difficult circumstances, stemming from a broken marriage, a spouse who has died, or other unforeseen events. Rather than judging moms for working, Lisa is reaching out to moms to encourage them in the Lord.

Lisa recently quit her job at Legacy Marketing to minister full-time. She and co-founder Cindy direct Moms at Work (momsatwork.org) from Petaluma, California, where they both reside with their families. Leaving her job in faith, Lisa responded to the growing cry of working women, and reached out to them with the spiritual dimension for which they were yearning. |L

OTHER COLUMNS:
June 15, 2008 - A time saver who knows the soul saver
May 18, 2008 - Working by faith 24/7
April 20, 2008 - Motown, music, and ministry
March 23, 2008 - Be One Sportswear
February 24, 2008 - Fighting for the faith
January 27, 2008 - Healing for the Healer
December 30, 2007 - Parenting faithfully
December 2, 2007 - Building physical and spiritual strength
November 4, 2007 - Taking Christ into the classroom
October 7, 2007 - Changing lives through music
August 12, 2007 - Strategies for business and life
June 17, 2007 - Finding fulfilling work
May 20, 2007 - Faithful to his calling
April 22, 2007 - An unstoppable witness
March 25, 2007 - The perfect plan
February 25, 2007 - Teaching with faith
January 28, 2007 - Changing a community—one event at a time
December 24, 2006 - Business by the book
November 26, 2006 - Growing through life’s storms
October 29, 2006 - Giving God his best