I love what I’m doing. Didn’t see that happening, but often the journey, right? When we look back, we’re like, “Wow. I never thought I’d take a right turn there, but there I am.” A whole different direction, but God has been faithful in helping us all the way.
Introduction
Kim Moeller:
What does being a hospice nurse and being the leader of a city organization have in common? You’ll just have to stay tuned and meet my guest, Lynn Heatley. She’s got quite the story, but I think she’s really going to encourage those of you listening who might be considering a career change, might be considering reentering the workforce after kids have left the nest, or taking a new certification and going a different route, and just seeing wherever it is that God is leading you on this journey of yours. No right answers, no wrong answers. Just everybody’s individual path and calling, but Lynn’s got quite the story of generosity in the areas of friendships, faith, and how God has used her in her roles and in some things that have been hard that she’s encountered over her life, but they’ve shaped her, and she’s allowed God to bring beauty from the ashes in the hard things that have happened to allow her to be a real blessing to all those who know her, and I know you’re going to be blessed by listening, so thanks for joining.
A Hospice Nurse & City Leader
Welcome to The Generous Girl podcast. It is great to have you all listening today and again, once again, we have a special guest, and her name is Lynn, Lynn Heatley. She was born and raised here in Riverside, California, became a registered nurse early in life, and then during her career as a nurse, she experienced firsthand the challenges of caregiving and loss, which later enabled her to compassionately help others. Lynn’s got quite the story of a career change that I want all of you listeners to listen to in case you’re in that spot yourself. You might be in a field, but you sense, “Maybe I should be going into another field.”
So Lynn was involved in many ministry opportunities, became an ordained ministry. She founded the organization called Healthy Leaders in Thriving Cities, and it has a vision to connect and support what God is doing with leaders in cities to help transform every sector of the community, but she also was a hospice nurse, and she worked in the nursing field for a number of years and continues to consult in the areas regarding end of life healthcare, leadership development, and nonprofit organizational development. She also serves as a board member. She’s got so many credentials, and you’re going to be so blessed to hear her story, because in 2016 she founded Love Riverside, where she currently works right now as the executive director. So welcome, Lynn.
Lynn Heatley:
Thank you, Kim. So great to be here and share with you and share with your listeners.
Kim Moeller:
Awesome. Well, I love your story. I love the time that we’ve already had to chat together, and I want to give a shoutout to Bryan Feller, who is in charge of NCF California, and he’s the one who said, “You really need to talk to Lynn, and I think she’d be amazing on the podcast,” so we are going to focus today on the two pillars of faith and friendships,” and I think as we unpack your journey, your story, and really in your two different careers that sound quite different from one another, and yet as you found, and the listener will find, there’s a ton of overlap and how God never wastes anything that we’ve done, and he’s totally used all your experiences to use you in a mighty way in your current role.
But having, myself, just lost my dad, and just I guess now going on three months ago, and walking the hospice journey with an amazing nurse in Wyoming who walked us through that time with my dad, just my hat goes off to anyone who is listening who works in hospice. I think it’s a tremendous calling, a tremendous gift, and we were so grateful for Patty, who was our hospice nurse who walked us through that process. So let’s start with, what was it like being a hospice nurse? I know we’re going to also, we always weave in generosity, but there’s a lot of components of generosity that fall within that category that we’ll also touch on.
Lynn’s Background
Lynn Heatley:
Thank you. As far as my career, I became a hospice nurse after 17 years of not being a nurse. I was a RN early in my 20s, and then stopped and raised our kids. My husband worked at full-time, still does, and then found myself in a place where I needed to go back to work. I had been in a lot of ministry and faith-based opportunities over several decades, and found myself just needing to get more stable income, went back into nursing, took some refresher courses. This was 2006, and ended up as a hospice nurse, to which I worked up until 2020 in the middle of the pandemic, I retired. I would say it was one of those times that was such a huge pivot for me in my life, because I had been very involved in congregational faith-based organizational stuff, but transitioning into a full-time, case manager, RN in hospice shifted me in so many drastic ways.
I had to learn and really pray a lot, of how I could be present with people without saying much about the Lord, but being present, just being the Lord’s hands and feet in the midst of caring for families that were going through crisis, and it was a game changer for me. I never could go back and not see community like I did before. I went from being, I would say, a bit more institutionalized over like 15, 20 years, and went out and about in the streets with people in need. It changed everything in me, reconfigured how I saw things, and gave me a heart for people that were in distress. And so, it really was what I would say is a huge paradigm shift, that led me into what does generosity of action look like when you’re walking with people that are in real places of suffering and heartache through hospice, for sure, but then it opened up my view to just see community in a different way.
And certainly, it was challenging. It was a place where I had to really depend on the Lord every day for what he would have me to do. I didn’t stay in the role as a case manager for too long. I shifted gears into where I became more of a community health nurse and trained other hospice nurses, worked with community education. I was always in the realm of hospice and home health for the 14 years, but I shifted my roles a little bit along the way, and all of that, I can look back on and see how God used all of it. So certainly, it was from my time of losing my mom when I was 23 that really prepared me for all of much later on, working with families in need, so it’s wonderful when we can look back in our life and just see how God connects all the dots. It seems somewhat random at the time, so it was a beautiful and is a beautiful journey.
Kim Moeller:
Well, okay. I want to unpack a few of those things, so in the time when you were a hospice nurse, what did you learn that people should or shouldn’t do? The family, the friends, any takeaways for the listener? Because a lot of times we don’t know how to respond, and then sometimes we do nothing, and then we don’t make the phone call, we don’t send the text, we don’t drop the meal off. Any just high level takeaways of when you saw people do this, you saw how much it meant, or any from the generosity of time, I think, words even?
What to Do and Not to Do
Lynn Heatley:
Yeah, very much saw things of to do and what not to do. I think when we have a friend or loved one going through pain, just letting them know that we are there, that we are thinking of them, we are praying for them, and just sending them little texts or notes, cards, whatever along the way, making a call when you feel, but giving people a lot of grace of, if they can’t connect, but just I think people need to know that they’re not forgotten when they are in what I would call a very isolating season. When you’re walking that with a loved one, pretty much life has slowed down, and you’re in your own little cocoon with very specific people. I also would say, if you are with the person who is suffering or perhaps dying, as a nurse, I would have to occasionally do some intervention, in that we would need to pull family away from the bedside, because they were bringing sometimes all of their anxiety or their energy, which was excessive, to the bedside. Even when someone’s in a coma, they can still hear. Hearing is your last sense to go.
And so, sometimes if families would start to bicker at the bedside of a loved one, we’d have to have them go outside the room and settle whatever they need to, because we would instruct people how much people need peace in those last days, that they don’t need to feel the anxiety in the room, and that if people were anxious, which is very usual, that they could step out and just take, if they needed, to also do their own self-care while they were walking this journey with their loved one. Trying to be a peaceful presence was all what it was about, still is what it’s all about, and just letting people know that you’re there and that they’re not alone. That is a big thing that people need to know when they’re in crisis. You would think it’s basic, but it’s not basic for everyone. Our role as a nurse, as a hospice nurse back in the day, was just to help educate family of what things they were seeing, what was normal, and help them to understand how they themselves needed care-
Kim Moeller:
Sure.
Lynn Heatley:
… As they were trying to care for their loved ones, so it was quite a journey and oftentimes a very sacred journey.
Kim Moeller:
I’ve heard it said that what it comes down to when someone’s passing away, often, is that one person’s relationship with the one who’s dying, so the person’s like, “I’m the husband, I’m the wife, I’m the child, I’m the brother, the sister,” and that’s all that relatives sometimes can see. Rather than stepping and putting themselves in the role of the person who’s the one about to pass away, it’s like they’re seeing it from the lens of their relationship, and everyone sees it that way, right? The advice of put ourselves in that person’s shoes, ask what they need, because as you and I were talking earlier, sometimes that individual wants everybody to be gathered when they pass away, and sometimes when you really ask them, they say, “I don’t want anybody here,” and even our hospice nurse just talked about how many times she’s seen someone just slip out the back door when everyone was gone. And really, the importance of honoring that individual’s wishes, rather than our own wishes of, “Well, I’m the spouse, and I for sure have to be there. I’m the child,” and listening to the dying individual’s desires.
Lynn Heatley:
Yeah, very true. People pass in the way that oftentimes how they lived, and so if someone has lived in a very private way, then oftentimes they need privacy when they’re trying to pass, and so that’s comforting also for families who are really trying to be there and be present be. It happens so often that we began to just use it as an educational place of, they might pass while you’re going away, and you need to tell them you’re leaving the room to get by to eat for an hour. You’ll be back, and that just might be what they need to know to have some privacy to be able to pass on in peace, so it’s quite a journey, and it does reframe everything for you in life as to what’s important and what’s trivial.
Leaving a Legacy
Kim Moeller:
Right. Legacy. Do you have any of those stories of everyone laying there at the end, going, “I wish I wouldn’t have worked so hard, spend more time with my family,” or did you hear those kinds of, I don’t want to say regrets, but-
Lynn Heatley:
Yeah. We did a little bit, but we oftentimes, as a hospice nurse, we had a saying, people die the way that they lived. And so, oftentimes, family was important and family was always important, and it’s still important in this journey of-
Kim Moeller:
I could see that.
Lynn Heatley:
If you were kind of a bitter person, then that carried over into that, and every now and then you would have a real conversion type of a story, but for the most part it’s like however the person was is how they went forward when they were passing, and so that was interesting. And just trying to support the family as a hospice nurse and team member, the whole family is considered your patient, not just the patient. It’s a different philosophy than regular hospital nursing, so it’s really as important to take care of the family.
That’s why it’s a team impact with a chaplain, social worker, or others to come alongside and help the whole family in the journey. So it was definitely a change-up of understanding of everything for me that frames everything for me. Even though I retired in the middle of the pandemic, I’ll be one of those statistics, it still frames how I see, interact, and view things. Always will, I think. Always will. It’s when you are in a very sacred journey with families, it alters how you view things. It really led me into looking at community different, the needs of community, not making assumptions, and asking God for a lot more mercy and compassion, less judgments. Just the whole golden rule, right?
Kim Moeller:
Right.
Lynn Heatley:
I wasn’t really raised in a Christian home. I had Christian grandmas that I know prayed for me, but the golden rule was talked about of do to others what you would want done to yourself if you were in that same type of situation. I feel like that’s so, so true in whatever we are working in or whatever community we’re working with. Really, really important that we go in a place of learning, humility, wisdom, mercy, and compassion. It’s been a new foundation that I would say God used in that time that carried over into the work I’m doing now in the city of Riverside through Love Riverside. There you go.
Kim Moeller:
Okay. Well, we’re going to unpack that, but just to wrap up that section of, like you had alluded to and talked about the ministry of presence, and it reminds me of my husband when he worked with the Persecuted Church. They called it the Ministry of the Wet Shoulder, and literally, sometimes you don’t even know the language, so you can’t even communicate when you’re there overseas, comforting someone, but the importance of being there in your presence.
One more thing when you were talking, having recently gone through the situation with my dad, was I felt like God laid on the hearts of some friends that I hadn’t necessarily had a ton of contact with more recently, but I think because they had walked a similar journey, they so knew what I was going through, and they were just so amazing at texting me and reaching out in ways that I never expected. It was just such a blessing, so I would 100 `percent agree with you with that; just doing what’s laid on your heart. If that person’s name comes to mind, send a text. It is not a mistake that you’re thinking of that person [inaudible 00:17:01].
Practical Aspects of Love
Lynn Heatley:
Yeah, and practical aspects of love.
Kim Moeller:
Yes.
Lynn Heatley:
Just acts of love just go a long way. When I lost my mom in our 20s, we had a group that came after the memorial, came and set up the house with all this food, potluck style, and set up the whole house. I’ll never forget that, because it was one thing as a family that we didn’t have to think through when we were already having to think through so much. I’ll never forget just that gift to us as a family, and so be open. I would say to anyone who might be listening to this, be open to the practical things that might really help someone going through a tough time. Even if it might be bringing food over, groceries, or when you are in a season where someone is in their final days, you’re pretty much in a lockdown mode. You’re not going out a whole lot, and so just really quick, brief stopovers if you know the family that well, I would say, and bringing food over or just giving them a hug at the doorway, all of that is so, so meaningful.
Kim Moeller:
So first of all, so sorry that you did lose your mom at such a young age, at 23. That is so young, Lynn, and yet I do see how that sorrow, God has turned into beauty that you’ve been able to bring to others and your level of compassion and care. Anything else that you want to say about losing your mom at such a young age, before we transition into this current role that you’re in and your emphasis on community that you were talking about?
Lynn Heatley:
Yes. Because I lost my mom, so my mom was one of my greatest confidants, and I was also a nurse at the time, and so I was so busy taking care of my mom and taking care of all the family, that myself was kind of the last on the list. And so, I entered into a lot longer grieving period than everyone else, because I was busy caring for everyone else, and it prolonged my own grief. I had a lot of depression that I had to really work through, and it was a time where I really was crying out for help in the midst of it. It’s really where community became so important to me, and friendships. I know friendships is one of the things you talked about.
I became very knitted in with friends that I love and still connect with to this point, decades later, and the need for community really got so etched into my heart at that time, that it’s still one of my core values everywhere. It’s like we all need community. We can’t do it alone. If we’re trying to do it alone, we’re just going to fail miserably and not get the support and the help. We need one another. I think it’s a humbling process. If you’re used to kind of being independent and doing it all on your own, it’s humbling, but it’s beautiful and freeing when you come to the point where you realize you need others.
Kim Moeller:
And you were never meant to do it all alone.
Lynn Heatley:
No, and when I’ve talked to others about friendship, how do you get good friends, and all that, the one word I use often is intentionality, and I think even more so in today’s age, where it’s super busy, everyone’s busy, you have to be intentional and make time on your calendar to meet someone for lunch, to talk about things that need to be talked about, or to encourage one another. Intentionality is huge in building friendships, maintaining friendships, all of that, and so that’s a part that I think people don’t often look at, but it’s really, really important.
So I think after just coming from so much isolation with the pandemic, we’re all in a point. There’s a lot of focus right now on kind of rebuilding community for so many people. I work a lot with seniors, and it’s a huge need right now. So how do we become good friends to others? It’s that golden rule again, right? How would we want to be others to treat us as a friend? How do we be that for others? So really, really important. One of my core values is community and friendship and honoring one another in that.
Intentionality
Kim Moeller:
Well, that is perfect. That is the reason why you’re perfect on the Generous Girl Podcast, with friendships being one of our five pillars. So talk to us about how you had the idea to start this organization in Riverside. You live in the Inland Empire, and you’ve got a huge heart and you care about the community that you live in, but now you work as the executive director for Love Riverside. But I would love to know more about how are you seeing, and what are you trying to do, I guess, on an active basis to foster community in your current role as executive director?
Love Riverside
Lynn Heatley:
Well, very simply put, I would say our vision of Love Riverside is working together for the common good. Simple and beautiful, because it builds community. It’s one of our little three sayings, is demonstrating kindness, spreading goodness, and building community. As we work together for the common good of the community, how do we build community along the way as we’re doing that? How do we become friends as we’re rolling up our sleeves and working in practical ways in the community? So it’s one of our values and something I am really, really big on, because I don’t want people just to volunteer for whatever. I want people to get to know each other and enjoy that as well. I also think, in a time when there’s a lot of divisions in all kinds of realms, it’s a place where we can just come together and work together, side by side, and see benefit that happens within our community.
And so, I started Love Riverside in 2016. I was born and raised in Riverside, moved out when I was 20 when we got married. I’ve always been in the Inland Empire though, so I didn’t move too far away. Then, I started working in community health with my hospice job. I started doing some popups of community education, and part of that was coming back into Riverside. I remember thinking, “Wow, Riverside’s really changed a lot,” and I love, it’s like, I don’t know how else to say it, other than God gave me a supernatural, a big, huge love for my city that I was born and raised, and my dad was born in Riverside as well. So our roots went deep, but we weren’t living here. I was just coming in and out with work, and I thought one day I wouldn’t mind moving back to Riverside, and the one day happened in 2015, kind of through a whole nother, that would take a whole nother broadcast. And so, we moved back, and then I was acquainted with an organization called Love Our Cities, which there’s Love Fullerton, Love Brea, Love Orange.
Orange County has a lot of Love Your City movements, and it’s really about doing a serve day with projects all over your city, and I thought Riverside has amazing nonprofits, but what I saw back, like 2012 when I was working around, I was like, “There’s good things happening, but not very many people are working together.” My heart loves collaboration, and so I thought, “I think Love Riverside could be something that could help connect all the other strong organizations together to where we could serve more effectively. And so, we started it with my board, and we started doing a survey day once a year, which we still do. It’s always in October, and we would work with other organizations. It was kind of a part-time effort, but then when the pandemic happened, oh my goodness, all of a sudden the needs of the community became very, very aware. When everyone was shut down, we started asking the community to, when they were out grocery shopping, would they pick up extra food? Once a month we would do a drop-off at one of our parks. Everyone masked up and all of that.
We began to support existing food pantries that were already happening in the city, so we didn’t create something new; we just came alongside and supported that which was already running well, but they needed food, everyone. It was a rough time for communities all over, right? So we never saw ourselves getting into food insecurity issues, but when the pandemic happened, it showed us a need that I felt like we were supposed to step into. And so, since that happened in 2020, there’s been loss of other opportunities. We started working with various grants where we started bringing food and fresh produce to seniors. We worked with 19 different senior apartments, and we just ended that in August. 19 senior apartments that we would go to every month, and bring food, produce, and dairy, and what we would often find is the seniors, one, they were so happy to see us and so thankful for the food that the city of Riverside granted, put that grant together for us to do, but they oftentimes were not connecting with their neighbors outside that one time-
Kim Moeller:
Right. So lonely.
Lynn Heatley:
We were shocked, so we thought, “Oh. Just the simplicity of trying to connect neighbors again in this time that they’ve been very isolated.” It was good for their diet, in the sense of good healthy food coming their way, but it was also good for their soul to connect with their neighbors. We’re still working with various grants, different organizations. We work with the city of Riverside, city council, the mayor’s office, lots of business partners, other collaborations that are happening in the city. I love in and about in the city, and encouraging people towards working together for the good, so I love what I’m doing, didn’t see that happening, but it’s often the journey, right?
Kim Moeller:
Right.
Lynn Heatley:
When we look back, we’re like, “Wow. I never thought I’d take a right turn there, but there I am, a whole different direction,” but God has been faithful in helping us all the way.
Kim Moeller:
Well, he never wastes the hurt, and your story reminds me a little bit of the famous author, Francis Chan, and how he lost just some key individuals in his life when he was really young, and how that has just allowed him to have a focus on the eternity. You can’t get that out of him. That is in his DNA because of what he experienced, and yet he’s influenced, through his books and his speaking, all of us to live for the moment, because none of us know how long we have. When I think of the story of losing your mom, and then you were a nurse, and just the added level of empathy, compassion, and knowing what it feels like on the receiving end to have people bring all of that food, and then to be that hospice nurse, to have the chunk of time when you took care of your own kids, and then went back into being an RN, and then now using all of that experience in your current career in the city of Riverside, I just think it’s really encouraging for the listener who’s out there.
Because a lot of times, as moms, before tech, many women were faced with, “Do I stay in my job or do I stay at home?” because the tech provides kind of that umbrella that allows you to do both, but when you didn’t have that connection at home, you were forced with the choice, unless you were a nurse, kind of a role of a job that gave a little more flexibility with working nights or weekends, kind of thing. So when I look at today’s world, and I think of the women that made that choice, and now they’re looking at, maybe they’re 50 years old or maybe they’re 55, the kids are grown, where are they headed? I just want to encourage that woman listener to think of your story and to think how God never nothing is in vain and nothing’s a surprise to him.
Whatever has happened has been allowed to go through his hand to be allowed in your life, and I want to just encourage the listener to think big and dream big, and maybe there’s a career out there that you never thought you would be. You probably never thought you would’ve started this nonprofit and helped all these people in your city of Riverside, so I want to encourage the listener to have that mindset of there is no limit to this, no ceiling. There’s nothing that says you can’t go back to school for this, and maybe it’s time, maybe it’s money, but I would just encourage you to follow that thread, because it’s exciting. I think when we do that, then we do “end up,” I mean, if you would’ve asked me that I would be working in the field of generosity in San Diego, I don’t think I could have written that story.
But like you, I love what I get to do. I love the people. I get to work with people. I get to connect one another with, so I sense that, really, from your story of just the encouragement for the listener, of we each have that one life, and so how do we live that generous life? I think you’re demonstrating generosity, for sure, in the way you’re using your time, obviously your talents, and then your treasure. But how would you speak to the woman listening who doesn’t live here in southern California? She’s clear across the country, but maybe she’s hearing what you’re doing in your city and she’s thinking, “That would be really cool. I live in the city, but I’m not connected”? How would a woman like that do more for the current city where she lives?
Follow Your Passion
Lynn Heatley:
Well, I would say follow your passion, first of all. God gave me a love for my city. I mean, literally the geography and the people that live here, but what has God put in your heart that you love, that you’re passionate about? I would say just put your toes in the water. Often times what prevents us from doing anything is we build it up into a very big story in our head, and we think, “Oh, no. It’s going to require so much time or whatever,” but I would say just put your toes in the water. Volunteer at something that you’re already passionate about. Just today I was scrolling through social media, and I saw one of our nonprofits, and they just did a big diaper drive this morning, I think it was, or yesterday. It’s a nonprofit, and their focus is helping young families, and they hand out diapers once a month. I thought, “I love that,” and even if you have a heart for young families and kids-
Kim Moeller:
Go for it.
Lynn Heatley:
Then, maybe volunteer once a quarter, once a month, or with food or at your local congregation, but I would say what keeps you in it is if you’re passionate about it, right? If you volunteer for something that you really don’t have, in your heart, a care about, you won’t last there very long, but all of us have passions about various things. It might be justice issues and you could work and volunteer at some of that, but to me, the whole journey is just taking that initial first step and getting out there.
We receive so much more than whatever we’re giving, right? That’s the whole generous life, is that it comes back to us in so many beautiful ways. We don’t give to receive that we give because we’re stirred in our heart to do it, but the beautiful reciprocity of generosity is big, and it comes back to you in beautiful ways. And so, I would just encourage the women out there to just do some inquiry in your city or whatever it is. If you like to cook, do some meals for maybe a family in need or whatever. There’s so many opportunities.
Kim Moeller:
So many things. Mm-hmm.
Lynn Heatley:
Yeah. Follow your heart and your passion.
Kim Moeller:
And if you have kids, I’d say don’t wait and pull them in, include them.
Lynn Heatley:
Absolutely.
Kim Moeller:
Like you said, it doesn’t have to be a huge commitment. It can just be a little something, but you never even know how that seed-
Lynn Heatley:
We need to raise our kids with a mindset, with an understanding of the importance of giving back. And so, one of our projects that we do every year is clean up at one of our really big parks here in Riverside, and I love all the moms groups that come out, because they’re pushing their strollers and-
Kim Moeller:
That’s great.
Lynn Heatley:
And they’ve got small kids and bigger kids, and they’re teaching their kids just by modeling, “Let’s care for our community park together,” and I thought how much better our whole society, our culture would be if we just had some of that basics of generosity instilled in us as young children? And my parents were very giving people, so they certainly instilled a lot in us, but I would encourage families to not underestimate the power of that.
Kim Moeller:
No. That’s beautiful, Lynn. Well, thank you for all of your service. Thank you for just the many ways that you have blessed people and continue to do so in Riverside, and the encouragement to follow your passions and take that next step. As we wrap up, which always comes quicker than I’d like it to, I would love for you to share with the listener the three Bs: your favorite Bible verse, current book that you’re reading, and a recent bargain.
Bible Verse, Favorite Book, and Bargain
Lynn Heatley:
So I would say I have two favorite verses. I can’t put one above. The other one is from John 10:10, which is that the enemy comes to still kill and destroy, but Jesus says, “I’ve come to give you life and life abundantly.” That scripture really started me on a journey when I was deep in depression after losing my mom, to really ask God, “What is this abundant life? Because whatever it is, I don’t have it, and I need it.”
And so, that was a beautiful healing journey that lasted probably a good 10 or 15 years, of God really doing a wonderful work in my heart and leading me into much more joy, so that’s one. The other one that I love as well is Ephesians to God. “To him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly beyond all that we think, ask, or imagine according to His power,” so I love that from Ephesians, because it’s like we, in our mind, can come up with some pretty what we think are smart ideas, but oh my goodness, whatever we think we’re going to do, God is able to do it in a whole different way and astound us. So those are two of my favorite scriptures that have been very true in my life. Favorite, what was the next one? The book? The favorite book?
Kim Moeller:
Yes, the book that you’re currently reading.
Lynn Heatley:
Oh, I just finished a Jen Hatmaker book. She’s incredibly funny. I love Jen. She just is a straight shooter with so much humor. But now I’m reading, I don’t know if you can see this, because I can’t see the screen, but it’s by Howard Thurman, Jesus and the Disinherited, which is more from a pastoral theological perspective of Jesus’ heart for the outcast in our cultures. Beautiful, beautiful written. And the most recent treasure was, and I’m sentimental in many ways, but my cousin ended up asking me, and of course I said yes, if I wanted my grandmother’s oak hutch. So it now sits proudly in our living room, because I think of my grandma who was very hospitable-
Kim Moeller:
Yes.
Lynn Heatley:
… And had served many meals from that, all of her stuff from there, so I love it. It’s in my living room, and I cherish it.
Kim Moeller:
That is very, very special to have that. I’m sure you do think of her every time you walk by it.
Lynn Heatley:
I do. I do. Yeah.
Kim Moeller:
Well, you are a treasure, and I’m so grateful for this conversation, and I love the different stories you shared and the nuggets of truth that we can each take away in listening to your story, to inspire us to be the best version of ourselves and hold our time, our talents, our treasures with open hands, and live that generous life, because it’s like you said, we get so much when we give and serve, but we receive a lot, but thinking we’re going to be giving to them is going to be greater. But all the time, God just pours the blessings on us for offering up our little time We have, our little money we have, and again, we can never out give God, and I think your life is a real true testimony of that. So thank you so much for your time on this podcast-
Lynn Heatley:
Thank you.
Kim Moeller:
… And blessings in this new year ahead.
Lynn Heatley:
Yes, joy to be with you, Kim, and the whole audience of listeners. God bless you all, and I hope and pray that you continue to find those spots of joy that you continue to give and serve, so it’s wonderful to be here. Thank you.
Kim Moeller:
Oh. Thank you so much. Thanks so much for joining us today on The Generous Girl Podcast. We’re so glad that you’re here, and if you know of someone that you think needs to be a guest on this podcast, please reach out to us. New episodes are released every other week, and you can follow us on YouTube and on all platforms. Thanks for being here, and we’ll see you next time.
