When Passions Collide

P & W Night for Ghana

On January 4th of this year, I began exercising for my New Year's Resolution to get in shape for 2010. A friend had invited me on many occasions, but for some reason I needed the push of the New Year to get me inside the neighborhood Zumba studio. Well, I tried it once and was hooked. Not just hooked, I became IN LOVE with it! For those of you who Zumba, you know what I mean. For those who don't, you must give it a try to at least see for yourself what all the hype is about.

Since I had just taken on the role of women's ministry coordinator at church a couple of months earlier, I was constantly seeking new ways to connect women in Life groups that shared common interests. I knew the second I stepped into the sea of women laughing, shaking their hips and having fun in Zumba, that this could be a great place for life change to take place. Within the first month, my instructor Monica and I had formed a friendship. We would sit and talk after class with a few other ladies and I soon realized that she had a passion to see women come to the Lord and be all that God had purposed for them to be. Since I was undecided about my next bible study, I offered to teach a Life group on Wednesdays mornings after Zumba class at the studio. We shared the information at church and started asking women to stay after class if they wanted to join in. We have had a solid 8 to 10 ladies for the last six months and I have new forever friends because of it.

Another passion of Monica's was to have a night of Praise and Zumba to help out those in need. We started on February 5th by having our 1st ever Real Women Zumba Praise and Worship night for Haiti Relief and we raised $354.00. Donations were $5 or more as the women felt led to give. All the advertising was done strictly through Facebook and telling the women in the Zumba classes. We were amazed with the turn out and continued with benefit nights for the Ronald McDonald House and the American Cancer Society. This past Friday was the best so far! We did a Zumba night of Praise and Worship at my church and had over 40 ladies participate. We raised $1067.00 for our Ghana Mission Team to help bring clean water to a village our church has adopted.

To date, our Zumba efforts have raised just at $2,730.00. That is wonderful, but that is just part of the blessing. Women are coming into a relationship with Jesus, some are rededicating their lives to Christ, and others are coming to church for the first time in years. For me, I am humbled that God has allowed me to witness this firsthand and see Christ made famous in the walls of a Zumba studio. I am also blown away that God would allow me to teach and speak His truth to so many beautiful women who are seeking to honor and love Him. I thank God for Monica whose talent, dreams and passions came together to make it happen. I also thank God for all the friendships that have formed over the last six months.

This post is hopefully one that will get you thinking about your passions, your activities and your current spheres of influence. Can you also take something you are currently doing and bring about something great to honor God and bless others? I know you can!

My Zumba Sisters
Tessy, Monica(Zumba Queen), Rosie, Patty, Erica, Jill, Pam
Me, Sylvia, Jessica