United Women in Faith - Western North Carolina Conference

Greeting from our 2024 Conference President, Joanie Strohm

After the celebration of our Savior’s birth, we are graced with the opportunities of 2024: opportunities pertaining to family situations, church situations, world situations, and personal situations. If you are reading this, it is safe to say that we share these opportunities. The opportunities before us in 2024 include abundant life, balance, and connection and community.

Abundant Life. We can easily become so concerned about the day-to-day expenses, the work that must get done, the problems at our work or at church that sometimes we don’t see the opportunities with which we are blessed. Do we see the opportunities of giving our time, talent, and money? As we read in Mark 12: 42-44, the widow in the Bible did. I once knew a woman who, much like the widow in that Bible story, gave her all: Miss Jennie from Smyrna, Tennessee. Miss Jennie was a widow and a shut-in, lived in a humble home, and had worked in the school cafeteria for many years. She was not wealthy in money; she was wealthy in love for her fellow man. She gave her tithe to the United Methodist Church and pledged to the Smyrna United Methodist Women. She gave sacrificially, and what an example she was of living life abundantly!

Balance. Balance in our lives is often hard to maintain. If we find ourselves on the computer or cell phone for too many hours in a day and neglect our family, our friends, or our colleagues, we need to take a good look at how our time is spent. That is what Soul Care retreats are all about. It is important to take time to reconnect with our Creator and creation. Taking long walks or sitting with a friend or neighbor that we haven’t taken time to visit would be a good start. We can even have a Soul Care retreat in our own home! Could we actually stay away from our phone, computer, or TV for one day a week, one day a month? Let’s be honest, many of us would have a great deal of trouble doing that for even one day a year! Our power went out recently and everything was shut down. It was so quiet in our house, I got a bit antsy! Do we see opportunities to bring balance to our lives?

Connection and Community. Connection and community are what the United Methodist Church and United Women in Faith are all about. Ask yourselves: “How many of my best friends would I not have met if I had not been a member of a United Methodist Church or United Women in Faith?” We are blessed to know each other, to pray for and with each other. In spite of the many problems in our world, we still have each other and most of all we have the love, mercy, and forgiveness of our Lord.

As the opportunities of 2024 are upon us, I am reminded of a scripture that a dear friend who is a member of United Women in Faith blessed me with: “Whatever your task, put yourselves into it, as done for the Lord and not for your masters, since you know that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward; you serve the Lord Christ,” Colossians 3: 23 and 24. We serve the Lord Christ! Make the most of the opportunities you are given; God is with you!

Joanie Strohm, 2024 Conference President
Western North Carolina Conference
United Methodist Women

Find out what Soul Care means to United Women in Faith at
https://uwfaith.org/events/soul-care-retreats/.

Photo taken at Lake Junaluska, October 1, 2017, at Annual Celebration.

From left to right:  Tonya Lanier – Conference President (2014 – 2017), Shannon Priddy – National United Methodist Women President (2016 – 2020), Julia Willis – Conference President (2018 –  2021)