Although the road was a bit rocky along the way, my life journey to joy has been worth it. There was little or no joy during my childhood years growing up in Kansas in near poverty. Although my father was a tinsmith who repaired gutters and roofs for people during the Great Depression, many times people couldn’t afford to pay him. During those years, we lived with my grandfather. While Dad didn’t make much, we were never hungry. We were never cold. Yet we were poor, like most people during the Depression. We lived off the little my father could collect from the people who owed him money and the fruits of my grandfather’s labor from his vegetable garden, orchard, chicken house and cow. When I was 11 years old, the bank foreclosed on the mortgage, and we lost our house. It was a really frightening time for me as we moved into our tin shop downtown, living in the apartment above it.
Although things were bad then, times worsened, and we eventually lost the business. In the wake of financial difficulties, my parents divorced. My father became an alcoholic and moved out of town while my mother and I moved into a run-down four- room house. Although my mother worked diligently as a bookkeeper and piano player for a dance band in order to support us, those years lacked joy and instead held only fear and overwhelming anxiety at all the changes taking place in my life. Needless to say, it was during this period of my life that I realized that the only person I would be able to depend upon was myself. Although I attended Sunday school, I did not know the Lord yet.
I got my first job at 13, working after school and on weekends in a bookstore. When I graduated, there was no money for college, and so I worked for a year with Southwestern Bell, attending Kansas State until the money ran out. Then, in 1953, I came to Kansas City and worked in an advertising agency until I married Harry Lloyd in 1956. Up to that point, I knew nothing about the joy of giving. In fact, there was barely enough money to support my family, and I gave no thought to sharing with anybody else.
Still, during the early years of my marriage, I began to get a glimpse of what it meant to serve the Lord. My husband and I attended church regularly and professed to be Christians. In fact, I did all the correct things that I thought being a Christian demanded: I taught Sunday school, I served on every committee that I was asked to serve on, and I became an elder. The only thing I didn’t do was sing in the choir—and if you heard me sing, you wouldn’t question that decision.
Harry was in the fireworks business, using an old chicken coop with a dirt floor as a warehouse while I did the office work from our home. The business grew and lines were added as it evolved into the House of Lloyd, a party plan business that flourished for several years. We lived according to the old saying, “Earn all you can, save all you can and then you can sit on your can.”
Although we were successful, our lifestyle hadn’t changed much. Since we had both grown up in meager means and had learned what it meant to be frugal, I still clipped coupons and bought our clothes through the Penney’s and Sears catalogs. We were doing so well that one day Harry came to me and reminded me that it was OK to spend more. I had never realized that we were accumulating some wealth. Since wealth had never been associated with me or my life, it was a new experience for me. Deuteronomy 8:18 says, “Remember the Lord your God, for it is He who gives you the ability to accumulate wealth.” Yet at that time it was easy to believe that our hard work and cleverness had brought us to our present financial state, for we were not yet sensitive to God’s teaching in this matter.
Still, we began to tithe from our profits and established Share Foundation, a private organization run by Harry that we dedicated to God’s work. There was a lot of joy in being able to share our profits with those in need and to promote Christian work. In those days, the men ran the business and the women ran the household, so we rarely discussed how our money would be given away. In retrospect, I think I would have enjoyed having more to do with the profits, but that is the way things were.
Growing in Grace in the Midst of Trial
So in 1994, all joy came to a halt in my life. After 38 years of marriage, I was divorced, alone and scared to death. But then I remembered that I wasn’t alone—my Lord was with me. I had always thought I was a Christian, but for the first time in my life, I began a serious walk with the Lord. As I developed a strong faith and learned to trust Him more every day, I began to pray as I had never prayed before and cling to the Scriptures. In fact, I had many meaningful verses typed on the back of business cards that I carried everywhere, especially to the attorney’s office when I went to negotiations and depositions. I carried these cards for those 20 long months that it took to get the divorce. Although I was petrified, the Scriptures were my strength, my courage and my comfort during that trying time.
Second Timothy 1:7 says, “For God did not give us the spirit of fear but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” Jeremiah 29:11 says, “For I know I have a plan for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you, not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Romans 8:28 says, “And we know that in all things God works for good for those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.”
I really wondered what good God could possibly bring out of this sad experience. I also questioned why I had to go through this divorce. So many questions filled my mind and heart: Am I going to have enough to live on? How will the divorce affect my relationship with my children? Who are going to be my friends? What is going to become of me? Yet God provided. I was blessed with a good financial settlement. My children remained loyal and loving. My friends of 38 years were still close. While all these things were good, the best gift of all was the gift of the Holy Spirit within my heart.
In addition to all this, Harry offered to share the assets in Share Foundation. We had been tithing for many years, but Share money was not a part of the divorce procedure because the foundation money was already dedicated to the Lord. With my half of Share, I started a new foundation, which I call Servants because I really wanted to become a servant of the Lord. It proved a big challenge for a woman of retirement age. I felt very old and weary, old to start a new life for myself. Nonetheless, I knew that God wanted me to serve Him in this way.
Discovering the Joy of Giving
With no experience in running a foundation, I had no idea how to invest the assets, how to evaluate a grant request, or how to develop guidelines for giving. I was brand new in this environment, and I was overwhelmed. I went back to the Scriptures and came across Matthew 11:28-30: “Come to me all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me for I am gentle and humble of heart and you will find rest for your soul for my yoke is easy and My burden is light.” This verse gave me renewed confidence, and I became excited with new energy about what God had planned for me.
At the beginning of my work in Servants Foundation, I had what I call a Santa Claus approach. I was indiscriminating in the ministries I supported. I gave to any and every ministry that I came across or was brought to my attention. It was like a patchwork quilt, a little here and a little there. Yet, I was having a great time because I felt like I was doing what the Lord wanted me to do.
Later on, I had a nudge from the Lord to change my pattern of giving. What I mean by this is that it rested on my mind and heart until I followed his lead. It began when I heard
Hugh Maclellan speak many years ago about his philosophy on giving and the story about his efforts in a project called First Things First designed to make his hometown of Chattanooga, Tenn., a better place to raise a family and to worship the Lord.
Hugh Maclellan’s words planted a seed in me, and as I heard him tell about the changes that took place in his community, I began to think about the possibility of changing my focus for giving. I wanted to share the love of Christ through a ministry to impact the whole Kansas City area. I began to wonder, can I really make a difference? Can I really help make Kansas City a better place to raise a family and to praise the Lord? I wanted to, but I didn’t know how. Still, the nudge wouldn’t go away, so I submitted myself to the will of the Lord and asked Him for guidance. Little did I know that God had given the same vision to other people in Kansas City. At that time, I was working through the Experiencing God Bible Study, by Henry Blackaby, where I learned first to discover what God was doing in my community and then to come alongside Him. As I learned these principles, I began to see opportunities open up, and I began to respond.
The Story of the Christian Community Foundation of Kansas City
In 1998 I began to work with Thurman Mitchell, a TV news reporter and urban pastor, who instilled in my heart his dream for reaching the community for Jesus. We were joined by attorney Bill High, CPA Jim Fowler and Emmett Mitchell, a successful businessman. Together we asked two questions: (1) Lord, what do you want to do in this city? (2) How can we be a part of Your plan? God brought three more people to the Board: Frank Brown, Frank Mall and Mark Banbridge. All of us met faithfully for months, praying and planning.
Finally, in 2000, the Christian Community Foundation of Kansas City began, of which I have the privilege of being a founding member. This group works diligently to put the doers with the donors. In other words, we make a great effort to match up the people doing great work in ministry with those people who have the ability to give. I believe that through the work of this Christian community foundation, we are making a difference in Kansas City. Also, my work with the foundation gives me an opportunity to know which ministries are doing a great job and therefore whom to support.
Another joy comes to me when God puts on my heart special people who are hurting or who may need a financial boost. At these times, it makes me happy to give out of the abundance with which God has blessed me, fulfilling a need and impacting people’s lives. It has a double blessing. For example, I had a nudge to help a couple. Later I discovered that they had stepped out in faith, giving a seemingly ridiculous amount of money away. My gift, unbeknownst to me, was a replacement. As a result, they were encouraged to give more.
Our God is so faithful. He does keep His promise. My own faith has been increased by what God has done for me. He does give back in good measure. My net worth is the same today as it was eight years ago when I started the foundation. I have learned that I can’t out give God.
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