DIVINE WOMEN OF PURPOSE

I was organizing my office and packing up my personal belongings. Meanwhile, throughout the day I'd been telling God I needed some special encouragement. I needed Him to send someone with a word for me. About an hour before I was preparing to walk out the door, I receive a phone call and on the other end was one of the most joyful voices I've ever heard. She introduced herself as Tay Walker and said she'd heard I was leaving my position. We engaged in a deeply honest conversation and she prayed for me. After our conversation, I felt refreshed, motivated, and inspired. Little did I know at that time that the seed of "Sisters in Spirit - S.I.S." was being planted by God.

Tay: I remember the day I reached out to Anna. Although I was juggling a million and one things that day, as my staff and I were preparing for our first major fundraiser that was taking place the next day, I felt a sense of urgency to reach out to Anna in response to an email she sent out to all of the Executive Directors across the nation, stating she had resigned from her position, and was moving on to a higher calling. Although I had never met Anna face-to-face, I knew she was one of six (6) African-American women that was serving in this capacity. I didn't know where Anna was moving on to, but I felt the need to call her to let her know that I would like to stay in touch with her, and to congratulate her on her new position. I remember closing my office door, and speaking with Anna like she was an old friend. Although I can't remember everything that I said to her that day, I do remember that we had "church" across the telephone line, and I felt an instant sisterly connection with her. Little did I know that God had sent me another "God-Given" sister!

God has a compassionate heart, and He always remembers His children when they need him. The very next month, God touched Anna and had her reach out to me shortly after I left my job. This day, it was Anna that prayed for me, and shared encouraging words of wisdom that reminded me that God almighty will never leave us nor forsake us.

Anna: Tay and I have been in constant contact since that first telephone call in October-either through the telephone, text messages, or email-we stay connected. We are connected by more than our communications through technology; we are connected in Spirit-constantly lifting each other up in prayer. One of the major things Tay and I have in common is a heart for advocacy. We are passionate about standing up for the rights of those who are oppressed. Since December 2012, I have been based in Washington, D.C. doing advocacy work, primarily in the area of domestic violence. For over two decades, I have served as an advocate in areas ranging from at-risk youth to the arts to environmental issues to helping rural communities in Louisiana organize their faith-based ministries as tools for social change.

Tay: I have dedicated my entire public health career to advocating for high-risk disenfranchised women, children and families. My personal and professional goal has always been to ensure that economically disadvantaged women had a voice and a presence at the "table" where key decisions were being made about their health and well-being. It is essential for all women regardless of their economic status to have equal access to vital preventive health care services, legal protection and life-saving measures. Throughout my career, I have worked on various women's health campaigns to ensure that the voices of America's most vulnerable populations were heard by politicians, state leaders, community activists, legislators and members of Congress. Over the past 20 years, it has been an honor and a blessing for me to serve as a women's health advocate, and an effective agent of change. In 2010, I incorporated Divine Women of Purpose, Inc. to serve as the non-profit arm of a women's health advocacy agency. In 2011, I incorporated The Etiquette Institute of Southern New Jersey (TEI). TEI is a premier faith-based charm school that helps young girls between the ages 5-18 to reach their full potential. The program focuses on inner beauty and positive mannerism. Students participate in age appropriate activities and assignments that prepare them to be confident, effective leaders of tomorrow.

Anna: At some point in our communications, I told Tay I felt she had a healing ministry and that her gift of healing is in her hands. That's when I found out she was a writer-as I am, and that we have very similar writing styles and approaches to writing. In early April, we were helping each other through another round of challenges when I said to Tay what had been impressed upon my heart for about two months-that we had a ministry to do together. I noted that during each of our conversations, we'd begun to refer to each other as "Sis". This term of affection began resonating in my soul. After praying about it for two months, I told her: "Tay, we need to minister to other women like we minister to each other. We need to start S.I.S. (Sisters in Spirit)! She loved it and realized S.I.S. operate under the auspices of DWOP. During the same night we first discussed S.I.S., we enlisted the assistance of my niece Dana (who is based in Memphis, Tennessee) to help us secure a domain name for Divine Women of Purpose, Inc. and to help us develop our agency's website.