There's a young woman who's an employee of Linden church. In her paid role she works hard and is efficient but it's the work she does unpaid that qualifies her for sainthood in my eyes.
She' s very quiet and unassuming, not one of those at the front or one who likes being the centre of attention, but her heart for the vulnerable is bigger than that of almost anyone else I know.
She's on our prison team, she works with the young people, she's visited an orphanage in Zambia several times, she's helped with an outreach in a red light district in Cambodia, she's even part of the Sunday morning welcoming team, but even more than that, each month she goes out on to the streets of Swansea between 11 pm and 2 am on a Friday or Saturday night leading a team of street pastors, providing care and concern for those the worse for wear after carousing the night away.
And more than these things she does, it's what she is that is so valuable: tender-hearted, generous, gentle, self-effacing, trustworthy, faithful, reliable, capable, responsive. A woman of beauty. And always in the shadow of others.
Sean from Zac's is one of my heroes; this young woman is another. According to Paul we are all saints so, Carolyn Sutton, you are hereby declared Supersaint!
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