Hello ,
The following article originated in 2005. Eleanor passed away in 2011.
Each fall, Eleanor Josaitis offers a challenge to the incoming class of MBA students at the University of Michigan. "Every single person in this room," she says, "is going to help me change the world."
The 72-year-old woman has been doing her part to change the world for more than 40 years. It started in 1962. "As she sat watching a television program about the Nuremberg trials, Josaitis-then a housewife with five children-asked herself what she would have done if atrocities were taking place in her own backyard. When a breaking news report interrupted the program to show images of Mississippi police turning dogs and fire hoses on
civil-rights protesters, Josaitis knew her moment of truth had arrived."
Josaitis co-founded the organization Focus: HOPE. The Detroit food program serves pregnant women, new mothers, and their children. Since then, the organization has grown to employ over 500 people and includes more than 50,000 volunteers and donors.
Over the years, her offices have been firebombed, and she regularly receives threats and hate mail that Josaitis refers to as "love letters." Showing them to her student audience, she asks, "Does anyone in this room think I'm going to be intimidated for one minute by this? It's only going to make me work harder."
Summing up her years of relentless, positive service, Josaitis explains, "You have to have the guts to try something, because you won't change a thing by sitting in front of the TV with the clicker in your hand."
"Commit your actions to the LORD, and your plans will succeed." Proverbs 16:3
As compelling as Eleanor's story is, your story can be just as significant in the eyes of Almighty God. All of heaven stands waiting for us to commit our plans into God's care and keeping. If our plans are committed into His care and keeping for the enlarging of His kingdom, we are promised that we cannot fail.
Have a great day and God bless!
Pastor Mike / The Open Word
