Today we’d like to introduce you to Linda Klippenstein.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I met my husband while doing a dietetics internship at the National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland. I was passionately attracted to him, not only because he was tall, gorgeous, and a genius, but because he was a person of the Mennonite faith. I loved the peaceful and caring kindness that he exuded. As we grew in our love, our marriage, and our Mennonite faith, I intentionally worked to create a home with an atmosphere filled with faith, love, learning, and a whole lot of fun, with the purpose of always welcoming others. My honey worked long hours becoming a prominent physician & cancer researcher. If you or your loved one has suffered from lung cancer, you probably have benefitted from some of his earlier cutting-edge CT scan research.
Within this warm and accepting environment, filled with belief in the Lord God who loves me unconditionally, I started to receive healing from childhood sexual abuse, and the traumas of losing a teenage brother to suicide, while witnessing hard drugs trying to destroy my other two brothers. The horrible formative impact of those experiences and others, marked we with anxiety, stress, survivor guilt, distrust issues, and carried the continuous weight of grief on my young shoulders. And then, suddenly, the Lord God took all the hurt away and began interacting with me in many amazing ways, including dramatically healing me of TMJ (a painful jaw issue), renewing my mind with healthy thoughts filled with hope, amongst other things.
Would you like a peek into that moment? Keep in mind, that we are practicing Mennonites, like Amish. We are not watching TV, and have NO shared common history with many Americans for pop music, current styles, culture, shows, or even awareness of charismatic happenings going on elsewhere around us. Well, I am sitting next to a good girlfriend and my husband is on the other side of me, at our very plain worship service. My hurting heart is crying out to the Lord that I cannot handle these things. That You, Lord, are my only hope and that I desperately need You, Lord. I Need Your Love and to know that You are real! Next, thing I know my body is involuntarily shaking all over, right there while I am in my chair. My husband became very concerned trying to evaluate me from his medical doctor’s perspective. He is seriously contemplating finding a phone to call 911 for me. While I am shaking, I become aware of a fulness and warmth and deep love filling me on the inside, so I decided to just soak in it. This interaction lasted about 20 minutes and completely changed how I do life. The only scientific conclusion that my husband and I could come to is that the Lord God is real, and alive, and desires to be known and to work in our lives.
At this point, I remembered through past cobwebs that as a young child, I had truly wanted to serve the Lord God with everything that was within me. Next, people approached me out of the blue to tell me, or I would walk into midstream conversations where people would turn to me and all say the same thing, “You know that thing that you wanted to do as a child? You should do that!” confirming it over and over in the same way with wildly different people. Well, I am no knucklehead, so “Speak Lord, your servant is listening!”
Now, I serve as many people as the Lord brings me with hope, love, encouragement, faith, joy, and belief for healing for their own.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
I’ve been so blessed to have many people recognize that I serve and love on others with the power and the presence of the Lord, however, this has been a very tricky road to navigate within our culture since I am both a woman and married to a non-pastor husband. I do want for people to like me, who doesn’t? But it can be very hard for people to open their understanding that the Lord uses women, and they are not less than, but equals. I have come up against unacceptance and marginalization multiple times.
For instance, in 2015, my hunky husband and I took a river boat cruise in Europe with a very small, personal-size passenger count. It was so exciting to meet people from all over the world, and we shared what we did in life to get to know each other better. After a few days, I noticed that the majority of people were refusing to spend time, tours, or tables with us. We had become persona non grata because of my staff position at my church. I tried to ignore it, but it did make me very sad inside that we were treated as outcasts, by people who didn’t even know us. Oh well, they missed out on a whole lotta fun & caring from us!
So why don’t I quit, you ask? That question holds the very essence of who I am. I cannot quit. Deep down inside of me, I am driven to live loving and to live accepting others just as they are, on behalf of the Lord God, offering refreshing hope and joy for weary souls. If I try to deny this, I might as well stop breathing.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
Someone gifted me a mug last Christmas that says “Taking care of hearts is my business”. Well, they ain’t wrong. I have since grew in pastoral care and leadership at some awesome non-denominational churches and received a Master’s Degree in Divinity at Northeastern University, Rochester, NY. I was ordained at Life Church in Buffalo, NY and I am, now, Assistant Pastor at Celebration Church Tampa.
I just love this Celebration because it is incredibly diverse in our attending people groups. I consider us to all be “friends like family”. We honor each other and celebrate our differences. I encourage the people as they go through life struggles, pray for them, hug them with tears, rejoice with them through amazing life milestones and victories, and teach them how to live and grow with hope and peace and joy in the Lord and cheer them on! My part in this gathering not only entails tending to parts of the weekly worship service and teaching at different events, but it also includes my favorite thing of caring for women, specifically. I have found that in our busy and disconnected world, so many have ended up feeling lonely, not realizing how desperately they could use being noticed, valued, and loved. This is where the Lord God prompts me to come into people’s lives, to meet over a cool glass of iced tea (not sweetened, of course, since I’m from up north, hee!) and listen to them with the Love of the Lord. While I hear their hearts, I also listen for guidance or encouragement from the Lord God for this person. Some people have gone through so much hurt and pain. But nothing is too much for the Lord. And no one is too far gone or too unworthy to not be cared for and loved. I have seen so many people really transformed in their lives to become more confident, and purpose-filled, and to understand that they are so worthy of love. Plus, we do so many fun activities like cooking up piles of authentic Puerto Rican empanadas to benefit human trafficking and other ministries across the world. They sell like hotcakes cause they are scrumptious!!
Seeing the Joy of the Lord upon me, others have said “I’ll have what she’s having!”
Is there anyone you’d like to thank or give credit to?
I am blessed to have several people who have encouraged me and grown me, like Jon Hasselbeck during my early years, and like James Dodzweit, who currently is the African Director for Operation Christmas Child. James always likened our ministry team work together as an aircraft carrier. We were there for people to come and land, refuel, receive food, provisions, or healing, and then be encouraged to go back out into their week, again, ready for their next adventure of life.
Currently, Larry & Deanna Shrodes continually advocate for and support me to take on more responsibility and to step out into new things, leading people deeper in the fullness that only the Lord God can bring us in life. If you want to connect with faith people who have your back and cheer you forward, you must seek out these two powerhouses
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Image Credits
S.Diaz Photography
