Hi my name is Ponnie Cousins and I’m the visionary for “The Daughters of the Most High” and “The Kitchen Table” daily blog.
I’ve been involved with inner city missions for close to 20 years, and have been in the ministry of helping women in crisis for a little over sixteen years. As a baby Christian (and I do stress “baby”) I ventured out to feed the homeless in downtown Philadelphia. It was exciting and scary at the same time. Back then, there were many more homeless people living underground in our downtown area than now. No, it doesn’t mean that Philadelphia has somehow found an answer to its homeless problem. It just means that our mayor at the time who is now our governor put a stop to the downtown area being overrun with people camping out in our underground subway and shopping areas. Call it progress for the city to build a new convention center and Marriott hotel. But there has always been (and probably always will be) a group of people who live in the back ally ways and literally sleep in the streets. Those were the people my ministry fed. Many were classified as schizophrenic, but the truth is, many were demon processed. The Lord used this time to make me bold and cast out any fear that would hold me back from the things He would have me do over the years. It was easy even though I was in my late 30’s because I was a young Christian and believed every Word of God I could get hold of. Oh, how I sometimes long for those first days, when God made things so much easier for me. ~Smile~.
After giving birth as a 40 year old single mom and living through mistreatment from church folks who swear by all that is holy they love the Lord, I soon found myself helping women who were being mistreated as I had been. I’m sad to say that it still exists today. Missionaries are equipped with many different gifts, but my more dominate gift is “encouragement.” However, I am not alone in this particular part of the Body of Christ, there are many of us. And our Lord has decided to bring some of us together in one particular venue so that we can pool together the gifts that the Holy Spirit has so generously given us, thus birthing “The Kitchen Table.”
I would like to take a moment to share with you how I met each of the women who sit at The Kitchen Table.
Pat Betters: As a new convert in a small church, but one that was growing quickly, I was really hungry for the Word of God and I went to just about everything they had. Pat was teaching the Women’s Bible study and that was how we met in April 1990. She has been my best friend in the Lord ever since that day. She is a great woman of God and an awesome teacher of His Word. She had also been my mentor and has helped me through the years more than words can ever express. I pray that all women will have a mentor such as her. Of course she rubs it in that she is chronologically younger than me. It is less than 2 months, but it’s a big deal to her. But in Jesus years, she’s 3 days younger than water. LOL!! She is a no-nonsense person when it comes to teaching women about the Lord, but I have to admit, she is good!
Sasha Brown: I met Sasha through a facebook game called, “Sorority Life!” I needed people to win fights so I ventured out to an online group where you could get other people to join your house. But the downside was they had to become a facebook friend first. I was a little hesitant at first, but jumped in anyhow. Ours was a match made in heaven because most of the time you have to block a lot of the people you pickup, but I wrote something in my status that she liked and she stuck around and here we are. Sasha is a strong and giving woman in the Lord. I can only deeply admire people who adopt children, but a single woman who adopts two children blows me away. You’re gonna love her style. We haven’t made plans yet on how we are going to meet face-to-face, but I think it will be after she celebrates her 40th birthday.
Michele R Cousins: We met on January 7, 1975, 11:05pm. It was at the University of Pennsylvania Hospital, where I had just given birth to her. I took one look into those funny looking eyes of her’s (they are now light brown) and decided she was a keeper. LOL! She is my oldest of two girls and the mother of my three granddaughters Zoe (11), Christina (5) and Amaia-Joi (2). She works hard at caring for her 3 girls and others as she is a registered nurse. We’ve been together for 35 years now. As a young child she had a passion to help sick people and wanted to be a nurse since I can remember. She has a very gentle and quiet spirit, and is a very compassionate woman. Michele has written some good stuff for you gals, and I’m not just saying that because I’m her momma!
Tovah Cousins: Cousins is not Tovah’s legal last name, but since she is a minor I have chosen to use it just in case she is googled. Of course she had to make our meeting a little different by showing up 7 weeks before she was supposed to. I didn’t get to hold her when she was first born. A team from the ICN (Intensive Care Nursery) grabbed her the minute she arrived, which was 12:15pm, on April 7, 1993, stuck her in an incubator and whisked her off. That was 16 years ago. With my oldest daughter I decided from day one I would keep her, but not so with Tovah. Tovah is the one who was almost aborted, and thus has become a living representation of God’s great love and mercy. When I minister to women who want to have an abortion out of fear, I can not only tell them about Tovah but they get to see the living proof of God’s love and hope.
Sharon C. Daniels: When I first met Sharon her last name was Miller, and I don’t think she and Ernest were even looking at each other let alone thinking about marriage. The one thing that stands out most in my mind about her is her wonderful personality and gentle spirit. She worked a full time demanding job but also held the part-time position as church secretary. No matter how difficult her day might have been, she was at church in the evenings (always with a smile) meeting whatever obligation she had. Now years later she and her husband (the youth pastor) head the Youth Ministry at Christ Community Church of Philadelphia, and she has the same sweet disposition and commitment to the work she does unto the Lord. Sharon is committed to helping people with their finances, and she is on a mission to help each of us.
Maria Guzman: She and I met at the Philadelphia “Women of Faith Conference” in October 2008. I was gifted with a ticket and went by myself. The Friday morning session was general seating and Maria was sitting one seat over from me. I guess she could see that I wanted someone to talk to, because she leaned over and introduced herself. We started talking and have been ever since. I could tell by her conversation how much she was on fire for the Lord, and that she and her husband were very involved in their church. We exchanged numbers and email, because after that session we would have to sit in our assigned seats, and with over 13,000 women we were not sure if we would see each other. Good thing we did that, because I haven’t seen Maria since the first time I met her, but we have become good friends nonetheless. Prayerfully we will get to spend time together at the Philadelphia 2010, Women of Faith Conference. Maria is bilingual and will be doing her blog in English and in Spanish. Her January blog addresses something we all have had to deal with at some time or another. Make sure you check her out.
Lydia Hedinger: Lydia’s mother was going to be Tovah’s 8th grade Spanish teacher in her new school, and she had assigned schoolwork for the summer and I called her to clarify some of the work. Well, turned out her and her husband were missionaries and we started talking about how wonderful God is and sharing ministry stories and we hit it off right away. Tovah was very shy in making the transition from home school to being a full time student in private school. Lydia, being homeschooled and used to moving and making new friends, befriended Tovah. Here you had two girls who had parents who worked for the Lord and understood each other in many ways. Lydia is a very beautiful young woman inside and out. She is caring and very kind hearted. Her parents have trained her well in the things of the Lord. I can’t wait to see how being 18 years old in her world turns out.
Cheryl Mackey: I remember Cheryl as a young married woman with no children. I love to see her smile because her entire face smiles, especially her eyes. She is sweet and very soft spoken. My greatest memory was how happy she was when she found out she was going to have her first child, who is now 7 years old. Her husband is a really funny guy. When you see the two of them together, he is always making her laugh. In fact he is always making me laugh. He’s also one of our associate ministers. Besides loving the Lord, one of her best attributes is that she has such a humble spirit. Humility is something we have to work so hard at, yet she makes it seem so easy. I love her writing style and you are in for a treat. All you homeschooling moms, or those of you who think you might want to home school, you must read her blog. She is witty, but very open. You can almost feel her smile.
Rita Scarborough: Rita and I met at a home school enrichment program held at Crossroads Community Church (which later became my missions church) that our daughters attended. She and her husband were home for 1 year to visit the different churches that sponsored them as missionaries in the Arab world. We hit it off and have been crazy friends ever since. That was almost 10 years ago. If you are a person who is shy, you should not go out with the two of us. We have bad habits like talking and laughing in the movies. Rita has many gifts, but as with most missionaries the gift of ‘helps’ is very prominent. Girlfriend does not have time to talk about what needs to be done; she just jumps in and does it. Her family was called back to the states after 911, but she has not skipped one beat in all her work for the Lord. The perspective she has taken to talk to you married ladies, is really sort of cool. Not preaching, but great food for thought.
Rise’ Wampler: As much as we are warned about meeting people on line, I must confess that I have met some great sisters that way. Rise’ and I met through a virtual support group for Christians who are foster parents. I googled this group and have praised God ever since I found them. I had been part of the group about 2 weeks when Rise’ sent me an email introducing herself. She had been under the weather when I first joined, but I had already been introduced to her hubby, another comedian in the bunch. We hit it off and started an out of group friendship. What can I say about a woman who has adopted 11 special needs kids? One thing….she is my hero!! We have plans for her to come to Philly in 2010 if God is willing and I think between her, me and Rita, we are sort of pestering Him about it. ~Smile~ You have got to read her blog to find out how her and Rich ended up adopting 11 kids. It makes for some good reading, trust me.
I look forward to the journey we will all be taking this upcoming year, and I’m very excited about the great things the Lord has planned for us.
Saturday’s Blog: Pat Betters will be sharing a New Year’s resolution that can change your life forever!
Love & Hugs
Ponnie
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