First Baptist Ft. Lauderdale already had a cancer ministry in place for 20 years. So, what would a church with an established cancer ministry need in Our Journey of Hope?

“Our ministry was not impacting people the way it should,” said Norma Miller. “We needed a complete re-start. I encountered a lady here in Ft. Lauderdale, by sheer accident, who was doing cancer support for her church. She said ‘have you heard of Our Journey of Hope?’ I went online and it was exactly what we needed. The Lord was moving me to take it in a completely different direction and I felt God needed it to be a true ministry.

“For it to be a real ministry in our church, we needed to ask the question ‘why?’ Why do we need this? And we need to have a legitimate answer. Our Journey of Hope and their training was answering the 'why' for me.”

With a list of about 70 people that they are currently serving in their church, including 2-3 outside of the church or immediate family members, Norma needed something big to happen. Despite feeling a calling from God, she wasn’t sure she was the right person for the job.

“I am not a cancer survivor and I wasn’t sure if I was ‘qualified’ to lead this ministry,” said Norma. “But it doesn’t matter if you have had cancer or not. It matters if you have a heart for it and a gift from God, then people will believe you. They will see your heart and they will accept you.

“I honestly don’t know where we would be right now if I had not heard from this beautiful woman about Our Journey of Hope. The Lord just made it all possible for us to be there.”