Me & My family

Hi! I am Suzie and I am so glad you are here! A little about me… I am married to the love of my life, who just happens to be the cutest guy on the planet. Together we have four grown children, two daughter-in-laws and a son-in-law, and three adorable grandsons. Spending time with my family is my joy, pottery is my creative outlet, and exercise, healthy eating, and time at the beach keeps me balanced. OF course, daily time sitting at the feet of Jesus is what keeps my personal faith active and growing, and helps me understand more about me and where God is calling me… I never know where the adventure will take me!

How I got here

I did not grow up in the church, nor did I have any reference for who God was, yet I had very distinct encounters with God throughout my teen years and knew somewhere in my spirit I would one day become a Christian. I recognize now that God was pursuing me. At the time, I could not respond to the invitation to follow Jesus because I believed a common lie – that as I was, I was not worthy to receive Jesus.  

As a teen I suffered trauma, challenges and struggles that led to a deep sense of shame. I struggled with comparing myself to others and was always coming up short… I was never enough. Have you ever felt like you were not enough? Not pretty enough, not smart enough, not old enough, not young enough, not doing enough, not being enough… not good enough? Me too. But that is NOT who God says I am. And it is not who God says you are either. 

Once the Holy Spirit allowed me to surrender, and I started to follow Jesus, I found a sense of healing and hope. The more time I spent in the word, the more I began to hear God’s voice, and then to believe God’s words. It was then I experienced real change in my heart, and then my life, as I released shame and began to live into the truth of who I am in Christ… I am Goodenough in Christ. One of my friends recently said, “isn’t it funny God gave you the name Goodenough at a time when you did not feel good enough?” God is like that. I have come to realize God knows me better than I know myself and will work with me just as I am to do great things for the Kingdom of God. 

My Mission

My mission is to meet people where they are and help them find their own healing and wholeness as they too discover their true value and worth, just as they are. 

My All-time Favorite Bible Verse

Ephesians 3:20 “God can do way more than we could ever hope for or imagine, by the power of the Holy Spirit within us.” This is my go to verse because it reminds me daily that God’s plan/design/desire for me is so far beyond whatever I am planning/designing/desiring…in short it reminds me not to think too small or get hung up on something insignificant in the grand scheme of things – it reminds me that I am good enough in Christ for whatever God is planning for me…and it will be AMAZING! 

Experiences

I believe that every step of my journey has been with purpose and in preparation for the next step. For example, my first career began while I was in college. As a retail store manager I found my love for working with people, serving the customer and helping my staff to grow and thrive. My second career, as an Interior Designer, really honed my people and management skills while unleashing my creativity and passion for making the world a more beautiful place. While I was passionate about each of these career paths, each was only a season of preparation for my true calling as a pastor/chaplain serving people outside the church.

As I grew as a follower of Christ, I found my heart for helping people find hope and healing through Jesus Christ – working with teenagers helped me to grow in my own faith as I walked alongside them, and helped me to learn to teach and preach in a way that was relatable and easy to understand. In addition to leading the youth and young adult ministry and serving the larger congregation at my church through preaching, teaching, and pastoral care and counseling, I also served in the youth ministry community and at other churches. For example, I led an area youth leader training event called “Ignite” from 2006-2011. I spoke to parent groups and led many youth retreats. I spoke at “Friday Night Fire” a youth and young adult worship & prayer night in 2017 and “Renew” youth Conference in 2019.

My ministry in the church was not exclusive to youth ministry, it also included speaking and preaching to other area churches, as well as women’s retreats. I also founded a Sozo Prayer Ministry at my church. Sozo Prayer Ministry originated at Bethel Church in Redding CA. Sozo is a Greek word meaning saved, healed, delivered. Through prayer, the Holy Spirit teaches people how to hear God for themselves and find the spiritual healing they need to move forward in freedom. This ministry has brought me great healing and wholeness and taught me to hear God and experience his goodness in a new way. I have also been witness to countless people who have received incredible spiritual healing, each unique, each amazing, all finding new freedom.

Becoming an ordained pastor was the next step. I completed my MDiv from Palmer Theological Seminary in May 2018. I was ordained as a pastor in the ECO Presbyterian denomination in June 2018, and I maintain my ordination here as a chaplain currently serving outside the church.

Education and resume’ aside, I long to be filled with the Holy Spirit so that I can pour out to others, helping them find hope and healing from life’s challenges and struggles. This has led to developing a heart for those who are outside the church and may never enter the doors of a church building. So many people who struggle and have no place to go because they do not “fit” in one church or another. I heard God calling me to meet these people, outside the church, and show them the love of God. The Bible confirms this calling to me as I read story after story of how God met people where they were, seeing them, knowing them, pursuing them, whether they knew God or not. I believe God still does that today. God cares about and loves everyone.

And so in July 2020 I heard and responded to God’s call to leave my position in the church to be prepared to minister to people outside the walls of a church. The next step for me was to pursue more training and education as a chaplain. I completed my chaplain residency at Christiana hospital in August of 2021, and by this time had fallen in love with chaplaincy. (For deeper insights check out my blog “12-Months: A Chaplains Journey Through Residency.”)

The next leg of my journey led me to hospice chaplaincy in Sussex county DE. This special end-of-life work grew me in ways I never expected. I learned deeper truths about the preciousness of life and the beauty of death as I helped patients to find their peace. I learned about grief and loss, and about helping people to carry their grief as they moved forward, with new hope, changed forever by their loss. (For more on this end-of-life experience check out my blog “My View From The Edge: End of Life Reflections of a Hospice Chaplain.” ) But God is not done with me yet – I write this on my last day as a hospice chaplain, having just accepted a new and exciting opportunity as a hospital chaplain at Beebe Healthcare in Lewes DE.

I trust God will use me to help people find healing, hope, joy, and peace with who they are, right where they are.