It is in giving that we receive

Some people just get on and do. No fuss, they just find a place where they can quietly help out. For one such septuagenarian, Annette Wessling, it has been a case of finding not one but several places to lend a helping hand and a listening ear.

Through this quiet service, Annette feels strongly that she gets more than she gives – the joy of being around people and a sense of appreciation and belonging.

She has volunteered for almost 17 years at Lutheran Media in North Adelaide, where she has stuffed envelopes, packaged up CDs and bundled brochures to mail out to congregations.

She also volunteers at Fullarton Lutheran Homes, in suburban Adelaide. This stems from an almost 20-year association with the residential aged-care facility, which began on her arrival from Brisbane with her husband of 47 years, Besil. She describes Fullarton as ‘the most amazing place to work’.

‘I have been very blessed to work in Lutheran institutions and God’s love has shone through that institution to me’, Annette says.

Now twice a month on a Wednesday, she volunteers at Fullarton’s coffee shop. Annette’s also a member of a craft group that makes items to sell in the shop for fundraising. It’s an outlet for Annette’s passion for knitting. ‘Anything about knitting I could talk the leg off an iron pot, but when it comes to talking to someone about my faith, I get so tongue-tied I’d probably end up in a knot’, she shares. ‘I was never good at talking … but I can listen to people.’

And amongst the busyness, Annette takes comfort from her favourite Bible verse, Psalm 46:10 – ‘Be still and know that I am God’. ‘It makes me stop and think that God’s in control and I am not, and I have to let him take me where he wants to take me.’

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