Nothing Is Wasted
At the point Mike Noland became sick, Jody considered
quitting her newly launched ministry of helping people write
letters to their loved ones. It was a lot of work and often
discouraging. After his death, she did give up—for a while.
Grief-stricken and disappointed, she let go of the dream that
had once captivated her imagination and filled her with
hope.
When she saw how one little workbook made a
difference in the life of a dying woman, though, Jody’s
dream was rekindled. In spite of the tragedies she had
experienced, she would have to endure. The cost of not
doing so was too great. She had seen it in the eyes of her
stepdaughter, who would never know the comfort others
might. The possibility of helping others avoid that pain was
what kept Jody going.
“God wastes nothing,” she told me during one of our
phone conversations, recalling her sixteen-year career at
IBM before she quit to help her husband grow his business
and raise a family. All of it played a part in where she is
today.
During those years at IBM, Jody was in charge of giving
performance reviews to employees. She would praise and
affirm things she saw in people, even when delivering
difficult feedback.
“I would always try to look below the surface,” she