Catching up with Lindsey Pettit

Lindsey Pettit

At present Lindsey is living in Cape Town, South Africa. She has 3 children Emily is her oldest and she is married to Ryan. She is a journalist. Charles is the middle child and he is married to Barbara. They have Lily and Harrison, Lindsey's 2 totally adorable grandchildren – Charles does something amazing in finance (not sure what) and Lindsey's youngest child is Alice. She is a beautician.
Lindsey is so grateful at the moment that they are all are living in Cape Town. They have all travelled widely and lived abroad but like homing pigeons they have come home to roost - so They have great hilarious noisy family times together quite often.

M.M: Tell me briefly about your background?
L.P: I was born in Horsham Sussex and lived all my life in Sussex until we uprooted in 1990 and moved to Cape Town. I met my late husband Simon at school and we married after we had finished university. We both taught for a while and then our children were born. About that time Simon left teaching, studied theology and then went full time as a Baptist Pastor so I had to learn how to be hospitable and pastoral. It didn’t come naturally. I had to work hard at it.

M.M: How best would you describe your family life?
L.P: When we meet together very noisy – we all talk at the same time and we eat together a lot which is something we all enjoy. I love cooking large amounts and having an open house and table – I really enjoy my children. They are all individual and have very distinct strong personalities

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M.M: Were there any significant changes in your life when Simon passed away?
L.P: What didn’t change? Overnight it all changed – obviously we all lost a huge and significant and loved person. His influence and character had spread far and wide and the loss in all areas of my life was immense.
I had to learn how to be a single parent and take responsibility in areas that Simon had managed in our marriage – like paying bills etc. I didn’t like that and I am still not that great at administration. Even in areas like driving around, I had to do the late night pick ups and learn to be mum and dad.
I had travelled widely with him and when he passed away I had to learn to do that on my own. The first time I stayed in a hotel room on my own was very hard and very lonely but these things become easier with time.
There are some advantages strange as it may seem, returning to singleness - I can eat sushi (Simon hated it ) and spend as long as I like clothes shopping and buy nothing and not have to explain – to an exasperated husband - why that was a good outing

M.M: What have been some of the highlights in ministry?
L.P: Definitely my work in Pollsmoor Prison. Jesus’s words in Matthew 25 struck me to the heart ‘……I was in prison and you visited me ‘ It wasn’t so hard to go and visit – that was all Jesus asked and in doing that simple thing I found my own heart being healed and restored. Sometimes I feel so expectant about going to prison – it is like going to visit Jesus. I work with juveniles and I can see the eyes of Jesus reflected through the eyes of a wounded child .

M.M: Any challenges you’d like to share?
L.P: Being a single woman is a huge challenge in so many ways. It is difficult to know where I fit in.

M.M: What is your favourite quote?
L.P: So many – but this I wrote in the front of my bible “ ….far better is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs even though chequered by failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much because they live in the great twilight’ Theodore Rooseveldt

M.M: Who is your favourite Bible character and why?
L.P: David – he is interesting and in spite of glaring faults is described as a ‘man after Gods heart’ and I have a feeling that he would have been very handsome!!

M.M: Interesting! I recall what an amazing job you did with Titus 2 Ladies? Are you still actively involved in ministering to women?
L.P: Not at all – in fact I work almost exclusively with men. I work in a male prison with male colleagues – one day a week I work with Ambassadors in Sport who run a football academy in prison – so I work alongside the football coaches - I oversee and facilitate educational programmes for the inmates.

I think God has a seriously funny sense of humour in that frequently I feel I’m the wrong gender, wrong generation, wrong nationality and belong to the wrong language group to be working with male inamtes in prison – and yet somehow it all comes together and it’s great!

M.M: If you were to encourage ladies out there, what would you say?
L.P: Romans 8 v28 is my all time encouraging quote “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him……” Whatever happens however indescriminate or seemingly worthless God is working and because God is only good we can trust Him with everything – we will make mistakes – it is at those times we know we need God more than when we feel all is going well – when we make mistakes and fall and fail, we are humble and then we expereience the warmth and healing power of our great mysterious and wonderful God

M.M: Thanks so much Lindsey. This is excellent. All things certainly do work together for good for those who love God and are called according to His purposes.

By Molly Manhanga