Paul the apostle wrote those words as a charge to the church at Corinth. From personal experience, he knew them to be true, as does Dr. O’Shea Lowery, founder of Entrusted Hope Ministries (EHM).
Lowery has spent a lifetime comforting other women, after God took her deepest heartaches and birthed a ministry that continues to impact women nationwide, more than 30 years later.
It all began on a normal morning on April 27, 1990. Lowery’s husband, Jeff, reached across their bed and gently patted his young wife before leaving for work as usual. It was the last touch the couple ever shared.
During his work on a construction site, Jeff was electrocuted and killed instantly.
In a conversation with The Stand, Lowery recounted that harrowing day: “I woke that morning as a married woman, but I went to bed that night as a single mom.”
Truly, for Lowery and her toddlers, Randy and Mandy, life as they knew it was over.
Asking questions
Overnight, Lowery’s children had become part of the 25% of American children who live in single-parent homes. Over 80% of those homes are led by single moms.
Those children and mothers also constitute a largely unreached demographic in most churches. Usually, single moms who do attend local churches rarely fill leadership roles and often fall between the cracks of church programs and outreaches.
So at some point in life’s journey, many of these single moms find themselves standing in front of a mirror voicing the same question Lowery had in 1990: “God, what am I going to do?”
For some, it’s a question of finances; for others, it involves vocational and educational decisions; and for many, it’s a more urgent dilemma of food and shelter.
Though far from the life she had envisioned, God helped Lowery answer those questions over the years as she faithfully raised her children alone. In her 40s, she started to fully pursue a heartfelt call to ministry, starting with a desire to further her education.
Lowery earned a bachelor’s degree from Blue Mountain Christian University in Mississippi as well as both a master’s in biblical counseling and a doctorate in family ministries from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas.
Sharing answers
“When I moved here to work on my master’s,” Lowery explained, “my son-in-law insisted I visit First Baptist Dallas. I was living in Fort Worth but began attending here in Dallas, and I fell in love with it. This is my home.”
That home is where Lowery’s ministry story really began, when she was asked to teach a Sunday school class for other single moms.
The class, named Strong & Courageous (Joshua 1:9), grew beyond the walls of First Baptist Dallas.
Under the umbrella of EHM, Lowery, also an author and blogger, uses the ministry of Strong & Courageous to help other churches establish and execute ministries for single moms and their children through coaching, training, Bible-based curricula, and online support.
It’s a broad objective with an even broader demographic. But for Lowery, it’s all about teaching the body of Christ how to let single moms know that God sees them and loves them.
