STEPHANIE HUBACH | CONTRIBUTOR

March is International Women’s Month, so in honor of one of the most influential women in my life—Jane Patete—I’d like to share with you a letter I wrote to her son and daughter. For those who don’t know her, Jane was the Coordinator for Women’s Ministries in the PCA. I sent this several weeks after Jane’s memorial service. I hope you “meet her” in some small way through reading this. Actually, I hope you see Jesus by reading this. (That’s how Jane would want this to go.)

Here is an excerpt of the letter I sent to Jane’s daughter Amy and her son Rob.

Oh. My. Word. How she touched my life. Apart from my own mother, Jane was the most influential woman in my spiritual life. Ever. And I’ve been a Christian for a long time, and run in a lot of Christian circles. Words don’t do justice to the level at which she impacted my life, just by doing what she always did: connecting, praying and encouraging, and embodying her “fun factor.”

Connecting

Jane’s fingerprints—in one fashion or another—are all over every doorknob to every major ministry door that opened in my life in the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA). As Susan Hunt’s assistant, she was willing to engage in an email friendship with me 25 years ago. I had contacted the Women in the Church (WIC) office with the question, “Have you ever had an idea that just wouldn’t go away?” That was the early calling on my heart to make the gospel accessible to people with disabilities in the PCA. Your mom and I built a friendship over email. Then, she did what she did so well: she connected me to everyone she knew who could help advance the vision of disability ministry in the PCA.

• She invited me to tell our family’s story at the first International Women’s Mercy Conference in 1999.
• In 2001, she invited me and my husband Fred to offer a workshop at the first PCA Mercy Ministries Conference.
• She encouraged Jim Bland, Mission to North America (MNA) Coordinator, to attend our workshop at that same event.
• After that, she placed me as a WIC representative on the MNA board (you can see where her strategic thinking was going…).
• All along, she urged me to write a book. Over, and over again!
• In 2005, she wrote an influential letter to P&R Publishing, urging them to publish my manuscript of Same Lake, Different Boat, which, thanks to Jane and Joni Eareckson Tada, was published in 2006.
• She asked me to introduce Joni Eareckson Tada at the 2006 International WIC Conference, the same weekend my book was released. This only helped to deepen the connection I already had with Joni.
• In 2007, she nominated me to receive the PCA Mercy Ministries Award at a WIC event. (I was offered a job as Founding Director of MNA Special Needs Ministries that same weekend.)
• In 2009, she chose MNA Special Needs Ministries as the recipient of the 2010 WIC Love Gift.
• In February 2011, she awarded MNA Special Needs Ministries the 2010 Love Gift—a check for $120,000 (the second largest in PCA history) that catapulted the PCA forward in disability ministries for the next decade (not just in the PCA, but across the USA, and in pockets around the globe).
• She also always, always took the “moment” to introduce me to someone—anyone—who might be a good connection on my journey. That is how I met Dr. Tasha Chapman, at Covenant Seminary, who I now work with at Covenant. “I think you would really like her. You need to get to know her. Join us for lunch.” That was just her way. (If my memory serves me correctly, she also made this Northern Girl try okra. But that may have been a different lunch! She also wisely advised me, with a sense of Southern urgency: “If someone tells you, ‘Bless your heart,’—that’s NOT a compliment.” That little piece of advice was more helpful than you can imagine!)
• Before, during, and after all that, she just continued to do what she always did—in her fun, energizer-bunny, pint-sized, Jesus-focused kind of way. She prayed for and encouraged me.

Praying and Encouraging

I know you’ll understand this. You really can’t separate Jane’s praying part from her encouraging part. They were so deeply interconnected. She’d always ask me how I was. How my family was. How my ministry was. How my walk with Jesus was. She set such a fabulous example of loving people right where they were—and at the same time—asking them what they needed to grow into something more. It was an amazing gift. She instinctively understood that the gospel invited us to a “come as you are” party—but it is not a “stay as you are” party.

Everyone who knew her will testify to her commitment to prayer. I wish I could say mine emulates hers—but it doesn’t come close—yet. Still, I see her fingerprints all over my life this way too. Over the years, I’ve developed the habit of praying for almost every person with whom I meet over the phone, over Zoom, or in person in a ministry context. It often takes people by surprise. (And yet it’s as if I can see Jane winking at me and nodding, over the other person’s shoulder. “Yes ma’am. This is how it is done…”)

The Fun Factor

I could go on and on. (You may be thinking, “You already have!”) But I can’t end without saying how deeply I appreciated how “stinkin’ fun” Jane was. She was just… So. Much. Fun. And that fun factor, (which is how I am wired), was a huge connecting point for us. We could laugh together about the silliest things, about the most absurd things, and most of all—in her humility—she taught me how to laugh at myself. That is such an incredibly meaningful skill. To not take myself too seriously.

Lasting Influence

Oh, how I loved your Mom. I know there are countless others who feel the same way. But I cannot—I simply cannot—overstate her influence in my life.

• I would not be the wife I am today, without her encouragement.
• I would not be the mother I am today, without her encouragement.
• I would not EVER be in the ministry place I am today, without her encouragement and pro-active, intentional actions to open doors on my behalf.
• I truly believe there would be no PCA disability ministry today, no tens of thousands of readers of the Reformed books on disability ministry and special needs parenting I’ve been privileged to write—without her influence.
• And last, but certainly not least, I would not know Jesus like I do today. She challenged me. She called forth the best in me. She called out (in the best kind of way) the worst in me—and then pointed me to where I could go to work on that…

When I’ve needed to grieve the loss of Jane in the last few weeks (and when I will need to grieve in the coming months) I go to the Covenant College page on YouTube and listen to their rendition of All for Jesus. (She always had us sing this at WIC events, and, as you probably know, it is also the official song of Covenant College and Covenant Seminary.)

1 All for Jesus! All for Jesus!
All my being’s ransomed pow’rs,
all my thoughts and words and doings,
all my days and all my hours.

2 Let my hands perform his bidding,
let my feet run in his ways;
let my eyes see Jesus only,
let my lips speak forth his praise.

3 Worldlings prize their gems of beauty,
cling to gilded toys of dust,
boast of wealth and fame and pleasure;
only Jesus will I trust.

4 Since my eyes were fixed on Jesus,
I’ve lost sight of all beside;
so enchained my spirit’s vision,
looking at the Crucified.

5 O what wonder! How amazing!
Jesus, glorious King of kings,
deigns to call me his beloved,
lets me rest beneath his wings.

I am beyond thankful to the Lord for the gift of your Mom (and your Dad too)! I am also deeply thankful for the dedicated, loving, and faithful service you all gave to her in her final years. You loved her SO, SO, well.

All for Jesus,

Steph Hubach

Photo by Sixteen Miles Out on Unsplash