Iris O'Connor Iris O’Connor ~ New Deaconess at Springton Lake Church

My name is Iris O’Connor, and my family and I have been members at Springton Lake for 21 years.  My husband, Kevin, and I just celebrated our 33rd anniversary, and we have three sons – Ian (24), Kai (almost 21) and Kaden (17).  I have been working part-time for 23 years at Media Veterinary Hospital where I hope to continue to work until I no longer have my own animals.  My favorite animals are dogs and horses and I have been a horseback rider since childhood. I also love to work in my garden where I am always reminded of God’s beautiful creation and I like to spend a lot of time in prayer there.  To me – caring for animals and gardening is wonderful therapy.

Over the years, I have been involved in Women’s Ministry attending many Traber Center Retreats – Children’s Ministry as a Sunday School teacher, chaperone on youth retreats and helping at Camp Treasure Island – and for 10 years (and currently) I am a children’s Bible teacher at Community Bible Study.

I was born and raised in Germany and we lived with my grandparents.  Through them I was introduced to “church going”, and as a child I always had a sense of God’s existence – even feeling His Presence in my life.  In 1986, I came to this country as an au pair to a family of six children. Shortly after I arrived, I took the kids to a park where I met a young Christian woman who invited me to her church.  She told me that it would be fun, and that I would really like it!  I remember thinking that it sounded pretty good to me, and so I attended.  And she was right!  I didn’t just like it – I LOVED IT!!

I was introduced to the real meaning of the Christian faith and learned that by believing in the Son of God who came and died a terrible death on the cross so that my sins could be forgiven – I could trust Him and accept His gift of never-ending love for me. Jesus became my Lord and Savior, and my life was changed forever! Church friends took me under their wing and I met my wonderful husband, Kevin, who already knew the Lord.  Since then, we have been on our faith journey together.

The last few years have had a lot of challenges: health issues in our family (some ongoing) – putting my mother in assisted living in Germany and dealing with the guilt that I am so far away  and can’t always be there to help her – and the sudden death of Kevin’s siblings and  experiencing the grief from losing these loved ones.  Also, the process of parenting teenagers maturing into young adults and just letting go.  To Kevin’s and my surprise – they know even more now than they did as teenagers!!  They grew up!!

Throughout the last couple of years, God has blessed us with faithful friends who came alongside us through those difficult times -- loving us both in deed and prayer. Please don’t ever underestimate the power of prayer!!  During all the trials, God gave me a never-failing sense of His Presence and love. I have learned how important it is that we as Christians be there for each other – praying for and helping to carry the burdens that bring us to our knees and draw us closer to Him. It is my sincere desire to do for others as others have done for me.  When I was asked to pray about being a deaconess, I knew that this would give me the opportunity to come alongside a sister or brother in need and be God’s hands and feet showing His love for them.  In this way I can express my thankfulness to my Father in heaven who has blessed me beyond measure.

ct fall 2022