ABOUT CHARLENE

Hi. I am Charlene Eagles Richmond.  I am using my Maiden name because there are people from years ago who know me only as Eagles.  I would like my name to ‘ring a bell’ to them.

I was born and raised near River Glade,  New Brunswick, Canada on a dairy farm on Scott Road.  

I was really lucky to have attended a one room school house on Scott Road for the first 6 years of school.   It was a bit of a shock to my system to be then transferred to the ‘big ‘ school in Salisbury, but we adjusted (as adjusted as we were) and graduated from there. 
 It was then The Salisbury Regional High School.  

After flunking out of nursing school because of social awkwardness and talking back to professors, I attended  Fairwood Bible Institute in Keen NH. 
I still consider those three the three most profitable and wonderful years of my life.  

I met my husband there.  We are still together after all these years which is proof that miracles still happen

I married Wayne and we raised (or tried to raise) three wonderful (!?) children in a log house we built in Upstate NY.  We now live in Statesville NC.  All three children live close enough to be tortured and irritated by us on a weekly basis. 

We are blessed with three grandchildren who are almost daily a wonderful part of our lives.

Just sitting here writing these facts, fills my head with so many memories and stories.  As time goes on, and I think there is merit to them, I will share some version of the truth about those experiences. 

                                                                                                                                                                          

I went back to school at SUNY NY at Delhi, when my youngest entered first grade. I was known by some of my classmates as the Hat Lady.

I was very smart.  Yes, I WAS surprised.  I loved the discipline and challenge of college but was really surprised to discover that students, contrary to my naïve belief, did not stand around in profound discussions of all things intellectual, but rather had very limited vocabulary and a strange irritating way of conversing with the use of four or five adjectives which were for the most part four to five letters in length.

 Well, I discovered that Smarts alone are not enough to prepare one for a nursing career, I declined the second half of the RN program and wrote Boards for LPN.

Over the years I have worked in Nursing Homes…(now there is a story there!), Physicians Offices and eventually found my niche in Home Health.  Presently, I work with respiratory clients in their homes and do so during the night shift.  I was about to say Graveyard shift, but that is not a good term to use in nursing.

About three years ago, my life was in such a shambles, disorganized, unfulfilled, upside down and unhappy, that I decided to study Psychology.  I ended up instead taking courses in Christian Life Coaching  in an attempt to get it all together in my life.  These hours dictated much study in Psychology for sure!

I loved it…and still do.  I have 36 credit hours of Christian Life Coaching from Light University and am still trying to get my ducks in a row!

 Study in this field, going through coaching and counseling myself,  and doing a great deal of the ‘suggest reading’ has partnered with my Lord, the Lover of my soul and worked to transform my life. 

My ducks may never be in a row, but at least I know their names and they occasionally submit to my direction. 

I have been transformed and am being transformed from an insecure, unsure defeated individual, wanting to participate in life outside these four walls, but afraid to because of my fears and insecurities, to the person I am introducing to you now.  

I am thankful to have discovered that I was created for a purpose.  Our life experiences and learning, our God given personality and gifts combine to produce a unique individual with a story to tell that will help someone else in their journey. 

 I am so relieved that situations in life…Seasons…as explained in The Bible are not the result of my failures or achievements, but they are stages of life, and my responsibly is not to wallow in grief and introspection and self deprecation over them, but to live through, as best I can each season as it comes, learning from the difficult and painful suffering and rejoicing in the pleasant times of blessing.

“ A Time for Everything
“There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under heaven:
a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain,
a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.
Ecclesiastics 3:1-8

I am excited to now, after all these years of being a Christian, to be experiencing the beginning of the ‘rest of the story’…that is…I know I am saved by believing that Jesus Christ paid the price for my sins but how wonderful it is to be learning all the other perks and blessings and tools that the Godhead supplies for us so our lives make sense and are victorious.

How glad and relieved I am to understand to that I am not a random set of unfulfilled dreams, habits and desires but rather a beautiful puzzle fit together after a design. The design makes me an individual.  The individuality is celebrated by God and fashioned for a purpose…a plan.  And, that unique plan for my life comes with built in tools to enable me to accomplish the job that God the Creator created for me to do.

Here are some Words from The Bible on which I base these beliefs…..

Jeremiah 29:11

“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.:

Romans 8:28 NIV

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

Eph. 2:10...NLT

For we are God's masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.

Luke 12:7

King James 2000 Bible 

But even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not therefore: you are of more value than many sparrows.

Jeremiah 1:5 NIV

"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations."

2 Timothy 1:9 NIV

 who has saved us and called us to a holy life--not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time.

Wow!   Now doesn't that (almost ) replace coffee as a reason to get up in the morning!?   More about all that later….I am getting off the point of this “little Introduction!”
And I guess I should sum this up.

Summary to introduction:

I have discovered through the years, and now with the help of my Life Coach, that part of my mission is to encourage and help others to define and prioritize their dreams, responsibilities, goals and Gods’ purpose for their lives.

Helping others advance to the place they feel God wants them, and as the person He created them to be, is one way I choose to spend my life. That is really, the definition of Christian Coaching.