A Woman of Influence
Nov 14, 2019By Nancy Lindgren
In honor of my dear friend, Karen Zummo, who passed away on November 4, 2019.
I’ve only known Karen for one year but in that short amount of time she has made a great impact on my life and many others. Karen served on the mentoring team with me at my church and she was one of those natural mentors who was like a magnet to women looking for someone a little further down the path who could point them to Jesus. And Karen did just that.
Karen was fully present. When you spent time with her you felt like you were the most important person to her in that moment. She listened so well and selflessly cared more about what you were going through than what she was going through.
She was compassionate. I remember serving on the prayer team with Karen one Sunday and we were both standing at the front of the church waiting to pray over others. As I looked over at Karen, she had another woman’s face cupped in her loving hands looking straight into her eyes speaking words of truth over her. I’ll never forget that visual. She tenderly loved people with a passion.
Speaking words of life came easy to her because she knew God’s Word and she knew her God. She often encouraged many of us by just reminding us of His faithfulness and goodness. I believe she had a deeper walk with God than most because she has walked a road of suffering like most of us haven’t experienced. Suffering didn’t make her bitter or resentful but made her more in love with Jesus.
Karen didn’t have to strive to be a woman of influence. It was the natural overflow of her life that drew us in. She was so filled up with Jesus that He naturally flowed out of her. We wanted to be around her because we wanted to be around Jesus.
I believe Karen’s greatest influence was her prayer life. I loved to listen to her pray. She had an intimacy with her Savior that was beautiful to glimpse. On our Monday night prayer nights, she would often stand looking out the window just worshipping God without a thought of anyone else in the room. She was a mighty woman of prayer. Her prayers revealed her relationship with God. She trusted Him with every fiber in her being. There wasn’t a hint of doubt or wavering faith. She believed and she received. She received the promise of Heaven and being with Jesus forever.
Her family is so blessed to have a mom who prayed so diligently and fervently because her legacy of prayer will go on for eternity. Those prayers don’t end once her life here on earth ends. They go on and on accomplishing God’s will here on earth as it is in Heaven.
I love you, Karen, and miss you so much! Thank you for modeling to so many of us what a woman of influence looks like. I’ve already put in my request that our mansions will be on the same cul-de-sac!
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