When the therapy pool in the Adaptive Recreation and Fine Arts Center was installed, excitement grew as medical personnel imagined the results patients would experience from aquatic therapy. Since the Oklahoma City Thunder has the only other pool like it in the state, this would also be an amazing opportunity for The Children’s Center Rehabilitation Hospital to welcome more children in need. A $1,000,000 therapy pool was a big deal! Little did we know, however, just how impactful the pool would be in the healing and transformation of not just patients, but employees as well.
A diverse group of participants had recently completed the “Centered” program developed by Crossings Community Church, which utilizes the idea of small groups to introduce individuals to the possibilities of a life centered on Christ. Participants go through ten weeks of personal reading and reflection, weekly group conversations, worship and celebration guided by a new, Bible-based discipleship curriculum. This particular small group was led by Kim and Albert Gray, who are members of Crossings Community Church and employees of the hospital.
Tasha Lovelady, a hospital employee, was a part of the program and says, “The Centered Bible study was the first one that actually challenged me to transform the way I think and do things. It helped me understand and contemplate things in my past that may have an influence on my present – things that need to be changed or nourished.”
During the study, Tasha and fellow hospital employee, Jackie Cole, experienced the transforming love and power of Jesus. Life was no longer the same and they wanted to make that change known through baptism. Jackie explains that she had never participated in a Bible study before, and although she was baptized at an early age, she hadn’t understood what it really meant.
“During the Centered study, I felt God was telling me this was my time to re-dedicate my life to Him,” Jackie says.
As the group leaders thought about where the baptism might take place, they realized God had already provided the perfect location – the aquatic therapy pool at the hospital. With permission from hospital leadership, and making sure protocols were understood and followed, a group of about 40 people gathered around the therapy pool on a Saturday afternoon in May.
“Once I found out that we could be baptized at the hospital I was truly humbled. This is my second home, and the hospital will forever have a piece of my heart,” said Jackie.
Not only was the pool repurposed into a holy place, but lives were repurposed for the glory of God. Thanks to His will and the generosity of our supporters, miracles really do happen here.