Felicia Osborne may be small in stature but the pint sized pastor's inspiring story and personality makes a major impact on the people around her.
The 46-year-old, who stands at 4 ft 1, suffers from a genetic condition called osteogeneis imperfecta, which makes her bones so brittle that they break at the slightest hint of stress. Osbourne needs to use crutches to help keep her balance while walking but this has not stopped her from being a ray of sunshine that brightens up the community and the members of her church, the Bethel Family & Youth Resource Center.
According to NJ.com, she does not let her imperfections get her down because her sense of purpose is clear.
"It feeds me, like water does to a plant. To do something for somebody, oh God, I'm excited like a kid at Christmas," she said.
The centre, which was started by her father Reginald 13 years ago, was established to serve a dual purpose – as a drug treatment programme and a church. Reginald used to be the pastor but he and his wife retired to Florida last year, and Osborne pretty much took over his legacy.
She says she couldn't let the church close down after her father left because the community needs the church.
"Bethel meant too much to this community," she said.
Osbourne said that after 15 years working as a senior metrics and reporting analyst with AT&T, and retiring from the corporate world, she was inspired by her father's compassion in helping the homeless and those who were suffering from addiction.
Nowadays, she uses her own experiences, both from her career and her personal ordeals to inspire people to take action and deal with their own challenges. And despite her disability, she has no intention of slowing down.
"She's the reason I'm in school now," said Elizabeth Ferdinand, a church member who is studying to be a certified drug and alcohol counsellor. "She's amazing, because there are a lot of people who don't have a handicap and they're not even doing a third of the stuff that she's doing."
