Juggling life
Sam Hindmarsh is a multi-tasker. It’s 7am when we sit down for our interview and this 35-year-old mother of two who has already exercised for an hour this morning, is folding laundry and sipping quietly on a cup of tea so to not wake her two adorable children, Tom, aged 3 years, and Alexandra, aged 2. “It’s a juggling act,” she says of life, but as our interview unravels, that particular statement bears even more weight.
The balancing begins on the home front with her biggest challenge, her desire to lead her life and that of her family's steeped in Christian values while the head of her household, husband Scott, doesn’t share the same faith base. “I’m fortunate because Scott really is so supportive of my involvement and my commitment to God,” says Sam, “However, it does become difficult to be completely cocooned within the church because those opportunities for me to connect with others are limited purely due to time. I need to balance the time it takes to be a wife and mother, to work from home, to run a household, for Bible study, for prayer support and a little bit of time for myself squeezed in there too if possible!” Not to mention that Sam, an interior designer and her talented husband who is a builder have designed and built two houses between them and moved seven times in the last three years; not a small feat.
And so the juggling continues … It’s the narrow road and it is tough, although there is a happy medium between being actively involved within the church and ostracising non-Christians in our lives and Sam appears to have struck that balance, “I couldn’t do what I do without God in my life. I look to God for guidance daily. I would be at the mercy of the trade winds without Him.”
Alternating her time between the 10am and 6.30pm services, Sam’s been involved at Pittwater Uniting Church (PUC) since 2003. “I love Pittwater Uniting,” she says, “It’s my place to connect with God and have fellowship with other Christians. I love it for the humility of the people there. I feel completely cherished and treasured there; a real cog in the wheel. Even though I’m not able to be completely cocooned I don’t feel any less valued.” In fact, this amazing woman of God is completely valued and her desires to help other women can only be described as priceless.
Two years ago, PUC was blessed when Sam, alongside good friend Meredith Julliard, developed a support group for impending mothers. “It’s not a ministry as such. Based on Psalm 139 it’s a prayer partnership for women who have it on their hearts that they would like to have a family. It’s for those women who are having trouble conceiving and also for those who simply seek prayer and support during this time in their lives.” This beautiful woman of God has travelled the infertility route more than once and knows how hard this particular walk can be. It’s the benefit of that hindsight that allows Sam to be such an integral mentor in this particular support group.
In fact, her supportive heart extends to her social conscience. When asked if she could meet anyone in the world, Sam said, “Well obviously Jesus, but if there was someone else, as commercial as this sounds, it’d have to be Oprah Winfrey.” Hear hear … how good is Opie! “It’s because of her attitude to life. She is here to make a real difference. She challenges people to get involved with sponsor children, has started an orphanage, she’s an advocate for change and uses her influence wisely.” And what gets Sam on her soapbox? “Any sort of social injustice really, but predominantly anything to do with kids completely gets me,” she says. Shall we add ‘social activist’ to Sam’s to do list?
She is passionate about her family, her friends, her church, of course God and more recently Sam’s been enjoying spending some deserved time with herself again. On the launch of this publication, this multi-tasker will be on a well-earned holiday in the Big Apple.
