Meet Claudia Kimura Who Now Shares Her Gifts at Ruah!

Gifts: who doesn’t like gifts?! This season is known as the “season of gifts.” As I reflect on the gifts I have received, being a part of the Ruah Woods Institute’s mission and working as a part of the RWI team is certainly among them!

Living in Ohio after growing up in Southern California (I confess within 25 minutes of the beach), I most definitely took for granted the gift of mild winters, lots of year-round sunshine and the delicious, juicy oranges that my father grew in our backyard.  It was there that I also received these gifts: my faith from my mother, learning to play the flute, and meeting my husband of 30 years (I am happy to say that all are still an active part of my life today!). 

In between California and Ohio, there have been many proverbial roads which led me in directions that I did NOT map out: From learning Japanese and living in Japan (and the many adventures living abroad entailed), to teaching high school, adopting our 2 beautiful children, dabbling in Argentine Tango, to working in and consulting with nonprofits, my path has hardly been in the linear fashion we are typically led to believe in our postindustrial age that they should be.

Letting God lead can seem like a winding road to an uncertain — and potentially disappointing — destination. But that is hardly the case! Our faith tells us otherwise, yet encountering someone who can clearly present this message and answer the questions which spring forth when pondering things of this nature seems to be a rare occurrence.  And sometimes they are front and center for the world to see and hear, like Pope St. John Paul II himself! 

How silly I was to be so absorbed in the daily details of life, and to be frustrated that my church didn’t seem to have easily available answers for me.  Yet, at the very same time, here was a man who spoke to the longings that I felt in my heart but lacked the capacity to truly understand or discern. I guess you could say I needed someone to map it out for me.

How wonderful it is that God allowed me to remain on the road of discovery of the depth of His truth, to slowly inch my way on the pathway of understanding the Theology of the Body, thanks to those who broke down this profound proclamation so that I could navigate it. How amazing that I not only have the opportunity to use my gifts, nourished in many places and experiences, to participate in sharing the gift that is TOB.

Everyone should know of God’s immense love, revealed in all that He has given us, in how He made us. Everyone deserves to be challenged to see the ways He gives us mercy and grace to strengthen us, in the obvious and the unobvious, and through the many roads we travel — the twisty and the straightforward. I am so excited to be a part of this dedicated, sound, loving and enthusiastic team at Ruah Woods Institute as we pave a smoother road to transform the culture in our schools. What a privilege to help make the path clear for hearts in this noisy world to find their way to our God and His kingdom, even in my quietly administrative way.  He has given me yet another gift.  God is good.

Written by,
Claudia Kimura, TOB Campus Administrator
ckimura@ruahwoods.org