Focusing on new beginnings during Transform Dallas

 Transform Dallas provided an opportunity to focus more on the world around her, said Lisa Gillman, who volunteered to paint homes during Saturday's citywide workday.

Lisa Gillman, left, helps other Transform Dallas volunteers paint a building.

"I just recently went through some events in my life that told me to stop focusing on myself," said Gillman, who joined fellow church members from Highland Park Presbyterian Church to paint homes at a Restoration Outreach work site in East Dallas.

"Then I ended up with two bad hands, and I couldn't play tennis anymore. So I'm just looking to do things more worthwhile with my time and looking just to be God's hands and feet."

Transform Dallas sent out a call for thousands of volunteers to paint houses, serve meals to the homeless, make improvements to elementary school buildings, assemble and deliver care packages to hospitals, host carnivals and block parties for children, and assist formerly incarcerated women. 

Highland Park Presbyterian is part of a core planning team of five churches that partnered with Dallas Leadership Foundation to launch Transform Dallas.

Lisa Gillman, left, takes a quick break with a fellow Transform Dallas volunteer.

Gillman, an avid tennis player, recently learned that she has carpal tunnel in both hands. She had used tennis as an outlet and a source of friendships since moving several years ago from Tulsa to Dallas.

What she's finding out is that a new beginning lies behind the unexpected change of life.

"About a year ago, God repositioned our lives," she said. "So I'm just looking for a bigger purpose."