My faith journey began in Tijuana, Mexico, where I have spent the grand majority of my life. I was actually born in Costa Rica but my family moved to Mexico to be missionaries there when I was only four months old, thus my earliest memories are of Mexico. I have been blessed to grow up in such a wonderful Christian family and such a loving environment. For the most part I had a very easy childhood, not to say I didn't have struggles but when I compare my life to that of others I thank God for the childhood I had.
I do not know the exact age I was when I became a Christian but I do know that I was still very young. As far back as I can remember I have always known and I mean truly known that there was a God who loved me deeply and that this was the God I heard about at church and constantly from my loving parents.I also felt called to a life of service to God at a young age. I first started saying I wanted to be a missionary when I grew up somewhere around the age of five.
I went to Mexican private school for elementary and then for middle school i was in their public school system. I remember talking to the teachers and my classmates about my faith. It was much easier to do then than it is now. I was not worried about sticking out in the crowd because I already did, my siblings and I were the only white people at the schools we went to.
Over the years many people have influenced my life and I have gotten involved in different ministries to better serve God. very Every time I do some sort of ministry, I come out with a stronger faith. I have been trying to put the different gifts God has given me to good use. I have learned from these experiences. I have also learned from watching other people’s struggles.
I made my profession of Faith at the age of 15. I had hoped to do so at an earlier age but was not given the chance. Now that I look back it was probably best that it did not work till then, God probably had a hand in this. By this time I was so much more excited to finally give my life fully to Christ, and confirm that I knew and accepted Christ as my savior and would live it out the rest of my days. This is still the case and it has become even more clear in life events since then.
High school was slightly more difficult than any other period, not for the usual reasons however... It was not that I did not make friends or was bullied. I had plenty of friends. These were the years my parents decided to home-school me. I completely understand and agree with the reasons for which my parents chose to pull me out of the school system at this point. But it does not change the fact that it was very difficult for me. I love being around people and I found myself feeling quite lonely. For some reason this really affected me. What made things worse is even God felt somewhat distant from me. Even so, I still knew he was present and I could see the results of prayers and I could see His involvement in everything that surrounded me. I simply did not FEEL Him. It would be a lie to say that things are different now. I simply trust that I must continue seeking Him and that there will be moments where I can once again feel Him. I consider myself lucky for how prevalent He was in my life early on. There is a particular Bible passage I hold on to whenever I find myself confused or saddened by this reality in my life, Isaiah 35, it is a gorgeous passage that talks about how the dessert and parched places will turn into springs and we will enter Zion with singing. This reminds me that though there are deserts present in my life, God will turn them into springs of water and I will enter Zion with great singing (I do love singing!).
Coming to Kuyper College has truly been one of the best decisions I have made in my life. I am a junior and I'm pursuing a career in Youth Ministry, which I would consider a type of missionary work. I have found that during my time at Kuyper my knowledge of the Bible and my connection to it have greatly increased. So many classes have directly impacted my life! I even got the chance to go to Israel for a spring term my freshman year. This experience greatly enriched my life with cultural and geographic connections I can now make as I read my Bible. When I read the names of certain cities I can picture in my mind at least the general area and habitat it is referring to.
However things have not been completely rosy ever since coming to Kuyper. The summer after my freshman year I got into a car accident and it really shook me up. The truth is it could have been so much worse, and that is what scared me most. I know that God answered the prayer I kept repeating as my car spun out of control on the highway, that He would keep my car from rolling. This was confirmed by the mechanic who asked my brother how it was possible that my car had gotten such a strong impact to the sides that a few of my rims snapped and yet my car did not have any body damage, that it did not roll. From the damages to my car the mechanic said that two of my wheels had to have been in the air as my car spun, that by all accounts I should have rolled my car. I shouldn't have walked out of my car without a single scratch and mild back pain, it should have been much worse. God choose not only to let me live, but to let me continue to walk and function as I always have. I always used to romanticize stories about people being saved by God in miraculous ways, where it was apparent to anyone willing to look that something bigger than themselves is present in the world. My brother took the opportunity to tell the mechanic that it was because God was watching over me that my car did not roll, the mechanic just waved him off and imply allowed that he could not personally explain the situation. I do not know if it affected the life of this mechanic in any way. What I do know is that it affected mine. I know that God has a plan for me, a purpose for my life. If that was not the case, why would he have saved me from harm?
There are many other stories in which I can clearly see God's presence in my life and many also of how have grown in my own walk of Faith. However, these are the stories and tid-bits from my life that stick out for me at the moment. I do not know the exact direction in which God is leading me, but I do have a general idea that I am being led to ministry. I hope that as time goes on I may come closer and closer to God and that I may see His work in all the wonders that surround me. If God allows me to I hope to live a life of service to Him for many years to come, using the gifts and skills he gave me.
1 comment:
That spring term trip to Israel was a marvelous time, indeed. Just the other day, I was reading in 1 Chronicle how the Philistines came up to Gezer, fought, and lost. I pictured the standing stones of Gezer and the mighty gate keeping the Philistines out!
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