Mi
Llamado
The honest truth is that the
question “for what purpose have I been created?” has been the question that has
troubled me the most. Oftentimes I find myself swimming from interim to
interim, always lost in what’s coming next, forgetting to take advantage of the
now that God has given me. But
something that helps connect the interims is the underlying purpose of them,
the main vein stringing these intervals together. I know that I enjoy immensely
spending time in community with others, especially other Christians, creating
homes and magical experiences in each of these communities- discovering new
sides of God, new aspects of His personality. I believe I am created to help
foster community; to search out solutions and remedies for others, with the
main remedy being Christ; to administer His love and His fruits in the lives of
others; and over everything else, to show others why Christ is the One and Only. This is why I have been made. I want to do this
through writing, through speaking, through leading small groups [of women or
young people], through adventuring. A beautiful dream that has always persisted
in the back of my mind is that someday it would be lovely to open the future
house that I live in to others in need- whether it be to just eat a meal, or to
live in for a year, however be it- to get individuals and families back on
their feet. I want to bring restoration to lives of the broken, and living in
community is one of the most potent medicines for a fragmented life.
One of the people that has
(unknowingly) inspired me to reach farther into life, into living for Christ
and soaking up every last drop of the life He gives us, is Shauna Niequist. She
is the author of two innovative books, Bittersweet
and Cold Tangerines, both of which I
adore. They are essentially biographies in themselves, being books that contain
bits and pieces of her life story, wound together with hindsight,
encouragement, warnings, and advice. I believe this to be one of the best types
of books to write. She led a small group of seven highschool girls (whom she is
still in contact with) for a year, travels and creates community wherever she
lives, and writes in the most profound of ways. Quite regularly she is found
inviting many different types of people to her house to partake in meals she
has made, in an attempt to draw people closer together and break different
social boundaries in a welcoming setting.
Shane Claiborne, age 38, is another individual
I admire on a substantial level. His story starts out like most of ours- going
to youth group for the food and the opposite sex, learning all the head
knowledge about God- but then the Spirit started to stir in his heart, and he
began to desire to live out what Jesus
preached. The Spirit’s movements in him have taken him from the streets of
Calcutta with Mother Teresa, “to the wealthy suburbs of
Chicago where he served at the influential mega-church Willow Creek. As a
peacemaker, his journeys have taken him to some of the most troubled regions of
the world – from Rwanda to the West Bank – and he’s been on peace delegations
in Afghanistan and Iraq.” If God puts something on Shane’s heart, he pursues it
with all he has, following the leading of the Spirit, trusting on God’s
promises to hold fast and fulfill. He not only lives in a faith community called
“The Simple Way” with others in a house in innercity Pennsylvania, sharing
their resources like the first church in Acts, but also lives like a
missionary, traveling to different countries to spread like wildfire the love
of Christ. As a strong social activist, he is often found advocating for nonviolence and
service to the poor. He has a lot of titles, but the main thread is his desire
to live out an authentic Christian faith, following in the footsteps of Jesus.
Alejandra Cruz serves here at Esperanza Viva involved in
countless different areas, but the two specific parts that I’m going to focus
on are her job as a supervisor of the chavas, and the vision for her
future. God’s call for her life is to be
a missionary, to share with others the redemptive message of Jesus Christ,
which she has known since she was young. God confirmed this when she was in
high school, searching on the internet for the countries that are most
needy. Awhile after that, she found
herself here at EV, working with the older teenage girls, a passage on her journey
to become a missionary. She says the hardest part about what she does here is
being patient and waiting on God’s time, learning that God’s holding off
because you need more training and more wisdom before He brings certain
opportunities into your life. But the part that pays off the most is to see the
provision of God, the way He is faithful to His promises and comes through
completely when you are lacking. It’s also neat to see the changes in the lives
you’re working with, to see people you’ve invested in start to change their
ways and follow God with a stronger passion. What she envisions as her destiny is
to work in another country with women in need, such as single mothers or abused
women. Along with sharing the gospel with them, she wants to change their
manner of thinking, to help them understand that they are worth more, that God
loves them deeply, that they can achieve more than they think.
To get where she’s gotten, as far as she has, and to keep
moving forward, Ale repeatedly mentioned that the key is to constantly seek God
and His will. Oftentimes, if we are focused on ourselves, on what we think, on
what our family thinks, on how we’re going to provide, we will
become derailed, because our primary focus and trust is not on our Heavenly
Father. She said that to reach your goal(s), your destiny, there is much
preparation needed. Sometimes so much time passes that we begin to believe that
God has forgotten His promises to us, when in reality we are still in the time
of preparation, and He is working steadfast behind the scenes. We should never
take a break from searching for God. In order to do what Ale does, a good,
willing disposition is required, as well as the capacity to see the big picture
as well as the small details, an ability to be administrative, and lots of
patience.
Ivonne McNally is another woman from EV who also works
with the youth, but in a different capacity and calling. Her call is pastoral,
not only with the youth ministry, La Red, but also inside of her growing
family. She has always enjoyed working with and helping others, developing
relationships with people and continuing to follow up with their lives. Her
pastoral calling was first truly recognized when she went on a mission’s trip
with other young adults from her church. No one was appointed leader, but rapidly
into the trip, everyone kept going to her for guidance and direction. Not
long after, she felt the words of God put strongly on her heart “I want you to
pastor”- this confirmed for her her passion, what the Lord had set her apart
for. Of course, doubts about this always creep their way into our lives, like
when her pastor told her “You aren’t made to pastor others,” but when God has
affirmed something for you so directly, this affirmation overcomes your doubts.
She has found that the hardest part of her call is to
pastor herself; to remain objective to her emotions, to die to herself and her
desires, and to remain disciplined to draw closer to God. This essentially is
the cost of her passion, but the payoff is always worth it. When she is able to
see the people she works with transformed, seeing how Christ has used her life
to renew and change others, this is what propels her to keep at it. The
characteristics she has been cultivating in her life to pastor others are first
and foremost love for God, as well as humility, compassion, patience, and
vision. Mentioning vision, her vision
for the future, an additional ministry she’d like to foster is one for women,
specifically Muslim women, women that have been hurt by their culture and
family- a ministry of restoration. She’d like to see it happen where women meet
together and share their struggles honestly, leaning on each other and Christ
to overcome the hurt in their past and to move forward into a powerfully
healing future.
I had the chance to get to know one of the most inspiring
Christ followers in my own church before her death this past February. I can’t
say I know many details of her past, but I know that Yvonne O’Connell spent
multiple years with her husband and adopted children in the country of Turkey
as a missionary, working alongside field laborers. When I began to actually
speak with and get to know her, she was living solo in a trailer park,
ministering to several women in a small group, living every month on a wing and
a prayer. To be frank, she didn’t have much money. Some months she couldn’t
find the means to pay the electric or her medical bill or the water, but God
always seamlessly provided a way to the next month. The lady lived in the
supernatural glory of God, miracles sprouting up everywhere in her life. She
spent her time in constant prayer, and when she spoke, it was always to glorify
the Lord. On my last mission’s trip to
Mexico, I was hesitant to send her a support letter to ask her for money,
because I knew she didn’t have much to begin with, but she responded pronto
with both money and prayer, and continually asked for updates about the ministry. Yvonne was a true missionary, no matter where
she was, whether in Turkey or in the States. She didn’t waste any opportunities
or talents she had; she was always giving back to the Lord, reaching out to
others, writing encouraging notes, giving away books, making hats and scarves,
inviting others into her home. She understood that it’s okay to ask for help,
to allow others to give back and help you as well- that’s what living in
community is.
I believe that Yvonne partly based her way of life on one
of the most inspiring communities in history, found in the book of Acts. This
is the first church of Christians, the first community of believers in Jesus
Christ, comprised of the twelve apostles as well as the women followers. In
Acts 2:43-47, it says “Everyone around was in awe- all those wonders and signs
done through the apostles! And all the believers lived in a wonderful harmony,
holding everything in common. They sold whatever they owned and pooled their
resources so that each person’s need was met. They followed a daily discipline
of worship in the Temple followed by meals at home, every meal a celebration,
exuberant and joyful, as they praised God. People in general liked what they
saw. Every day their number grew as God added those who were saved.” Later, in
chapter 4:32-35, it adds, “The whole congregation of believers was united as
one- one heart, one mind! They didn’t even claim ownership of their own possessions.
No one said, ‘That’s mine; you can’t have it.’ They shared everything. The
apostles gave powerful witness to the resurrection of the Master Jesus, and
grace was on all of them. And so it turned out that not a person among them was
needy. Those who owned fields or houses sold them and brought the price of the
sale to the apostles and made an offering of it. The apostles then distributed
it according to each person’s need.” This
is the type of community that I desire to encourage, to be a part of,
everywhere I go. The value of material goods is often grossly over-emphasized in
the world we live in, and I am sick of the deep roots it has wound into the
lives of believers.
When I take all these examples and stir them together
into one, that is what I want my life to
look like: living in community, open to the movement of the Spirit and wherever
he takes me, working and ministering to groups of others, having a ministry to
restore broken women/youth. I know that I am a long way from it, but if I keep
Christ at the forefront, constantly seeking Him out (like Ale said), then He is
going to remain faithful and complete His promise to do a great work in me.
Bittersweet, Shauna Niequiest
The Irresistible Revolution by
Shane Claiborne
Interviews with Ivonne McNally and Ale Cruz
