Because whatever has been born for God conquers the world. This is the victory that has conquered the world: our faith. And who is the one who conquers the world but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? —1 John 5:4-5
Life on this earth includes going through testing and tribulations, sometimes even atrocious ones. We may ask ourselves daily why these things happen or why me. We know one of those reasons is to test our faith and to see what we will do with what the Lord has commanded us to do.
A lot of times I asked myself, “why me? I am trying to be good!” There can be many questions we can’t answer on our own, but they come up when our hearts are broken and we believe life has no meaning or purpose. At age 28, I understood that even the best minerals need to be refined to get rid of impurities. Being good is not enough if we want to be like our savior.
It’s interesting how the Apostle Paul used the term “brief tribulation”. This was coming from a human being that had been beat up, humiliated, stoned, imprisoned and who had suffered many other trials. I doubt many of us categorize our testing time as brief, however, compared with the blessings and growth we receive in this life and eternity, our afflictions are truly nothing.
Here in Ecuador we see how society has corrupted our youth and children so much that they are blinded to the truth of who they are in Christ. God’s plans are so perfect and good. He used my past and redeemed it, and now I want to share His message of salvation, love, faith and hope through my testimony. Because of my past I am much stronger now, knowing how valuable I am to God. I know I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength. God is incredible!
Right now I am serving full time in 3 communities where only 1% of the inhabitants are evangelical believers. Through the creation of clubs, we are discipling and reaching many young people so they can:
- Learn to recognize God
- Receive healing for wounds of their hearts
- Have their true identities restored
- And have their own personal relationship with our heavenly Father
We believe that as we reach the youth, they too will be used to be an extension of His kingdom.
