Called and Prepared

When I was in sixth grade, I found myself wading through the muck of life as a foster kid. The details of the day it happened are still so clear to me. I was home with my father, working on schoolwork, and my mother was at the store. A knock sounded at our door and I quickly rose to answer it, only to be met by two police officers. In their hands was a warrant granting legal permission to remove me from the home. 

Panic set in. Without thinking, I bolted for the backyard as fast as two legs and tennis shoes could take me. I managed to make it as far as the backyard gate that opened to the alley, but I realized I had nowhere to go. As one police officer caught up to me, I realized I could not out-run the problem. There was no way out.  

As he led me back though the door into the chaos, I was given five minutes to collect my belongings. Under watchful eyes, I reached for my old beat-up pink backpack with schoolwork inside. There was too much shock and trauma to feel grief in that moment, but I can recall the sounds of my dad crying—something I had never heard him do before. My mother returned home at the exact moment I was placed in the police vehicle and it was hard not to hear her screams or see the whole neighborhood watching as we drove away.   

Belonging again

Stepping out of the police car was like stepping onto foreign soil. It was a culture shock like no other—one that muddled everything. Even the sounds of people talking around me fell on deaf ears. My feet remotely carried me through the motions.

As my foster parents greeted me at the door, they shared their one rule was that I attend church on Sundays. It was the only thing I remember hearing that day. 

Up to that point, I had been taught God existed by my parents. On all the major holidays, we faithfully attended church; my parents taught me religion void of a relationship with Christ. In foster care, I began to learn who God was. 

I learned God was faithful from scriptures the pastor opened each Sunday. I learned God was loving through the concern and protection of my foster parents. Slowly, I learned there was more to God than just religion. Though I didn’t know God yet, each night I started to pray. It was a simple prayer: “God help me.” 

A couple of months went by until my foster parents had another request—that I begin attending a local youth group called Teens for Christ. 

Just the mention of this idea evoked panic. Social settings were terrifying for many reasons. I wasn’t popular and I was frequently bullied.  Because I was a foster kid, because I had been taken out of my biological parents’ home, I was seen as an outcast.  

In those early days of foster care, my identity was shrouded in the idea I was unwanted and unworthy.  I didn’t expect things to be any different in this new social environment at Teens for Christ. But God used youth group to teach me about His unrelenting pursuit—not only was I accepted by my peers, but each time I tried to pull away, somebody always pulled me right back in.  

At an all-night Teens for Christ outreach that year, I heard the gospel presentation clearly and my heart was ready to respond.

The woman who shared the gospel that night asked me, “Why do you want to accept Christ into your life?” My response to her question was anything but eloquent—but it was honest. I was weak, weary and in need of a Savior. As I responded and accepted Christ that night, her question marked a turning point. It was a defining moment in my spiritual walk, and it was the beginning of my call into ministry.  

Beginning in service of others

From those early foster care days, God impressed upon me the reality that His redemptive work in my life is not just about me. In every hardship and trial, I saw God’s hand guiding me toward a life in service to others, using the redemption I experienced to share the good news with others. 

I became a member of the planning and leadership team with my youth group, which gave me opportunities to serve my peers and grow through conference attendance and workshops our youth group leader provided.  

After high school, I served for a couple of years working throughout Central America as a missionary. The first five months were spent in a Discipleship Training program designed to prepare me for the mission field—but what I learned in the classroom was nothing compared to what the actual field taught. 

While my main role was administrative as the head receptionist on board the Caribbean Mercy with Mercy Ships, I had multiple opportunities to help assist the medical outreach team. Doctors from all over the world would come and provide medical assistance, particularly life-changing cataract surgeries. People walked miles from remote villages desperate to receive the free services offered in the hope their sight would be restored. They waited in lines that stretched for days as eye screenings took place. 

I often found myself there, standing in line, using my broken Spanish and attempting to bridge relationships with people as I listened to their stories and played with their children. One elderly man shared that he had lost all hope of having a relationship with God. He said he had lost his marriage and the church had disowned him.

I watched as my friend shared the gospel with confidence. We prayed with him and he walked away that day with more than hope for physical sight—he walked away with renewed hope that he was not lost to God. 

That moment showed me how much more I needed to be equipped with God’s Word and develop the tools to share it boldly and confidently. More than anything, people need the hope and healing power that God’s truth affords.  

As I continued serving on the mission field, I saw many people come and go. Burn-out rates were high because many came in without solid preparation or good, theological understanding of the importance of their work. It invigorated me to become better equipped for ministry, in any context.  

Growing to fulfill God’s call

After about 20 years back in the United States, being involved in women’s ministry and Bible study leadership at several churches I called home, I was given the opportunity to partake in the EFCA’s Prepared program beginning in January of 2022. Each week, I gather virtually with twenty-four other women spread throughout the United States and abroad. We come together for two and a half hours with the same goal: to sharpen each other and learn how to better serve one another and the body of Christ. Through lectures, break-out rooms and activities, we share space and grow deeper in our understanding of what biblical ministry looks like and how God defines it.

The very first session had a huge impact on me. It focused on women as leaders in God’s mission, and we learned what the Bible has to say about who we are in God’s grand plan. We learned that our mission is the space between our two feet, that being on mission encompasses the whole of life and how we live it. 

My eyes were opened to areas in my own life that I have struggled to have a proper perspective of myself on mission for God. I have struggled to view myself as usable because of the trauma of my childhood and the ways I doubted my worthiness. Through a tangible exercise during this course that had us map God’s plan for us through varying life stages, I finally gained much needed clarity: God worked in those early days when all I could do was utter a feeble prayer for help. He worked when I lacked the boldness and confidence to share on the mission field. And He is still working now, while I learn how to be a better wife and mother and teacher and Bible study leader. 

Often, I have felt ordinary. But God is reminding me that He desires to partner with ordinary people in all walks of life because He does the work of the extraordinary. He is not looking for perfect vessels—a homeschooling, stay-at-home mom like myself will do just fine. Through Prepared, I am not only being equipped for my current roles of wife, mom, teacher and Bible study leader, I know He is preparing me for the future, too.

Prepared is a gospel-centered, systematic, two-year program for EFCA women in ministry leadership or preparing for ministry leadership. Alongside a cohort, women will learn from ten courses on topics ranging from spiritual formation to ministry leadership—all with the goal of better preparing them for the ministry to which they are called. Prepared is currently accepting applications for the waitlist for the August 2022 cohort, and applications for the January 2023 cohorts (a daytime and an evening option) will open in July 2022. You can learn more here or apply now here.