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Written by Alicia González, volunteer with Iron Rose Sister Ministries in Austin, TX
I was born in a beautiful place. Michoacán is considered the soul of Mexico. Across the entire area, one can appreciate the cultural feel and the richness of the town that preserves its traditions and customs, as well as the architectural beauty, combined with its history, on each street, in each person, through each festival, food, and colorful artisanship.
At the age of 14, I started to realize that those colors were turning gray. It appeared that they were not as vibrant as when I saw them as a child. Sometimes, when I saw the arduous work of the women that lived far from the city, I would ask myself if I could develop wings like a butterfly and escape. The women’s suffering, in places where the belief is that women are only to have children and take care of her husband, I came to think that God was unjust and that He didn’t love everyone equally, even though I knew that God existed.
One morning, I went down to the river, as I always did, and I saw a woman who was eight months pregnant, crying over the physical and psychological abuse from her husband. Her tears fell and were carried away by the river’s current. There, in that precise moment, I felt that my life came to a stop. I told myself: I will not get married. I do not want to continue the pattern of women from my town. Can the chains of generational abuse be broken? I asked myself if any other men and women existed, ones different from the ones that I had always known.
I didn’t know that in that same moment, there was a beautiful woman who, without knowing God, prayed through her motherly anxiety, asking Him to give her son a good wife. Who would’ve thought that I would be that wife, the one who thought she wasn’t going to marry.
Years later, I arrived in Austin, Texas, where I met God. He taught me that we can live a new life. In 2007, I gave my life to God. From that point on, I wanted everyone around me to know that a different way of life than the one many had been taught was possible, because we all have special value to God. It doesn’t matter who you are or where you come from, the suffering will be less heavy because we are no longer alone.
2 Corinthians 5:17 says, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”
God allowed me to find a wonderful man in that city. I felt like Ruth when I started working where he worked because he was special, a wise young man, even before knowing the gospel. Without a doubt, God had already chosen him to serve in His work. I remember that I was still studying at church and I had not yet been baptized. Even still, I was sharing with him about the Word of God. He was baptized a year after I was. We dated for three years and our dates were to go out and evangelize with the preacher. Beautiful moments, and here we are, 13 years later, happily married and with a beautiful son who also prays, sings, and loves to help others.
God’s plans and times are perfect. Jesus Christ’s sacrifice helped me understand God’s great love for all those who choose to follow Him. And, of course He can break the generational chains. He can give new life. Yes! There are men and women capable of changing life for an entire generation!
After my life changed, I became part of the church, along with my husband’s family, including my mother-in-law, who now is also part of the family doing the Lord’s work.
How many lives can be changed through one person that comes to Christ? The work you are doing now will have its reward.
Dear sister, keep fighting and keep believing.
This is how God changed my life!! And now my eyes see. “My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you” (Job 42:5).
#IronRoseSister #HIStories #resurrection #newlife #guestwriter
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Written by Melanie Curtis, volunteer with Iron Rose Sister Ministries in Arkansas
In July of 2021, I came closer to God than I have ever been in my adult life, and that is when I was giving birth to my beautiful baby girl, Ginny. As time has passed since then, however, I have struggled with God, maybe more than ever before. That is, I have been unable to wrap my mind around John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
How could any parent allow their child to suffer, especially at the degree to which Jesus did? This is a hard question, but as we ask the hard questions, we need to never forget that “God is love” (1 Jn. 4:8b). Keeping this in mind, let us examine Jesus’s sacrifice further.
1. Jesus died so that we might live. “This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him” (1 Jn. 4:9). Yes, God allowed Jesus to suffer and die for all, but it was so that He could offer us forgiveness of sins and eternal life.
2. Those who persecuted and killed Jesus, plus our sins, were what caused his suffering: “But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed” (Isa. 53:5).
“Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah.” When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” (Acts 2:36-37)
3. Jesus gave himself up of His own free will. “And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross!” (Phil. 2:8).
4. Even though it’s hard, parents allow their children to go through hardships because they look ahead to the future, beyond the pain. Parents have faith that the aftermath of that suffering will be good. “For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Heb. 12:2b).
5. Jesus is God’s Son, but we are His children and God loves us too! He cares about us and wants to save us from our sins: “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead, he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance” (2 Pet. 3:9).
In summary, although we can’t take away what Jesus had to suffer, we can appreciate what God did for us by accepting the salvation provided through Jesus’s sacrifice and living in such a way to honor His sacrifice.
Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call.” (Acts 2:38-39)
And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children. (Eph. 4:30-5:1)
#IronRoseSister #HIStories #resurrection #guestwriter