Christian Latina Leadership Blog

By: Verónica Martínez-Gallegos

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What happens when you say yes to God? What I have heard in response to this question is, “What am I going to do if I say yes to God?” I remember this phrase as if it were written in my mind and heart since God used it to get my attention a long time ago. This was the phrase with which I responded to God’s calling to ministry at 19 years old. When the preacher made the invitation, he repeated that phrase with special emphasis. I heard the preacher speak with an assurance of his own life experience, “The how is God’s, the yes is yours.”

Recently the women’s ministry at the church I belong to studied Kay Warren’s book, Dangerous Surrender: What Happens When You Say Yes to God. Warren recounts her journey as a leader and everything she has experienced since saying yes to God. Reading this book comes with a high risk. If you decide to read it you will be confronted with your privileges, fears, prejudices, and humanity. But you will also be invited to have a unique and very personal experience.

It has been three decades since I said yes to God. Just as the preacher spoke with tenacity and conviction that in his life God had taken care of the how, so it has been with me. Today I can say with the same emphasis, the how is from God. Going to seminary was my first how. Everything else is history.

Dear leader, I do not know what God is calling you to do. What I can assure you is that God has a good plan for you, and not of evil (Jeremiah 29:11). Perhaps, like Kay Warren, God is calling you to step out of your comfort zone to serve a specific group of people. All people have a purpose in life, with unique life experiences, with spiritual abilities and gifts (1 Peter 4:10). You have a unique way of being and leading that God can use supernaturally. But the yes in response to that specific call from God to your life corresponds only to you.

We are concerned about how we are going to fulfill our calling and that is normal. I asked myself. How am I going to go to the seminary? I’m so young, I don’t have money. Who is going to support me? In less than two months, God not only gave me tuition for my first semester, God even gave me the suitcase to put my clothes in to embark on that journey of no return. That is how special God is. I would never be able to finish telling everything that God has provided in my life. God’s only expectation from me was yes. Yes, I am willing to go wherever you call me. I know it can be scary. I am not telling you that you have to leave everything and go away like me. Just trust God’s process in your life.

The life of Esther shows us a biblical picture of responding to God’s call. She could have said no to God’s invitation. In fact, her uncle Mordecai warned her, “For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place…” (Esther 4:14a NIV). If Esther had not answered yes, she would have missed out on the blessing of being the Divine instrument that God used to save God’s people.

Another biblical character who shows us the how of God is Mary, the mother of Jesus. What would have happened if she had answered no? God would have looked for someone else.

Likewise, God has a specific task for you that no one else can do but you. What will you answer?

Why do you think God has invited you to collaborate with this CLLI movement? Isn’t your participation in this program already a yes? Now, wait for what God will do in response to your yes, and trust that God has the how.