The short story of LIFE

It started as a seed of an idea in my head.  After a year of working in a Spanish public school, I knew that I wanted to continue in education in Spain, but not in that environment.  I wanted to be free to teach in my own way.  Could there be a school that was marketed for Spaniards, but run by Christians?  A crazy idea, but a dream that I kept tucked away.

Then I made some very, very big mistakes.  I came out of them a broken woman clinging desperately to Jesus after losing almost everything.  So many dreams died, and one of them I thought for sure was my dream of returning to Spain to teach.

After a couple years and the dust had settled, God once again opened the door for me to go to Spain over the summer of 2014.  When I arrived as an English camp monitor in Granada, Spain, I knew no one.  When I left, I had made friends who felt like family.  Friends who heard my full story, lifted me up in prayer, and reassured me that God could still use a broken woman like me.  Even in Spain.

When I got back to Madrid, I had just a couple days to visit friends before I returned to the States.  While there, I got an e-mail from a friend back home telling me about a woman she knew who was looking to start a school in Madrid.  I immediately contacted this woman, though telling her it was a little hard for me to get around, as I was carrying all my luggage with me wherever I went.  Also, I was in this tiny town in Northern Madrid, so that made it even more difficult.

When she asked me what tiny town I was in, I said Tres Cantos.  She said that’s where she lived.

There are moments like these that feel like gentle nudges from the Lord, reassuring me that my life is still securely in His hands.

While sipping café con leche with her, I learned that this school was not yet ready to open, much less have students old enough for me to be their teacher.  Yet she pointed me toward another opportunity that would at least bring me to Spain as I waited.  I wasn’t sure why God would open this door so widely just to close it again, but I was learning to trust His timing.

I dove into life as a missionary in Spain, teaching mainly MK’s and a handful of Spanish nationals.  These last years have been full of joys, trials, encouragement, and deep frustration.  I am by no means a model anything, and while life here might seem glossy at times it is messy, too.  Yet with each step, God keeps molding this broken vessel into something that He can use for His glory.

Lord Jesus, Your Kingdom come!  

Last summer I reconnected with the school plant, now in its second year of operation.  After months of praying and talking it through, I was blown away by what God was doing.  Years ago I had a dream of starting a small school for Spaniards.  God showed me that I was dreaming small.  I am now joining a group of people with a heart to not just reach Spaniards through one school, but a whole series of schools.

God is moving, and if He can use someone who messed up so royally as I did, He can use anyone.  So now I speak.  Please pray for me, as I share my story and patiently wait for God to work in His time.

“I’m gonna sing out loud; let my voice be heard.  It’s a song of victory, and it’s ringing in the earth.”

-“On the Shores” Jonathan David and Melissa Helser