The Life I Found in My Group

by Shaynne Ricarte

When I left my country, one of my major concerns was my ministry and which Church and spiritual family I was going to “belong” to. 

Back home, growing up as a Pastor’s kid, I really did not work on my “salvation,” as I thought, “My parents are Pastors. So I should already be saved and I should be fine. What is there to worry? What is there to work for?” Yes, I grew up founded in God’s truth, accepted Jesus Christ as my personal Lord and Saviour, had water baptism, got involved in different ministries, but it does not actually have to stop there. It’s a continuous walk.

  

The Ladies’ Life Group led by Ate Flor helped me realize the areas that I need to work on in order to continue my walk with God. It brought my spiritual maturity to another level. It breathed something new to me ALL THE TIME, even though I was already familiar with the Bible stories and the verses. The experiences of the lovely ladies in our LG made me realize how God works differently in each of our lives. We may be encountering the same challenges, but God deals with each of us differently.

LG also made me feel that I was not alone with the challenges I was and am facing. As a mother, and with the same issues that my fellow mommies in our LG are also having, God gave me the opportunity to encourage instead. And by encouraging, I was able to understand how to address my struggles as well. And it’s nice to know that we have each other to run to. It’s God’s way of comforting and reminding us that He’s there. He speaks through the lives of my fellow LG members.

  

Now that God has placed me in another location, I feel like I have to belong to another LG. It has greatly impacted my life in the sense that I have to belong to one here. My week would not be complete without the LG gathering. I now belong to the LG of Mommies and Wives, which is leading me to another level of discipleship.

My life will always be a living testimony. From the struggle I was in, God turned my life around as a blessing. I came to fully understand that He uses our circumstances for us to draw nearer to Him. But it is a choice that each of us has to make. And I am really glad I made the right choice to run back to my Father and stay with Him.