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Gospel in the outskirts

Just when 2018 was about to end, something unfolded that left my heart in perfect awe of how God can do immeasurably more.

I was one of the medical students who were deployed in the remote places of Zamboanga Peninsula. Having a sandwich curriculum of MD-MPH in our school, being immersed in the community is indispensable. It is something that you have to have the heart for it if only to survive. Having the taste of living in the outskirts for four years, not only did I come to know their culture but I had a firsthand experience of it. Not only did I see their depriving situation but I partook on the fight. Not only did I impart knowledge but I also gained their wisdom.

I have heard a lot of moving stories of communities being empowered, of doctors being changed, but as a Christian first who just happened to become a medical student, what God had planted in my heart since the first day I set foot on that far-flung barangay was for His Gospel to reach and be preached in the community. It had been my earnest desire that God will draw me to one youth/student with whom I can encourage to dream big and to attempt to pursue it by believing that nothing is impossible. Of course, on top of that, to disciple her.

However, the reality of language barrier seemed to take its heavy pull on me hence hindered me for a while from stepping out in faith. Though I could speak the Visayan dialect, sharing the Gospel seemed to be a different challenge. I felt the burden of needing to translate every single verse in a level they could probably understand. Little did I realize, what I thought to be a barrier was actually a belittlement of the power of the Gospel.

And that’s where God proved that He is able.

Days turned into months of being in the community, just when I was running dry of motivation to be selfless in serving, I had a special encounter with Marissa/Gim2x on a random dinner invite by her family. She is about to graduate from k-12. She told me that if having a childlike dream, she wanted to become a doctor. If not, at least to be a nurse. However, in her way of saying it, their reality would speak of how impossible it could be that even daring to dream it seemed insane. At that moment, the nudge that God had answered my prayer penetrated my heart that my eyes started to wet. From that dinner to one Sunday when she joined me in going to church, I found her crying right after praise and worship while telling me she could not describe her feeling. From then on, another two Sundays were spent together in worshipping God. Not only that, God even opened the door for her family to hear the Gospel and God provided for her first travel outside Zamboanga Del Norte. One time, she told me that unlike before, she could tangibly feel that God is near. God cares to fulfill even her littlest desires and that faith (typing this in her own words) is how much she believes in God despite of her circumstances.

…selah…

Having her is yet another grace to me. Considering my own stumbles, own strays, and own falls happened the whole year, I know I am in this position of deserving nothing. Gim2x keeps on telling me that I became an instrument for her to know God deeper but deep down my core, she redeemed me from my own pit.

To close 2018, what God revealed to me through her was that pray for what matters most. Believe for what matters most. Do what matters most. And God will be glorified the most! To God be the glory.

               
Sunset at Dipolog Boulevard
the exact place where she said Yes to One2One Discipleship

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