By a Team Expansion worker
Jesus is all too familiar with the subpoenas and courtrooms. Mankind has been repeatedly putting him on trial for the third millennium now. Trusting our discernments, we tower over the judge’s bench, sit in the box of the jury, or stand as a witness. We are good at leading investigations, stating facts, and reading our verdicts. But at the end of the day, Jesus leaves our courts innocent and free. Every. Single. Time.
One such hearing took place in the life of Lola, a brown-eyed young girl, who was born into a Catholic family in southern Spain. Although her family was not religious, Lola decided to explore faith and joined the local Catholic community, occasionally attending services and youth groups. However, not long into her spiritual journey, Lola began to wrestle with two observations: the hypocrisy of the church body, and the teaching involving two different Gods.
“I saw that people outside of the church did not behave as they preached inside the church,” says Lola, “I was also wondering, ‘Why do they preach about two different Gods? Why do they talk about Jesus being lovely, loving, forgiving, and humble but then they talk about God of the Old Testament, the God of war and wrath who killed children?’”
Lola was determined to find answers to her reservations, as a result, at the age of 19, she left home and went on a spiritual quest. She committed to studying Biblical Hebrew, learning the Old Testament, and finding out on her own what the original text says about God.
Falling in Love with God
“I was so surprised by the type of God the Old Testament described. And Hebrew in many ways highlights that and helps you to see it even more in depth and I completely fell in love with the God of the Old Testament. So much so that I started to get interested in Judaism and Jewish culture, to the point that I decided to reject the Jesus that I had known out of ignorance and tried to convert to Judaism,” says Lola.
After falling in love with the God of the Old Testament, Lola began the conversion process, which she says was extremely hard.
“It is a lot of studying and lots of rules that you have to keep. And I remember going to the Synagogue and everything that I learned about Jesus was confirmed a hundred times. I remember I was reading prayer books they use because they do not pray directly to God they don’t talk to Him. So I was reading that prayer book, I could not understand that much Hebrew at that time, and I was just babbling, just repeating what the rest of the people were saying. And Jesus’ words came to me, ‘Don’t be like those Pharisees, who don’t even know what they are praying, your Father knows before you even ask.’ I was thinking, ‘Oh my goodness, Jesus, get out of my head. I am trying to convert to Judaism, trying to fulfill my own plan for my life,’” says Lola, “The whole Gospel came to life as I tried to convert,” she adds.
A Bigger Plan
Eventually, Lola decided to pause her conversion process and return to her home country. She resolved to continue to study the Old Testament and use commentaries as her source. The commentaries she read were written by theologians from an Evangelical background.
“I did not know it before, but as I read, all commentaries would end with ‘And this is how the passage points to Jesus or is fulfilled in Jesus.’ Everything made sense. And as I read it I would just cry, because everything made complete sense to me. I just did not want to accept it.”
The final stretch to accepting the son of the God she loved, came during the study of the book of Ruth.
“When I reached the end of the book, there was an enigmatic sentence saying that Ruth and Boaz had Obed, he had Jesse and Jesse was the father of David. I thought ‘Wow, if this book does not point to a bigger story, to the ultimate David, then I really don’t know what it’s pointing to. So at that point, I surrendered.”
Connecting With Other Seekers
Today, Lola boldly shares the truth she discovered with her own people. She works with a team that, among many other ministries, uses social media to reach the Spanish population with the Gospel. Lola creates content for the ads and engages with people who are interested to know more about God.
“I like both aspects of my ministry, but I enjoy creating content more. When you create content, you read your Bible, you engage in conversation with God about what to write.
When you engage with people you never know, you may get spiritual seekers and you are very excited to engage with them in those conversations, but it may not lead to anything. So it can be a little frustrating,” says Lola.
Conversations do not happen daily. It takes time and effort to produce quality content. The team records and shares testimonies of Spaniards who have met the Lord and posts them on Instagram and Facebook. When people react to posts, Lola engages in conversation.
“When we post, I always get between 25 to 50 messages from people. As I try to filter that, about 1% or 0.5% actually talk more with me.”
Darkness and Light
The job of the responder can be challenging. It comes as no surprise when working in spiritually dark places, that the majority of incoming messages are filled with heavy topics and ample negativity.
“Some people struggle with anxiety, depression, family issues. They are in the loop of talking about their problems and cannot get past that or they think that God is some magician who will get them out of their problems. So when you try to invite them deeper into faith, that’s when they stop the conversation. That is what I get most of the time,” says Lola.
Lola chooses to unconditionally trust God and relies on the encouragement and support of her community.
“To deal with the weight of discouragement I feed a lot on the faith that my team has. That is something I am very grateful for. Our dispatcher, a person who runs the database, and our visionary leader. They have a lot of faith. So, this is very helpful when things get tough, to just listen to their words of encouragement. But I also think that just being in a relationship with the Lord and always reminding myself who He is what He has done and what He is doing. Because we have testimonies of Spaniards who have met the Lord in incredible ways, maybe not through media, but that is ok. Going back to those testimonies and just holding fast to that truth, is also very helpful.”
Despite hardship, disappointments, and harsh battles, Lola’s eyes emit hope. She treats each message and conversation with urgency and care, desperately trying to usher seekers into the presence of Jesus so that they too may taste the goodness of God, as He answers those who call.
