Lucíola’s Testimony and
Call to Missions
As an eight year old girl I
accepted Jesus Christ as my personal Savior and was baptized
shortly thereafter. However, it was not until the age of
fourteen that I fully understood salvation. I thought that I
could lose my salvation. During a devotional with a friend the
question came up, “If you die today, will you go to heaven?” I
couldn’t answer with certainty. My friend explained to me that
once you accept Jesus in your heart, you are saved and that is
eternal (John 3:16). At that point, I had no doubt that
if I were to die I was going to be in heaven with my Savior.
I sat out the semester after I
had met my husband in college, due to financial difficulties.
That was going to be a tough semester being in Brazil away from
my boyfriend. Little did I know that God had something in store
for me that would last for eternity. I went to a young adult and
high-school youth camp and the messages were very powerful. One
night the pastor preached on surrendering your life to serve
God; the so called “call to full time ministry”. I had always
battled that because I grew up as a music minister’s daughter. I
didn’t want to do what my dad did, but I raised my hand to serve
the Lord in some type of full-time ministry. I left that camp
and it was almost like I forgot about it. I think I wanted to
forget.
Years went by, I got married,
had a son and we had moved to North Carolina. God slowly started
putting that desire back into me until one day my husband asked
me if I had ever felt like God wanted us to do something for Him
full-time or part-time. At that moment the night at the camp
came back to me so clearly. I told my husband about it and we
started to pray. Around that time we had mission’s conference at
our church. I got to spend time and got to know one of the
missionary ladies. It became so clear to me that I wanted that
same life for me. I told my husband about it and we kept
praying. Every verse I read in the Bible seemed like it was
telling me the same thing. “GO!” One day I read in Isaiah 6 and
it was almost like I was reading my life. We made our decision
public and kept praying for God to show us exactly where to go.
I have always had a burden for my own people in Brazil, but I
didn’t want to go there just because it’s my home. I struggled
with that, but God gave me peace about it. Its okay to go back
home. “GO!”
