Images

Back Into Ministry, Say What?!

My husband and I have some really exciting news! 

WE ARE GOING BACK INTO FULL TIME MINISTRY Y’ALL! WOOT WOOT!

This past year and a half (ish) has been a season of pruning, trials, dependence on God, forgiving and healing, and a whole lot of longing and active waiting. And through it all, we are so thankful because the Lord has used this season to shape us and brew in us new passions and gifting to be used for His glory.

We will be joining Academia Tribu de Jesus (The Tribe of Jesus Academy) which is a newer ministry here in the Dominican that uses baseball as an avenue for discipleship. Baseball is the most popular sport here, and it is an amazing tool for us to use to equip young athletes for life and for the Kingdom as many see baseball as a door of opportunity. For some, they may see it as an opportunity to get to the states and have an established life or some see it as a way to make money and provide for their families breaking the cycle of poverty. 

La Tribu started because one man (Jose Luis) invited a young boy (Franklin) to come play ball again and Jose Luis preached the Gospel every day to Franklin and other players. Franklin then grew in the Word and had a desire to disciple more young athletes (Misa, Randy, Alan, and many others). Now all of these men are coming together to coach baseball and make more reproducing disciples. HOW COOL IS THIS?!

For those who haven’t heard my Alan’s testimony, he came to know the Lord through baseball. After losing everything as a young boy and watching his mom lose her baby, he was in the field one day listening to Franklin share a story of similar struggles. As Franklin shared a story of loss through tears, Alan realized that Franklin had something different. He had the joy and hope of the Lord. And Alan was drawn to it. He wanted to know how to get that kind of hope and joy. He approached Franklin who then invited him to a young adult group at the church and continued to walk alongside Alan as Alan grew in the Word of God. 

Through Alan’s testimony, he has a deep desire to come alongside other young boys who see baseball as an opportunity, and he wants to make the Word of God come alive for these boys as well. This is his heart. He loves these young boys so much and wants to see them thrive and grow in the Kingdom. 

Alan and I have been acting as leaders of our church’s youth group and have already been building relationships with the boys of this academy through the youth group. We are so excited to not just invest in their lives on the field, but have them in our home, equip them for life through teaching them basic skills such as English, celebrating their birthdays, and just really integrating our world into theirs. We made a video to share more about our roles and vision for the ministry which is linked below!

For us to fully dive in and come alongside the current coaches, we must first be funded. One thing that we have learned through previous fundraising experiences is that fundraising is all about relationships. We are very much relationship oriented people. We want to build a partnership and create long term friendships with those who are contributing financially to make this ministry function. We want to do life with our partners even from different countries. 

Join us in prayer!

-for God’s strategy and creativity in our fundraising and forming partnerships

-to keep building deep relationships with the players and enter into their worlds

-for the Lord to ignite a fire in our players for His Word + that the devotionals and things they learn on the field would stick with them as they live out their day to day lives

-unity for the coaches 

-for the resources & funding to come together for us and the ministry as a whole

-wisdom in equipping these athletes not just in baseball but for life/teaching them life skills to succeed

Mission Zoom is a non-profit ministry and organization that is passionate about making disciples and partners with missionaries in the Dominican Republic in order to bring Christ into the culture here.

If you are interested in financially partnering with us for Jesus, here is information on how to give:

–https://www.missionzoom.org/donate and make sure to email kathy.sarita@missionzoom.org in order to confirm your donation is directed towards “Alan and Ashley Rodriguez.” otherwise it will go to a general fund

-Checks made payable to “Mission Zoom” with “Alan and Ashley Rodriguez” in the memo line. Checks may be sent to the following address:

Mission Zoom 

456 Waterford Dr.

Cartersville, GA 30120

We would love to connect and chat with you! 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/journey_to_dominican/ or https://www.instagram.com/aa_rdgz/ 

Facebook Ministry Page: https://www.facebook.com/arodmin 

Lavish Love

Have you ever recognized something about yourself that you know you need to change but you just aren’t exactly sure how in the world to start? Me too. Last year actually. I had been harboring so much unforgiveness in my heart. I recognized this and how ugly I had let my heart become, but I had NO idea how to begin to release my hurt and start loving without expectation again. 

For a little over a year I had prayed and prayed that the Holy Spirit would heal my heart and show me what I needed to do to release hurt and forgive. I am not just talking about forgiving with words and pretending like the hurt is gone and I feel nothing. No, I have tried that whole numbness thing and it just led me down a bad road. The forgiveness that I am talking about is true forgiveness that starts within the heart. 

So Jesus took me on what I like to call a healing journey that has opened my eyes. Through this journey, God has given me a passion to help others who wrestle as I do to recognize that unforgiveness is bondage and God designed us for community. 

For the longest time, I believed that being an initiator and pursuer of relationships only left me exposed and vulnerable for any sort of rejection or hurt. I began to shut down, and placed protective walls around my heart to ensure that I would never experience such pain again after a few really hard years. But let me tell you, as you ask the Lord to work in you or remove sin from your life, He does just that.

Last year as God was chiseling away at the walls I built around my heart, I started to realize that deeply loving others is a gift. The Bible says that we are nothing without love. As we love deeply, we get to intentionally listen and enter into others’ worlds feeling what they feel, praying for them as they wrestle, encouraging them and walking with them through the everyday. This is who I am. This is who God has made me to be. This is what God calls us to do. To lavish love without hesitation or expectation. It is something that I am continuing to work on every day. Because, hey, let’s be real folks, this is an ongoing work in our hearts. 

I know how stinking hard this can be sometimes. Not everyone is easy to love, but Jesus calls us to love even those who can make it difficult. I have learned so much through my journey to healing and in my effort to love without antcipating something in return. Here are some key nuggets that I am continually growing in each day…

–My hurt or rejection does not get to dictate my mood or how I interact with others. When any hint of hurt tries to sneak in because someone hasn’t responded the way I would have hoped, I remind myself that I will be who God has made me to be regardless of how others respond. I will continue to be an initiator and creator of community no matter what.

–Learning to not be easily offended is HUGE. So many people are always playing defense. It’s like we expect that others are out to get us. This only further creates division and separation which is exactly what the enemy wants. When we isolate ourselves due to fear or unforgiveness, we allow an open door for the enemy. We must learn to let things roll off our backs and not allow those feelings to linger and brew in our hearts.

-Sometimes we have to remember that others may respond to us depending on their own life circumstances or own inward battles, not because of anything that we have done. 

–We have to step out of the way in order to fully love others well like Christ. Too many times we allow ourselves to get in the way. We throw this l-o-v-e word around often, but a lot of times we are using it conditionally with a hidden agenda. We say we love someone while expecting whatever we do to be reciprocated. And that is just not love at all. First Corinthians 13 reminds us that love is not self seeking. Love is diving in, rolling up your sleeves, meeting people where they are and not expecting one single thing in return. You may be thinking, “shoot, that sounds like a really difficult task.” Believe me, it is a challenge because of our flesh. But we look to our Jesus as the ultimate example, and we can ask Him to give us His lens to lavish love on those around us. 

If there was one specific thing that I would like for you to hang on to from this blog, it would be this…

Love without expectation or hesitation. Lavish love even on those who make it difficult or it isn’t reciprocated. Love unhindered without any hint of selfish motivation. 

Be a pursuer of relationships, a person who seeks out those who God has placed around them. No matter their response or lack thereof. Lavish love. I promise you that it is one of the most liberating and fulfilling things you could do. 

For the Longing Heart

I was sort of a tom girl in elementary school. I played basketball with the boys and would race them down my driveway on my skateboard. I had this really big crush on a neighbor boy who I swore liked me back (you know how we read into EVERYTHING as young girls and assume our crush is into us too). But then he started pursuing one of my friends who was much more popular, athletic, and beautiful. I was devastated. 

A lot of my growing up years consisted of me being the third wheel on dates with my friends that would switch out their boyfriend every other month or so. I remember one of the first times I third wheeled. I didn’t even realize it  until my friend later pulled me aside and asked me, “What are you doing?! You are sitting right in the middle of us!” I then realized that I was the one boy friend-less and left out. For the rest of the date I felt out of place, trying to pretend I wasn’t there by plugging in this little mp3 player that only had some Lizzie McGuire songs on it and fading into the background. 

I thought college would be my time. That I would meet my long awaited future husband and be able to share that season of life with my friends who were getting married left and right. Ring by spring was actually the motto at the university I went to. But alas, college too was a season of singleness and longing for me. 

At one point I felt so crushed that I had given up hope that I would find my person. I remember some days after classes, I would drive out in the country, roll down my windows, and just talk to God about my future husband. I would cry a lot and wonder why my time hasn’t come yet. I would tell God the list of things that I desired in a man, and that he would be my best friend who would point me more to Jesus every single day. 

Maybe you have been there too. You’ve played the third wheel on dates, felt overlooked or the last one picked, and have longed to be seen and noticed. Or maybe these are fresh feelings for you as you are walking through this right now. Wherever you are, the feelings you have are real and valid, and you are not walking through them alone.

One thing that I HATED hearing over and over was, “You are so great! God has the perfect timing and your guy will be so amazing.” Oh how statements like these made me want to rip my hair out. I was grateful for my friends that wanted to encourage me, but how stinking cliche, right? Sometimes I wanted to scream, “what do you even know!” But, of course, I would refrain myself by smiling and giving a soft, “thanks.” The truth is that no matter how sweet or thoughtful of friends we have, nothing is going to take away that feeling of longing to have your person.

So what in the world are we supposed to do in the waiting? How do we stay hopeful as our hearts crave that deep connection and intimacy with another? Well friend, I am glad you asked. I want to share with you a few key things that I learned and did as I prepared my longing heart for who Jesus had set aside for me.

–Know that you are whole and complete in Jesus without any man/woman. You lack absolutely nada. Gah, I cannot emphasize this enough. I always thought that as soon as I would find my person, I would be complete. Maybe it was because I had read Nicholas Sparks’ books in high school and watched one too many romantic movies. But now that I am married, I can tell you…nothing and no one (NOT even your significant other) will ever fill those deep desires or fill those gaps in your heart. The truth is that as we put our hope or worth in anything or anyone other than Jesus, we will end up feeling even more empty or disappointed. Know that you are whole in Jesus, and own it, walk confidently in that. With or without a significant other.

–Actively wait by preparing your heart. Dive deep into your pursuit of Jesus. Seek to have an intimate relationship with Him. In these sacred moments with Jesus is where you will find your hope and strength in the waiting. Where you can know with such certainty that your longing heart is seen and held. Pray for yourself and ask God to show you the areas in your life where He wants to sharpen you and prepare you for your future spouse. One thing I have learned in marriage is that we each have to be in constant pursuit of Jesus-separately and together- in order for our marriage to work. Jesus is our glue. So chase hard after Jesus and your person will come up right beside you to join you and run with you.

–Pray pray pray for your future spouse. I would often talk to Jesus about the man of my prayers. I told Jesus specific things that I desired or wanted to cover him with in prayer. Here are a few of the things that were on my list:

–praying over his character, that he desired to do what honored Jesus in public and in private

–that Jesus would shape him to be a leader and passionate about making disciples

–that he was hard working and strong mentally, physically, emotionally, and spiritually yet tender to me and the things of Lord

These are just some of the specific things I prayed for. As I shared with Jesus about the godly man I wanted, I found slices of hope to sustain my longing heart. This is the big thing I want to share with you too: be specific in your prayers! God loves when we come to Him with specific prayers and ask in faith knowing He is able. And let me tell you, God came through. My Alan literally is the man of my prayers–even the most specific details. I truly believe it is because I covered him in prayer in my time of waiting. Anytime I felt lonely or overlooked, I would immediately start talking to God about “him” even though I had no idea who “he” was at that time. So pray pray pray. Talk to God about the things you long for, and be specific!

I know how hard this season of waiting can be. I know what it is like to want to just feel heard and seen and not given advice. And for that, I wish I could buy you coffee and just hear your heart. In sharing these little nuggets that I have learned, I hope that they help you find slices of hope as you wait. May Jesus comfort and sustain your longing heart, friend.