Ampliando Nuestra Capacidad – Memperbesar Kapasitas Kita
Adapted from the writings of Josefina Rodriguez
The Mosaic Women’s Gathering took place on October 8. It was a special day for the women to feel close to the Lord, to study the Word, and to experience God’s love. When we arrived at Souderton Mennonite Church from Centro de Alabanza (Philadelphia, PA), we were received with love by our sisters in Christ from twenty-one other congregations.
As the room began to fill and our day started, we prayed and thanked God for the privilege of being together. We recognized the women who had planned the event, and we all got to know each other through a fun icebreaker activity that brought laughter and unity.
Music was shared by video from Mission Tijuana in Mexico in Spanish, and we sang a song in Indonesian and in English, led by Marina Setyati and Lisa Quiñones. Singing in different languages helped us realize that the language we sang in was not important since we sing praise to the Lord. The foundational Bible verses of the day (Isaiah 54:2-4) were read in three languages, and Ramona Pickett gave a message.
We were invited to believe the Word and guard it in our hearts. This creates space for the Holy Spirit to remove obstacles so that our capacity can be enlarged. The words that stayed in my heart were that God is our rock. God will fight for our destiny, and we as women of faith need to open our hearts. Sister Ramona danced for the Lord with flags and cloths as she shared her feelings on how wonderful God is. Two young women also shared their gifts of art and music.
After lunch, we created travel bags to take with us on our journeys. We filled the bags with anointing oil, happy face stickers, Scripture, prayer cards, compasses, buttons, and more. It was a reminder that God has equipped us to do good works. God has stretched us, and now God is sending us perhaps to new unknown and uncomfortable territory. We remember that God has promised to always be with us, until the end of time.
We ended the day with a closing ceremony. We stood in a circle with ribbons and cords symbolizing the enlargement of our capacities and our unity. As sisters, we prayed for our Conference, and we prayed for each other. We ended with our theme song, which spoke of how God has done a good work in us. We left until next year. May God continue to work in us to grow the Kingdom of God.
Josefina Rodriguez
Josefina Rodriguez is a Women’s Ministry Leader at Centro de Alabanza, a Mosaic congregation in Philadelphia.
The opinions expressed in articles posted on Mosaic’s website are those of the author and may not reflect the official policy of Mosaic Conference. Mosaic is a large conference, crossing ethnicities, geographies, generations, theologies, and politics. Each person can only speak for themselves; no one can represent “the conference.” May God give us the grace to hear what the Spirit is speaking to us through people with whom we disagree and the humility and courage to love one another even when those disagreements can’t be bridged.