Mosaic Mennonites

Missional - Intercultural - Formational

Adriana Celis

Reborn and Learning to Dance in the Rain

by

Translated into English by Andrés Castillo

Editor’s Note: This is the conclusion to Pastor Dania Hernández’s Call to Ministry story (Part one and Part two are available). Hernández is Pastor of Peña de Horeb, a Mosaic congregation in Philadelphia, PA.  

In the book, The Artisan Soul, Erwin McManus wrote, “Beyond despair, there must always be hope, beyond betrayal, there must always be a story of forgiveness; beyond failure there must always be a story of resistance. If the story of Jesus ended on the cross it could be a story worth telling, but that story could never give life. Only the resurrection can generate life again.”

Forgiveness from any perspective is beneficial. Forgiveness made it possible for Pastor Dania Hernández to be reborn. Dania did not want to spend her life upset and depressed. She longed to meet herself again. To live. To dream. To be restored. Not to be afraid to love and be loved.

Her story appeared to be a failure, a social disqualification. Contrary to what she perhaps thought, this story became the material from which God worked. There was no tear that God did not wipe away, no prayer that God did not hear, no fear from which God did not deliver her. Only when Dania learned to dance in the rain, only when she understood that the one who decides to forgive is the one who makes the greatest act of self-respect, the chains that had tied her no longer controlled her, and she was finally free.

She found rest that goes beyond all human reasoning, offered by the Holy Spirit who, with a tender and gentle whisper, sang in her ear, “Do not be afraid, I am here with you, do not lose heart. No situation, however hard it may be, will last forever. You can count on me, my love for you is forever.”

I Fell in Love and Got Married Again

Pastor Dania concludes her story with these words:

“I never thought I could be restored, much less love again. I thought that my life ended in the long and painful process of divorce. I was left with nothing, in financial ruin. I longed to love again, wished to study in a Bible seminary, but saw no opportunity.

When everything seemed lost, I envisioned hope in Jesus. His love allowed me to dance in the rain. I understood so many things. God restored me. I recovered financially. I fell in love again and got married again. I approached the heart of God like never before and started studying at the Anabaptist Bible Institute (IBA) where I thank Marco Güete and Violeta Ajquejay Suastegui for all the support they gave me.”

What One Day Was, But is No Longer

by

Translated into English by Andrés Castillo

Editor’s note: This is part two of Dania Hernández’s call story. Part one is available here. Hernández is Pastor of Peña de Horeb, a Mosaic congregation in Philadelphia, PA.

Life for Hernández in the US began in a less conventional way. Confident that this was what she wanted, she did not look back for a single moment and moved forward. Her relationship with her boyfriend strengthened and soon she became his wife and the mother of his three children. They put down roots and decided to fight for life in the country of opportunity.

That’s how the first twenty years passed, years in which Hernández experienced great joys, along with deep sorrows. Among the moments she counts as blessings is having been reunited with God and overcoming the many challenges she encountered along the way.

Hernández felt a deep desire to serve God and was called to be a pastor. Doors opened for an opportunity in a Mennonite faith community called Peña de Horeb in Philadelphia, PA. Everything seemed perfect. She had what she had always dreamed of: a cozy home and economic stability.

What happens when all this begins to fall apart? How do you deal with fear? How do you face the moments of darkness that enclose your life? How do you coexist between what once was, but is no longer?

Divorce and a Dead End

Love is defined in many ways: a feeling of affection towards another human being or one thing; the free decision to feel affinity for others or others; the greatest force that moves the human being. Love never comes without wounds.

Life had begun to become difficult for the married couple. The constant psychological abuse and humiliation that Pastor Dania experienced from her husband made her lose herself in a dead-end. Her self-love waned to such an extent that this was reflected in her gaze, her body, her skin, and the constant anxiety she experienced. Pastor Dania was followed by pain generated by the separation from her husband.

“A part of one always knows that it can all end,” Hernández said sadly. “She perceives it, discerns it, but doesn’t understand it. The signs or red flags that appear on the road are as obvious as the coldness of a conversation, the loneliness in each other’s company, the silence generated by the distance, the uncomfortable looks. One becomes blind out of fear of letting go, when in reality letting go is the most beautiful act of freedom.”

Pastor Dania would have loved for the story with her ex-husband to have been different. Unfortunately, her story, her wounds, and her scars cannot be erased. They remain there to remind her that if she had not traveled this path, she might not have become the woman she is today: a tolerant, compassionate woman, full of love and courage, who, in the midst of the deepest dark waters, was able to come to the surface and raise her head high.

Pastor Dania’s call story will conclude next week with part III.