Transformation through faith
Maria and Greg started attending Dripping Springs Methodist Church in April 2007 after their participation in the Emmaus Walk. They are devoted members of our church. For more than 10 years, they have been teaching English, serving tacos to the day-laborers, and serving the community of Dripping Springs. She has participated in the church choir since 2016 and singing in the Hispanic service for the last 12 years. She is a lay speaker and commissioned to serve Communion. We are thankul to have them as part of our church family.
“The reason I started coming to this church was because I had been praying a lot for my husband to return to God and to the church itself. After his Walk to Emmaus, my husband decided to come to this church. So, I wanted to come with him, accompanying him and also out of gratitude to God, because in some way He was calling him and was still drawing him towards a church, answering my prayers. That was around April or May of 2007. Well, during the transition of coming to church with my husband, listening to the messages — at that time Pastor David Skinner was here.
I realized that I wasn’t really coming for him. Yes, I was coming for him, but not just for him. God had something bigger, a bigger calling for me, for my life. And well, I believe that since then, God already had that plan for my life, for my spiritual growth.
A little while after we started coming to this church, my husband also invited me to the spiritual retreat that he had attended. Well, yes, I had a bit of, not necessarily fear, but I wasn’t 100% sure I wanted to go. But I went. In the end, I went to that retreat, and that’s where God spoke to my heart.
After the retreat ended, I returned to the church. It’s there where God had that special calling for me to grow spiritually. The image God gave me was that my spirit had tentacles — not necessarily bad ones, but tentacles like a mischievous little boy or little girl, if you want to see it that way. I wanted to go into the church, do and touch everything; I wanted to experience it all.
I wanted everyone to feel what I was feeling at that moment. I wanted to be like a magnet for the sons and daughters of God. Before coming to this church, I existed. María existed. But the daughter of God did not exist. Because I didn’t know that I was a daughter of God, HIS DAUGHTER! I didn’t know who God was. I always knew Him as something distant, not existent, not tangible. And recognizing Him as a Father, recognizing Him as something close to me, that’s what transformed my heart.
After God began transforming my heart and my spirit, I wanted to touch the hearts and missions of this church. He directed me towards myself, not in terms of what I am, but in terms of my culture. My culture is, of course, Mexican, Hispanic, if you want to see it that way. Spanish-speaking. And God asked me to be a magnet, to be contagious, for those who speak my language. And that’s how the idea, or if you want to call it the Hispanic ministry in this church, was borned. It started with a seed that God had planted and bloomed in my heart.
And it is still growing, thank God, for His glory and His honor. Something more beautiful is that God began working in my heart, transforming me, transforming my spirit, growing me, making me grow in His truth and knowledge. Since I wanted to touch the lives of so many people, I started becoming part of various ministries in this church.
One of the main ministries I’ve helped with, of course, is the Hispanic area, the Hispanic Ministry where we have different community outreach activities. I believe I’ve dedicated most of my time, perhaps 85 to 95%. The other part would be in various areas of the church, like in evangelistic missions, choir, helping with the church’s food program, as well as outside of the church, providing tacos to day laborers, teaching English As a Second Language (ESL) and at one point I also taught Spanish to English-Speaking church members.
I also helped a bit with the American children’s Sunday school, and nowadays, I also help in the prison, in the Kairos Women’s Prison Ministry. What I want to see, my desire for this church, to grow in the various ministries or perhaps in the church itself, is that I would love to see a revival — a revival of spirit and hearts in members of this church.
I believe that we all need to give ourselves the opportunity to have an open heart towards God. He is always calling us. He is always listening to our hearts, listening to our prayers and petitions. But we don’t do the same with Him. Maybe we hear Him, but we ignore Him. We want Him to listen to our petitions, we don’t want to hear His.
He is always asking us to do something for Him. So if we open our hearts, if we focus on what He wants for us, for His children, I believe that would help a lot, not only in planting seeds in the hearts of this great city, but also in watering the seeds that have already been planted by someone else. I believe that God wants, desires for us to be, continuing being, His hands and feet in this community.”
-Maria Sharp
