Unbounded Grace
by Noemi Gonzalez
by Noemi Gonzalez
Have you ever been to a place and fallen in love with it? Is
there a place that you would feel odd to be away from? West Dallas has become
that place for me. I have been here for eight weeks and it feels like I have
lived here forever. When I first started this internship I did not feel
encouraged by many people. Family members would ask me why I was doing this and
why I would volunteer for a position
like this. I don’t think they understood that being here with my girls and new
friends is payment enough. It is truly amazing how God works in our hearts. A
few weeks ago I went back home to Houston and felt a void the whole time I was
there. How could I be back in the city I grew up in and not feel at home? I
loved that I got to see my family and hang out, but my heart and mind were
stuck in West Dallas. I kept thinking about the relationships I was building
with my fellow senior interns, but especially my huddle group girls.
This past week was one of the toughest for my group. Rumors
and conflict overpowered the usual dynamic of our group. I feel that this week
taught me so much about myself, my co-leaders and about my girls as well. In
our senior intern meetings we talk about how we need to give grace. This topic
troubled me more and more because we seemed to talk about it every week. When
does grace become an enabler to lie and disobey?
“What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may
abound?”
Romans 6:1
My sister and I talked about this verse and its meaning in
my predicament. I ended up with my answer: tough love. At some point in our
lives someone has showed us tough love. In this case, I believe that as grace
is given so should tough love be given. If we, as leaders expect our girls and
guys to learn to love the word and to follow Christ, we should not allow them
to continue to sin only because we are graceful.
My co-leaders and I recently had a huddle group dinner at my
house. We made breakfast for dinner, thinking it would be a great idea to get
everyone together to talk about our dilemmas. Everything was going great until
a few of the girls complained that the food was not up to par. Honestly, I was
hurt. How could people be ungrateful for what they are receiving? It was truly
beyond me. As the night progressed so did the tempers and attitudes. The girls
were frustrated, but also letting off steam by telling each of us (their
leaders) what they did not like about us. We had shown a lot of grace, but we
thought it was time to show a little tough love. In my case, I realized tough
love goes both ways. As we told them our problems, I heard things about me that
were tough to swallow. I knew this experience was going to be hard, and so far
it has been in many ways, but I did not imagine that God would use it as an
instrument to show His grace to me.
As the end comes near, I have realized that although I
expected to see deep change in them, the experience has also changed me. I can
sit here all day and write the things that have changed in me, but to put it
simply, I will not leave this internship the same person as when I came in. That’s
how I feel God has shown me grace. He put me in a situation that was out of my
norm, a little tough love, and showed me that He has so much more to teach me
and I love every minute of it.
“Do
not be conformed to this world,[a] but be transformed by the renewal of your
mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and
acceptable and perfect.” Romans
12:2
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