Highlight Devotion: Pastor Mary Carmen

Expectation

“In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.”

Matthew 5:16

When Covid-19 turned a 3-week visa renewal trip to Mexico into an 11-month process of delays, Pastor Mary, of Camino de Vida, Fremont, served God where she found herself. Here are some highlights of her story.

Highlight Video: Pastor Mary Carmen (Video – 5 min. 11 sec.)

Scripture: Isaiah 43:18-19

Do not remember the former things or consider the things of old.
I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?
I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.

Reflection Questions:

• Pastor Mary has spent the last 11 months dreaming about ministry and waiting to return to Fremont, Ohio. What have you been waiting for this past year?
• The way that Pastor Mary stays positive is by discovering God’s purposes and lessons for her in this moment. What purposes and lessons have you discovered in this season?
• Pastor Mary suggests that people want to share their stories. What stories of faithfulness have you witnessed during this time?
• Isaiah 43 invites us to not dwell in the former things, but to consider the new things God is doing. What new things might God be doing in your life, your parish, and/or your community?

A Prayer from Pastor Mary Carmen:

Dear God, we thank you for your faithfulness. You are in control and you are good all the time.  We pray for all the people whose lives have been modified because of the coronavirus situation; those who need to make changes and those who are in the expectation to see what you are doing among us. Thanks for new strength and news joy, for teaching us to relay only in you, and be guided by your Holy Spirit.  Please, God, show us your glory and let us be centered in your will. In Jesus’s mighty name we pray. Amen.

Camino De Vida, “The Road of Life,” is a Hispanic Ministry in the Fremont area that fosters, encourages, and supports the spread of the gospel with and among Hispanic people. Worship and bible study are spoken in both Spanish and English so parishioners can grow in their relationship with Jesus in their own language. This ministry engages in mission that cares for the 2,200, first and second generation, migrants in that area through worship, bilingual weekly bible study, laundromat ministry, English classes, and Spanish literacy classes. This ministry is done through a partnership with LIFT (Living In Faith Together) Parishes in Fremont, the Maumee Watershed District of the West Ohio Conference of the United Methodist Church, and Northwestern Ohio Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.