NET Missionaries share Glory Stories, which are moments of grace they experience while serving with NET Ministries.

God Loves You

By Jane Gerten | Team 13

At the beginning of this NET year, I acknowledged that I wouldn’t be able to do any good this year without the help of God’s grace. Even though I signed up to do mission work, I told Him that if He brought me this far, He would need to carry me through to complete what He asked of me. Like the author Louisa May Alcott wrote, I knew, “I have nothing to give but my heart so full and these empty hands.” Though my faith fills my heart with joy and peace, I know my hands are empty: I can not do anything without God’s grace. Arriving at JSerra Catholic High School, my prayer became a reality; I can not do anything if I’m not open to God’s grace working through me.

Desire to Share Christ

I entered a campus of one-thousand three-hundred students with a high hope: to open those students’ hearts to Christ. My ministry began with the first freshman retreat of the year. Starting the retreat, my small group shared that they were all raised in the Catholic faith. All the girls had heard of God’s love for them before, but I was praying for a transformation of their hearts so they could truly experience God. One girl, in particular, said that she had grown up hearing the phrase “God loves you” all the time. It became a phrase that lost meaning to her because she heard it so often.

Hearts Are Transformed

That evening, we did an anonymous affirmation activity. Afterward, we had a time of praise and worship in Adoration. During this time, the girl and I prayed together. She began crying and told me that she felt an outpouring of love from the affirmations she had been given. She revealed that it had been a year since the last time she cried and asked me to pray with her in thanksgiving and gratitude for the love she had received.

Fruit of the work

That night, I witnessed her heart transform; she said that she experienced God’s love in a way that she had never felt before in such a tangible and personal way. Through this testimony, God has shown me that “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” (Philippians 4:13). He has strengthened me and shown that He works through His servants. Through the gift of our “yes” to the Lord, we open ourselves to Him to work within our hearts to reveal His love for us.

Pax et Beneficia