Embracing Community
Erika and Alberto were married in August 2020. Both are missionaries at Stone to Flesh Community.
I became a part of Stone to Flesh School of the Heart in 2017 after attending the young adult conference ‘One Witness’ that had been organized prior to the start of the school. I was tired of feeling like I was spiritually re-living the same year over and over again. The people, content, and spiritual highs were always different, but the change I saw in myself was always temporary.
By the grace of God, my hunger for Him never diminished. I was always looking and searching for more. I didn’t even know what I was looking for exactly. Maybe a new program, a new bible study, a new way to serve? I just kept looking because I felt deep down there was more of God to know.
When I joined the School of the Heart in 2017, I quickly began to feel at home. I knew that more than the palpable culture they had set and values they modeled, it was the Holy Spirit’s presence at Stone to Flesh that gave me peace. The Holy Spirit helped me to know I was where I was supposed to be. To be perfectly honest, from the moment I read “…We are summoning all who want to walk into the streams of the Holy Spirit's fierce love, creative leaders, wounded soldiers, freedom seekers, millennial vagabonds, artists that don't belong..” (found on the home page of the school) I knew this was for me.
As my time in the school drew on, I got a taste of what it was like to be with a group of people who, like me, longed for more of God and were in active pursuit of a deeper relationship with Him. This new family felt like what family was supposed to feel like: a group of people brought together by a desire and love for God, all able to catch the same vision and share in a unified mission.
Being in this environment helped me feel like I finally belonged, and it gave me permission to accept who I was, to turn what I thought were flaws into gifts and tools for the Kingdom of God. I was able to accept what made me different, to not die to the personality God had given me, but to embrace it and learn to finally work with, and not against myself.
The mission of Stone to Flesh is to heal, equip, and release disciples. For me, Stone to Flesh was the catalyst that launched me into my next season of life. It is hard to explain because every day I am still learning a little more about who I am, who God is, what I am to do, and who I am to be. I am always learning something new, and always being called forward into change and renewal. Although like most humans, I resist change and fear it, something about change is exciting and exhilarating. I still have fear, doubt, and I am still an over-thinker but it doesn’t beat the courage, confidence, and eagerness I have developed inside to see the new me that is on the other side of the future. Who am I if I choose to not move forward? Who am I to decline the invitation God has offered me to go on an adventure with Him?
Today God continues to heal me, I am constantly being equipped, and I am released every day to live out my purpose through my mission. I am forever thankful to Keith and Iwona and their wonderful family for this amazing experience. Keeping in mind that you cannot fully recount an experience, know that what I have shared here is but an impression of the impact Stone to Flesh has had on me. It’s one of those things where you look back and realize, it could only have been God.
Erika is a voluntary missionary for Stone to Flesh and graduated from year one School of the Heart.