When God Counts on You

There are moments in life during which you realize your faith is not just about you. It is about who is watching, who might return, and who might be saved.

In the early 1990s I was the only one in my household still attending church every Sabbath in my hometown of Barranquilla, Colombia. My siblings had left the church. Even my mother, the one who had taught us to pray and trust in the Lord, was no longer attending. There were parties, alcohol, and instability in my home. My father, though never a church member, had always supported our Adventist education. Soon my parents divorced, and my mother moved to the United States.

The pain of watching loved ones walk away from God is a quiet anguish.

At the same time, I was a journalism student with my own radio program and growing recognition as a potential soccer announcer. I dreamed of becoming the voice heard in the stadiums of my country.

But while my professional dreams were rising, my family was drifting. I wondered how God could allow such a tragedy within my family. As my move to New York approached—my mother had petitioned for my residency before I turned 21—I prayed that God would guide my life and show me His purpose.

A Voice in the Bronx

My mother and I settled in the Bronx. One morning, alone in our apartment, I knelt in prayer and asked the Lord what purpose He had for my life. Despite the chaos at home, I had continued attending church every Sabbath.

Why haven’t I also drifted away, as my family did? I thought to myself.

In that quiet room I sensed a clear voice giving me the answer: “Because I am counting on you for the salvation of your family. If you had left Me too, I would have had no closer instrument to bring them back.” Immediately Hosea 11:4 echoed in my heart: “I drew them with gentle cords, with bands of love.”

I remained still, almost unable to move. I did not doubt that it had been God impressing on my heart. From that moment I began to understand the eternal implications of complete consecration in the life of a believer. I realized that God had placed on me a sacred responsibility—to be a witness first within my own family, just as Scripture says: “You shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8).

The Surrender and the Test

One snowy morning in the Bronx I reflected on my professional dreams. I had longed to become a renowned soccer announcer, but that day I prayed, “Lord, if I must surrender these dreams into Your hands because they might stand in the way of Your will, I release them now.”

And I did.

Days later came the test.

It was 1994, and the FIFA World Cup was being held in the United States. The Colombian national team had qualified. Media colleagues in Colombia contacted me with an extraordinary offer: They wanted me to cover Colombia’s matches in Los Angeles.

For a journalist, covering a World Cup changes everything. Careers are elevated. Doors open. Futures are secured. The opportunity of my dreams was suddenly within reach.

But I had made a decision days earlier.

The temptation was strong. Yet Christ’s words steadied me: “Man shall not live by bread alone” (Matt. 4:4).

I declined.

My relatives could not understand why. They were surprised by a decision that no young person in their right mind would have made.

God’s Redirection

Two days after I rejected the World Cup offer, I received a call from Van Ministry in New Hyde Park, New York, a medical missionary ministry of the Greater New York Conference. Among its community outreach services, the ministry operated SDA Good News Network, a satellite television network, and they needed a communicator for the Spanish programming. They had seen me interview pastors at congresses and camp meetings, and asked whether I would be interested in joining their team.

As it turned out, God also had His extraordinary offers.

It was as if God gently said, “You trusted Me. Now watch what I will do—still your dreams, but from a more rewarding perspective.”

I learned production and editing skills I had barely touched in university. I remember lining up with other students in college for just a few seconds behind outdated cameras. Now I had access to a full television studio. I could hardly believe it.

Truly God’s dreams for us are better than ours. “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts . . . to give you a future and a hope” (Jer. 29:11).

Instead of announcing in stadiums, I stood under studio lights proclaiming the gospel across continents.

A Family Restored

Gradually my mother began attending church again. One day she told me she wanted to be rebaptized. In the baptismal waters at the Washington Avenue church in the Bronx, she publicly recommitted her life to God, saying that she had returned, among other reasons, because of the testimony of her son.

We often think faithfulness is about surviving spiritually, about holding on so that we do not fall. But sometimes our faithfulness becomes someone else’s lifeline.

During visits to Colombia I spent quality time with my family, showing them the love of God and reminding them that despite their lifestyles, God still loved them. My sister and her family returned to the Lord and joined the Adventist Church. In time my father also accepted Christ as his personal Savior after responding to an altar call during one of my sermons.

God had spoken truth in that Bronx apartment years earlier; He was counting on me.

One Phone Call

After several months at the Van Ministry, I wondered whether I had accomplished anything meaningful during those months as a missionary. Discouragement often surrounds us, and the enemy takes advantage of those dark moments. But the promises of God remain: “I will never leave you nor forsake you” (Heb. 13:5).

While I was packing my belongings to leave—since God had impressed upon me that my work there had finished—the receptionist called me upstairs. A viewer from Mexico had phoned requesting a Bible and the magazine offered on our Spanish broadcast. He said that he was very thankful for the Spanish programming, because it had changed his life.

God was counting on me again.

When God Counts on You

We often think faithfulness is about surviving spiritually, about holding on so that we do not fall. But sometimes our faithfulness becomes someone else’s lifeline. God does not need us, yet He chooses to work through us. He could send angels. He could perform miracles. Instead, He places ordinary believers in strategic positions—inside families, inside workplaces, inside communities.

Your quiet obedience may echo longer than public applause. Your unseen surrender may shape someone else’s eternity. Your decision to remain may open the door for someone else to return.

You may not see the full impact. You may feel alone. You may wonder why you are the only one still standing. But perhaps heaven has positioned you exactly where you are. When God counts on you, it is not pressure—it is privilege. And when He entrusts you with influence, He also supplies the grace to carry it.

What might God be asking you to surrender? A dream? A fear? A relationship? A habit? As Mordecai told Queen Esther: “Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” (Esther 4:14).

Perhaps you are in your family for such a time as this. In your workplace for such a time as this. In your church, in your generation—for such a time as this.

Maybe right now, God is counting on you.