Here at Roma Networks we love sharing stories of Roma, especially those shared by Roma themselves. We are pleased to introduce one of our new writers.
Before you start reading some of my articles I would love for you to get to know me a little better! My name is Andrijana. I’m 23 years old and live in Croatia where I study theology and serve in kids ministry at my church. Even as a little girl my passion was to bring the gospel to those in need, to those who are rejected, to the poor, to those who are without hope. The church I serve is one of the first Roma churches in my state and my parents are pastors in that church.
I believe that God put a desire for missionary service in my heart when I was a little girl. I remember telling a teacher in the first grade of elementary school that one day I would be a missionary, that I would go to Africa and help children who were hungry and abandoned, and that I would tell them about God. At that time I thought that was what it meant to be a missionary – to go to Africa and just stay there with them and talk about God. As I grew, so did that desire in me. Sometimes I wasn’t sure if all those desires were just my desires or really God’s plan for me.
One night I was confused, I didn’t know what God’s plans were for me. I was frustrated and asked God what he wanted from me, what His plans were. I no longer wanted to listen to the silence through which He had spoken to me in previous years. I wanted to hear God speaking directly to me. I was confused between God’s plans and my desires. Has God ordained for me to continue the physiotherapy school I started? Is God’s plan for me to be a missionary to my neighbors and the church I am in? Is God’s plan for me to go to a place where the gospel is not yet known and to stay to live with people who are in greater need? Is it God’s plan for me to speak like Esther on behalf of my people?
I heard the voice of God that night telling me that I must cry out and pray on my knees for His people because they are going to perish. I knew he was talking to me about nations, not about Roma exclusively. God did not take me to distant Africa, but He took me to the Roma villages, to children who are hungry, who are not loved in their families but are abused, to children who are rejected in schools and to families who need God.
Today I know that I have something to say and that is why God has ordained missionary service for me. Maybe the place God is preparing for me is far from my home, but I know that my heart is crying before God today, to be his love and his light in the place he is preparing for me. Like Esther who stood before the king and begged for mercy for her people, I was given the privilege of standing before the King and begging for mercy for the people going that are going to ruin.
Stay tuned for more articles by Andrijana on our blog.