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The Gap
Year That God Chose for Me
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by Alina María García
“I looked for someone among
them who would build up the wall and
stand before me in the gap on behalf of
the land (Ezekiel 22:30).”
It fills my heart with joy to have the honor
of sharing what God has been doing in my life
through the gap program. I’m 23 years old. I
was born into community life and I’m convinced
that God did it that way because he has a
perfect plan for my life. My home community is
Verbum Dei in Mexicali, Mexico.
In this adventure of discovering God’s will
for my life, the Lord invited me to experience
a gap year. So, here I am Lord. I decided to
give one year of my life to God, from January
until December of 2016.
While at the Kairos conference in Costa Rica
in 2015, the Lord kindled in me a desire to
give him this time. It was during a talk by
David Mijares – I don’t remember the title of
the talk, but I recall that he kept speaking
about the importance of commitment, decision
and sacrifice in a quest for discipleship. I
remember perfectly what I felt in my heart: I
knew it was my chance to respond to the Lord
in a way that I never imagined I would. At the
time I had one semester left before graduating
from university, so I had little time to
prepare financially and academically. But God
opened up doors for me, and that was the
confirmation that it was really his will that
I should go.
I wasn’t expecting to be sent to any
particular community, I was open to anything
that God wanted from me. I really love working
with teenagers so I wanted to work with them,
but at the start of the Gap year I found out I
would mostly be serving with a university
outreach, and only a little of my time with
teenagers.
In Latin America, gappers spend their
first month together in training and we also
take a retreat in which we learn much about
prayer and spirituality. After that I was
asked to spend the first three months of my
gap year at the gap regional center in
Monterrey, Mexico. There I lived for two
months at the Jerusalem House with two
celibate women from Bethany Association and
with fellow sisters of the gap program. After
that we opened a new women’s house, and I
moved there for another month.
The new house, living with several other women
proved to be a challenge for me. It was during
this time that I discovered what a blessing it
was to have grown up in my house with my
mother and three other sisters, for now I
could implement what I knew in this new
environment.
After
these months, in April 2016, I was invited to
serve in Holy Family Community in Veracruz,
Mexico. I knew from the start that this would
happen, but I did not imagine how different it
would be for me or what God was planning for
me in this new stage of my gap year. It’s
normal to spend a few months in Monterrey,
Mexico, where the gap center is, and then to
move to another city. Certainly, when you live
with others who experience the same as you and
whom you can spend time with, you hardly ever
feel lonely, but now in Veracruz I have been
the only gapper, and I think that is the most
difficult and challenging part about the
change for me.
People
go to work, the young go to school, and
you seem to be the only who has “free time,”
so you find yourself in the company of God
most of the time.
Definitely, a lot has changed in my life and
my heart during these months – mainly in my
desire for a prayer life. I don’t see it as a
duty anymore, instead it has become a
necessity. It has taken on an essential value
in my daily life. My prayer time is now my
time with God, my opportunity to be in his
presence, the chance to grow in nearness to
him. And through prayer God has revealed
things about myself that I didn’t know were
there, I have learned to face my own fears and
my comforts. The Lord has invited me to fully
trust in him. This adventure has been a great
experience of love and trust, and as God is
always here for me, times of solitude have
become golden moments. During this time I have
also had the wonderful opportunity to discern
my vocation – whether to be single or married
– and the Lord took this chance I gave him to
show me many things and also to confirm my
call to community life.
When you’re a gapper humility becomes your
ally. Without it, things are much more
difficult in your daily life, especially in
your service, because you have a different
training experience than many of those with
whom you serve. You’re still a servant like
those who are not gappers, and you have
leaders, and you must be submissive as Jesus
was to his Father.
Something very beautiful about serving in
other communities is that you meet many people
and you can serve with them in the same way
you work with someone in your home community,
since we live by exactly the same ideals and
values.
I still have a few months left of my Gap year,
and I’m really not sure of what will happen
when I get back to my city, my home, my family
and my community. I have asked the Lord to
give me a good job that gives me enough time
to continue serving in my community. I would
also like to study for a different career than
electronics engineer, which is what my degree
is in, a career that will be more useful in
God’s service. I don’t know with whom or
when I’ll get married, but I want to do God’s
will during the next stage of my life and I’m
sure the Gap year has been an investment in
building his kingdom. I am seeking to do God’s
will.
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