From Mask to Ministry

Her eyes lit up as she rushed toward me with a radiant smile. “Do you remember me?” she asked eagerly.

I paused, but I couldn’t quite place the face.

She laughed gently and said, “Probably not… I was wearing a mask the last two times you prayed for me.”

Then she began to share her story.

She told me that during both of those encounters, she was in a very dark place. Full of shame, fear, and deep discouragement. Life had become too heavy to carry. She didn’t know how to keep going, and she felt invisible—unseen, uncared for, unheard. She wore a mask not just over her face, but over her heart—hiding from a world that felt cold and distant.

“But God sent you,” she said. “You prayed for me. Twice. You had no idea how broken I was, but when you prayed, it felt like I could finally breathe again. You spoke life into me when I had nothing left.”

Now, she no longer wears a mask.

She leads worship and teaches the Bible at a church plant that’s just six months old—the very church where we ministered that day. Every week, she drives an hour to serve. Her family tells her it’s not worth it, but she keeps going. Because she remembers the day God met her in her pain and lifted her out of the shadows. Now, she lives to help others encounter that same freedom.

I was overwhelmed. Humbled. Grateful.

I’m so thankful that God allowed me to see the fruit of those moments—proof that no act of obedience, no whispered prayer, no word of encouragement is ever wasted.

From shame to strength. From mask to ministry. From surviving to leading.

This is what Jesus does.