Losing a loved one can cripple you for weeks, months, or even years — no one can tell. But from the perspective of someone fresh from the trauma of losing a child, ACM trainee Fe Montenegro gives assurance that if one seeks peace and love from the Lord, he or she will always come out victorious.
Aside from losing a son in a tragic accident, Fe has also been a widow for seventeen long years; she didn’t mind being called a one-man (or woman) team in raising her kids and be the only one to face life’s ebbs and flows. She was able to send her kids to school, give them a bright future and groom them to be good people. She carries a virtual plaque for being the world’s best mom and a real-life wonder woman to her children.
But how did God help her? How did she become victorious despite all of life’s struggles?
Don’t focus on the pain
Just like how a photographer changes the aperture or the amount of light that enters the camera to capture good photos, people should also allow their Creator (their Owner) to change the focus of their life and pull out a new lens for a better perspective. Fe didn’t let her loss hinder her from living a normal life. “Yes, the pain is still there, but focusing on other things will help you forget about the sorrow and the gut-wrenching depression,” shared Fe.
She added that trusting God and seeking His word gave her the best encouragement. “I don’t want to hold on to my apprehensions that one day that crippling pain will haunt me. I believe that pain is self-inflicted and you have the full control to let it rest and look forward to something more wonderful.”
Seek God’s love
While recovering from her loss, Fe turned to God and asked for guidance. She found solace in doing volunteer work at their local church. She became active in doing ministries when she resigned from work.
She was offered a managerial position but refused to accept it and focused on furthering her knowledge about God. She attended training and exposure trips and eventually joined missions to different Asian countries. She underwent training with the Asian Center for Missions (ACM) which helped her get a better grasp of other cultures and understand more about other tribes’ and people groups’ ways of thinking.
“After my very first mission trip, I felt like my life was incomplete if I don’t go out and share the gospel even just once a year outside the country. I’ve had countless encounters that made me feel more accountable to those people who don’t know about God’s love. I feel like I have a mission to accomplish which is to transform their lives,” said Fe.
Out of all the wonderful things she experienced as a missionary, she recalled one of the moments that made her look forward to more mission trips, meeting new people, and changing lives for Jesus. “We’ve shared the gospel to people from different provinces of Thailand and Cambodia. We also had the chance to disciple Buddhists and some of them were disowned by their parents and cried in front of us.”
Watching these brothers and sisters weep because they want to stand for their faith made Fe more determined to help them and stand with them until the end.
When asked about any personal struggles that she encountered while staying overseas, Fe just smiled and said, “There’s none,” she continued “Aside from a faithful God that always protects me, my children and my other relatives made sure that I leave the Philippines with enough money to help me with my mission works. They believe in the importance of what I do.”
By Sheena Ferrer, Writer, CBN Asia, Inc.