Go a little deeper
Veronica Ramos describes her involvement at Journey Church before the MORE initiative: she was already committed to monthly giving and serving, helping lead women's groups and especially the coffee ministry, which she calls a special place where people sometimes ask for prayer. She says the MORE initiative turned out to encompass more than finances, and she describes her own tension: she was focused on getting out of debt, so when she felt God asking her to give more, she had concerns about covering her bills.
She says she prayed about how giving fit with her debt-free commitment and felt God answer that he was the God of her debt, calling her to give ten times what she had initially committed—a large step for someone single with a mortgage. Even after committing, she says she still lacked peace, and came into Commitment Sunday willing to give up her house because that felt easy. Instead, she describes God planting in her a sense of ministry to broken and hurting women, with a name: Beautifully Broken.
At Commitment Sunday, she says, Keith asked the congregation what they had to give that was 'Beautifully Broken,' the very name she had been given—and she took it as confirmation to step into something she was scared of, eventually sharing hard parts of her story publicly. She says women told her afterward how impactful her eight-minute share was. She also describes receiving refunds that covered her two-year commitment and being able to pay off debt other than her mortgage, and closes by saying God wants more than our finances: he wants surrender and trust with all of life.
The conversation,
in their words.
Transcript from the recording’s captions. Select any timestamp to hear the original audio.
e [Music] hi my name's Veronica Ramos before we started the more initiative I I was super involved at Journey Church and and already very committed to my monthly tithing and and serving being involved at Journey Church for me meant helping to lead women's
groups and um leading coffee I'm very passionate about the coffee ministry here you're the center in the hub of everything that happens at the church and sometimes people that are afid to go Upfront for prayer will come to you at coffee and ask for prayer so it's a pretty special Ministry this more initiative that was proposed as a financial initiative Encompass more things than finances I think that's how God [Music] works when the more initiative started I couldn't commit a lot because I was committed to getting debt-free but when God asked me to give more than that I I had concerns about um covering all the
bills I had to pray and ask God like how that fit into my commitment to get debt free he quickly uh responded to me and said that he was the god of my debt he called me to give 10 times more than I had initially committed to which felt like a lot to me because I'm I'm single and and I have a mortgage I was like okay God it I trust you with whatever is [Music] next I still didn't have peace even after committing 10 times what he asked of me I came into commitment Sunday thinking that maybe the Lord would tell me that I needed to sell my
house I was willing to give him my house but that was easy for me so he asked me for something that was a little more challenging to step into the Lord planted in me a sign that he was going to bring me into a season of ministering to broken and hurting women he had given me the name of this ministry it was to be called Beautifully Broken and on commitment Sunday Keith stood on the stage and asked what we had to give that was Beautifully Broken and that's the very title that he gave me of this ministry that I was so scared to
step into he called me to share some of the hardest things that have happened in my life on a public stage and women came up to me afterwards and told me how impactful my eight minute share was in their lives God wants more from us than our finances it's surrendering that thing that's hard to surrender to the Lord and trusting him with all of your life no matter how terrifyingly frightening it [Music] is I got a refund in my taxes in a large refund from a dental bill that I had um
that covered the whole 2-year commitment I now have the money to pay off all my debt with the exception of my mortgage God truly was the god of my [Music] [Applause] debt today every one of us is being called to something and whatever it is that's on your heart right now is a thing that God's calling you to you you can do it you can surrender it you can give it there's nothing more beautiful than full surrender to God on the other side of your obedience is the blessing God wants to give you exceedingly abundantly more than you can ask or imagine
[Music]
