Arlis’s Heart
Author
Faustino de Jesús Zamora Vargas
Summary: At 82, Arlis continues to travel to preach the gospel. Her life of service and her testimony, marked also by the hope of being reunited with her husband and one of her children, show how God renews the strength of those who trust in him. Her example calls us not to remain in the safety of the church building or settle for merely appearing to be Christians. There are wounded and captive people who need to hear about Christ, and the harvest is plentiful. Even when the world seems like a furnace, we must draw near to them and carry out the mission entrusted to us, trusting in God’s presence rather than letting age or fear hold us back.
Arlis seems to have stepped out of one of the books of the Bible. There is still authority in her voice, and green overflows with the hope that endures in her eyes, as though mocking the weariness of so many years spent watching the world. Her small feet carry the blessing of 82 years, most of them spent serving the Lord as a missionary and evangelist.
When we meet sisters like Arlis in person, we understand well what God’s grace means. Faith is renewed and the soul is built up. How amazing the body of Christ is!
Arlis still travels hundreds of kilometers to preach the gospel. She does not need the Bible’s help to speak to the lost. She says she has read it so many times that the Spirit has revealed to her what makes Christ an irresistible gift to those who do not believe, leading them to accept him. Not long ago, I watched her share the testimony of her life, and an hour later, I saw a broken lost soul crying out for salvation because of her preaching, anointed by the Spirit of God. Her 82 years do not hold her back. The sweet way she tells people that one of her children and her husband are already in heaven, and that she longs for the day she will be reunited with them, leaves an indelible mark on the heart.
When I think of Arlis, I cannot help thinking of Christ’s church, its work, and its mission. So many people sit inside the bubble of their “holy temple.” Sundays are glorious, and on Monday the challenge of “looking” like Christians begins—or of being Christians in certain ways, anything but drawing near to those who wander like sheep without a shepherd, wounded and mistreated as a result of their own mistakes, enslaved by their passions. The harvest is so plentiful, and the workers so few! (Mt 9:37).
The world is collapsing before our very eyes amid a liberalism tailored to this age of technology and hedonistic empires. But Arlis is not one of those who say they have a passion for the lost yet remain as if nailed to the courts of the Lord, watching those who set out on the adventure of freeing desperate hearts. She does it from the heights of old age in Christ, from the glory of the gray hair the Lord has painted on her small, majestic head, as majestic as her old age itself. Her testimony is like the trumpets that brought down the walls of Jericho (Joshua 6:2). Credible, worthy of imitation, powerful.
Where are the Elijahs of Mount Carmel or the Daniel of the fiery furnace today? When will we ask for rain so that God may bless this spiritual dryness that moves so few men and women of faith to free the captives? If we do not enter Daniel’s furnace, which represents this lost world, we will never experience God’s companionship and presence in our Christian lives as we carry out the mission entrusted to us (Matthew 28).
I want to be like Christ, but Arlis has been a new inspiration to me these days. I thank God for the Arlises among God’s people who do not shrink back because of their age, and whose strength God renews so they can carry the light of truth without fearing how fiercely the furnace has been heated. Her example led me to Isaiah: “…but those who trust in the Lord will renew their strength; they will soar like eagles: they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not faint.” (Isaiah 40:31)
God bless you!