Walk in Love: Perseverance

When the walk becomes difficult, how do you still move forward? Who are the people on your journey of love?

I came from Mexico in 1999, leaving behind all of my family and friends. My husband got a job at the dairy next door to The Bishop’s Ranch in Healdsburg California, so I walked over and asked for work. I had to repeat myself many times before they would consider me, because I didn’t speak English, but I told the director that if they would give me a job I would learn English. Now I have three associates degrees, and I teach English, too. This is a way of walking in love for me. The hospitality we practice at The Bishop’s Ranch is another way of walking in love. I am happy with my work if people feel the love of God here; in the kindness of the community and the natural environment.

I have three sons and a daughter born in the United States. The youngest, Juan Pablo, was born with spina bifida and lived for six years,ten months and twenty-one days.To walk in love is not dependent on whether the journey is easy or hard. When my child was in the hospital, it was always such an experience of love to visit him. He was my angel on earth. Sometimes I feel sadness because I miss him, but then I think about how much love he gave, and how it was like the love of God; like a fountain of love that would never stop flowing.

My husband, Angel,walks in love with me: This year will be our twenty-fifth anniversary. We’ve gone through a lot together on our walk in love. After we lost Juan Pablo, Angel had an accident and became disabled. He had to be airlifted to the hospital and lost the use of his left arm. Recently, he had a twelve-hour surgery to transplant muscle tissue. But we just don’t give up. I just keep praying to God. There is always a way to walk together no matter how hard things are. God fills me with love every day.This is what the journey of love is about.

— Mari Gonzalez is the Housekeeping Manager at The Bishop’s Ranch Episcopal Camp & Conference Center in the beautiful Sonoma Wine Country, Healdsburg, California.