Reinstating My Calling.

My Yes Has Not Changed

To reinstate means to restore someone or something to a previous position, rank, condition, or state.

As I prepared to return home from this mission trip, I wanted to understand what the Lord had been revealing to me. One word kept coming to my heart:

Reinstating.

The same Scripture the Lord had given me years ago was speaking to me again. This time, I was beginning to understand the deeper meaning behind it.

Talk about revelation—it had taken me twenty years to understand.

In John 21:15–17, Jesus asks Peter whether he loves Him. As I read that passage, I heard the question personally:

Ivette, do you love Me?

“Yes, Lord. You know that I love You.”

Feed My lambs.

Again, the question:

Ivette, do you love Me?

“Yes, Lord. You know that I love You.”

Take care of My sheep.

And a third time:

Ivette, do you love Me?

Feed My sheep.

This was the Scripture through which I gave the Lord my yes. And my yes has not changed.

Looking back, I can see the different seasons of my journey: serving, learning, loving people, and making myself available. I fell in love with the mission before I fully understood the calling.

There were years of preparation and wilderness seasons. There were opportunities to serve, followed by a breaking point in 2009—divorce and the loss of ministry.

Then came the years between 2010 and 2017, when I stayed away from teaching, serving and  sharing; the enemy has taken my voice. Once again I was left broken and alone. 

I hid. I was hiding in plain sight. Doing church. Checking the boxes. But God. He was carrying me through and teaching me to depend on Him.  

But those years were not the end of my story.

In 2017, I began sharing again.  A group study at a ladies home, became my sanctuary.  There I felt like I was in a lioness dent. In that house I was love into healing. Where I regained my voice. 

Later came the women’s life group in my own house to be open to do life group with strangers one more time, trusting God with a tomorrow I couldn't see. 

Looking back over all those years, I could see the thread connecting the different seasons.

I believe in my heart that this mission trip was bringing me back to my calling. I was coming home with healing and understanding—with a clearer sense of what the Lord had entrusted to me.

People change. Circumstances change. But the call of God on my life had not changed.

The invitation was still there:

Feed My lambs.

Take care of My sheep.

Feed My sheep.

My yes was to Jesus. He is the One who allows me to do what I do, and He uses all of me for His glory.

After all these years, my answer remains:

Yes, Lord. You know that I love You.

Thank You, Jesus.

Ivette Diaz-Yee

7/11/26