In New Mexico, one will find vast blue skies, beautiful mesas, and true evidence of God’s majestic plan of creation. However, while there are many stories of hardship and poverty here, there are also stories of overcoming and endurance through Jesus Christ.
Richelle Shorty is a Native American woman from the Navajo tribe of New Mexico. Many people she grew up with had negative views and misconceptions of Christianity, but deep down, she knew these thoughts were not true. As a little girl, she accepted Jesus Christ into her heart on the playground with her friends, but little did she know the challenges that lay ahead of her and the rocky path that would follow.
Her childhood was tumultuous, with her parents arguing relentlessly and eventually divorcing. Richelle was used to being “scooped up” from one relative’s house to another, and after her parents’ divorce, she was eventually sent to live at her Christian aunt’s house. Though she didn’t always like her aunt’s rules, she agreed with her on one thing: she didn’t like her dad’s drinking.
Unfortunately, despite her critique of her father, Richelle ended up becoming an even worse alcoholic than him. One day, she woke up and the world around her looked eerily brown, and her eyes were hauntingly yellow. She desperately prayed to God not to go blind, and she went to the doctor only to find out the most disheartening news: she had end stage liver disease.
Richelle, in her distress, continued to pray. She realized God was her only hope for survival, and in September 2022, she received the miraculous call that a liver was available for transplant.
She now sees how her experiences, especially her aunt’s influence, planted seeds to lead her back to Jesus Christ with a more powerful faith than before. She quotes Psalm 91:14,
“‘Because he loves me,’ says the Lord, ‘I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name.’”
God remembers those who love Him, and most of all, He uses what Satan intends for evil to do good. Richelle could have died from her alcoholism, but that is not the plan God had for her.
Richelle is now sober, happily Christian, active in ministry, and sings praises to the Lord daily.
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