Estela Rangel’s Story: Like Mother, Like Daughter

As a child, Estela had felt pressure to be perfect in the eyes of the church, and she wanted a different life as an adult.

“But God had His plans,” Estela says.

After five years of marriage, David began to talk with her about the call he felt to become a pastor. The two were volunteering in the bus ministry of the Hispanic mission church where Estela’s father was the pastor, and David felt a pull on his heart to pursue full-time ministry.

“I know that without your help, I won’t get anywhere,” David told Estela.

“So, I agreed to support him, but not wholeheartedly,” Estela admits.

The Rangels served for five years before Estela felt as though she had fully surrendered to her life as a pastor’s wife. “I realized that I had to stop asking, ‘What are people going to say and think about me?’ and start asking, ‘What is God going to do, and how can I be a part of it?’”

The Rangels knew that if they were going to lead a church, they both needed to be all in. So they promised one another — and the Lord — they would give 100%.

And that they did. Estela and David faithfully ministered for 35 years, starting four Spanish-speaking churches and taking many mission trips to both Guatemala and Mexico before he passed in 2014.

After David passed away, Estela was faced with the financial burden of covering a mortgage and other bills on her own.

Feeling like she had nowhere to turn, Estela remembered David contacting GuideStone’s Mission:Dignity^® on behalf of her mother. Since 2006, Josefa, Estela’s mother, has received a monthly grant to help cover expenses. Estela reached out in hopes that they could assist her, too.

Not long after applying, Estela learned that she would soon receive a monthly grant from Mission:Dignity. Now, both mother and daughter worry less about making ends meet.

Reflecting on the life she wasn’t sure she wanted, Estela is grateful that she trusted in, and ultimately surrendered to, God’s plan.

“God promises He will never leave us or forsake us,” she recites, “and that is the most wonderful feeling.”