It had been four long years since graduation, and Melvin Santos was very discouraged. As a young boy, he had always dreamed of being a physician. But during his sophomore year in high school, Melvin felt God calling him to pastoral ministry. He helped his parents and another family organize the Glendale Filipino Seventh-day Adventist Church.

As the oldest youth in the new church, Melvin became the youth leader, the Pathfinder leader, and Vacation Bible School director. He gained much valuable experience, and ministry seemed to be a good fit. When Melvin entered Pacific Union College (PUC), he was still undecided between being a physician and a pastor, so he declared a double major. By his junior year, Melvin felt God was really calling him to pastoral ministry, so he shifted his emphasis to theology.

Melvin participated in the interviews at the end of his senior year, along with all the other theology majors, and was convinced that he would be given a position at one of the churches. He had been very active in ministry during college, and had worked with a number of people from the conference. Melvin thought God had everything all set. But the call never came.

Questions welled up within him, "God, why am I without a call? Where are you taking me?"

The answer came: "Mel, are you willing to trust Me in this ministry?"

Trusting meant waiting, and although Melvin waited, he did not remain inactive. Ministry was in his heart. He organized Youth Ministers International (YMI), a ministry of several youth pastors and lay youth leaders that provided programs for ministry. Not long after graduation, Melvin was asked to return to campus to present a Bible study seminar. Accepting that invitation gave his life a whole new dimension.

While celebrating her 18th birthday with some friends, Juliet slipped away from the festivities to do some personal reflection with God. Already a nursing student at PUC, and recognizing her 18th birthday to be a major milestone, Juliet thought, You know, Lord, I'm getting really old. I'd better start planning out what it is I want in life. So she wrote a letter to God. In the letter, she listed 27 qualities that she was looking for in a husband—being kind to his mother, treating others well, being kind-hearted, and funny, etc. Being a pastor was not on the list! After planning out her life, she put the letter in her bible where it remained unopened.

Juliet involved herself with spiritual things, so when she heard about the Bible study seminar, she made plans to attend. During an "after glow" service following the Friday night meeting, there was an invitation to find a prayer partner. As Juliet looked around for a partner, it seemed that all her friends were already paired up. Then she noticed the speaker, Melvin, coming her direction. Feeling nervous and a little intimidated, she had no choice but to accept the speaker's offer to be her prayer partner.

Melvin returned to Glendale and his self-initiated ministry with YMI, wondering, Why am I still not getting a call? God, did I make a mistake? Am I not supposed to be a pastor? Should I have gone to medical school instead?

During this "wilderness experience," a neighbor from down the street approached Melvin in his driveway. "Mel, I want to give you some advice. If you can get out of the ministry, get out of the ministry." Melvin was shocked. He had highly respected this man as a mentor and had valued his counsel. Was he now speaking a word from the Lord to give up his dream? The friend continued, "But, if God has truly called you, no matter how long it will take, just trust God, and He will open up a way for you to be in the ministry." Then he added, "If none of the conference presidents call you, give me a call. I'll help you out." With a smile of encouragement, H.M.S. Richards Jr. continued on his way.

With that affirmation, Melvin knew that he would just have to trust God to work things out in His own time. God's timing was perfect.

As a second-year nursing student, Juliet would need to continue her practical training in Glendale—Melvin's hometown. When he learned of Juliet's plans, Melvin was eager to take up the responsibility of being her welcoming committee, introducing her to the church community. Soon, Juliet began to participate in a number of ministry activities with Melvin, and they became the best of friends. That friendship developed into a romance and, at the age of 19, Juliet received her proposal from Melvin. Thinking she was a little too young for marriage, Juliet suggested they wait two more years until she was 21. They got married after her birthday and moved to Andrews at the end of the summer, where Melvin entered the Seminary.

After two years, the honeymoon was over, and their marriage was on a bit of a rocky road. Juliet began to entertain doubts and she wondered, Did I do something wrong here God? Did I marry the wrong person? Then she remembered the unopened letter tucked in her Bible. She sat down and made another list of all the good qualities she saw in Melvin. To her surprise, she came up with 43. Then she opened the letter. Melvin not only met all 27 of the virtues that Juliet considered to be "must haves" in a husband, he exceeded them by 16. God had answered her desperate prayer nearly five years before. That's all she needed to determine to stay committed to their marriage and do whatever it takes.

It took a lot.

After Seminary, they had three churches and three children. Melvin worked many more hours than is expected, yet, without results.

Juliet shared her perspective: "We figured out the hard way that you can do any ministry for God. If you are doing it for God, but you didn't ask God if He wants you to do that, then it just becomes a task. It becomes something that wears you out. ... Until we actually learned to pray, and to seek God, and figure out what He wants us to do, we were really not being effective at all. I think the key to our ministry is learning how to pray. When we learned how to pray, we saw God's miracles unfold before our very eyes. We truly felt like we were sitting, like we had front seats to the parting of the Red Sea. It was amazing to see God's hand at work. We didn't have to work as hard as we used to, but where we did our hardest work was on our knees."

A friend of Juliet's handed her a book one day. It was on The Prayer of Jabez. She finished the book and said, "Okay, God. I'm going to pray that prayer." And as soon as she did, things started to happen in her life. At first, there was just an unsettling—an impression that God intended something more. A year later, the prayer resulted in her establishing a retail-based clinic to provide affordable and accessible health care, combined with teaching the basic health principles that Seventh-day Adventists have to share.

During this time, Juliet began to wake up in the middle of the night and pray for two or three hours before God. "Now I believe in prayer," Melvin confesses. "I believe in praying effectively, but I told God, 'God, I need my sleep. I can't get up early in the morning like Juliet's doing. I'll pray during the daytime when I'm awake.'"

Melvin realized that he had been watching Juliet pray—seeing the Lord work through her in a miraculous way—while he was trying to preach that God was trying to prepare a people to be like His Son, yet he was forgetting that Jesus also woke up early in the morning to pray. That realization stirred his life. Melvin said Juliet was basically the one who has inspired him to say, "You know Mel, you need to do the same thing—to get up early in the morning and pray."

God knew, that Friday night when they reached out their hands to each other in prayer, that prayer would unite them for ministry—would unite them for life.

Gary Burns is the Lake Union Conference communication director.