The Texas Tea

Trista Enriquez always felt the call to heal people. She wanted to serve people in their most vulnerable moments. She spent her undergraduate time at Baylor preparing for medical school, investing countless hours studying, volunteering, and shadowing in hopes of one day being a doctor. But in 2021 she felt like she was hitting a wall.

Crushed by the weight of uncertainty and anxiety, the doors for medical school were not opening in the ways she had imagined. In her disappointment and confusion she cried out to God and asked Him what he wanted from and for her. And God quietly whispered to her soul, “I called you to heal, but I need you to heal first.”

God saw Trista in her pain and vulnerability. He met her in the pressure, the ambition that had led to exhaustion, and the brokenness she had not yet named. God was offering something deeper than healing through her. He was offering healing within her. Instead of re-applying for medical school, Trista began listening more closely to God and discerning what He was inviting her into. Gradually, He shifted her direction– not away from healing, but towards a different form of healing. Soul healing. Grief-holding. Presence-in-pain kind of healing.

When she applied to seminary, opportunities began to emerge in unexpected ways. God opened doors for financial provision and scholarship. She joined a cohort that became her community, support system, and dear friends. She found mentors that believed in her and challenged her to grow. Doors began opening for a hospital chaplaincy program in Honolulu, Hawaii. 

There are moments where she still feels the ache of the old dream. But in those moments Trista returns to that sacred whisper, “I called you to heal. But first I need to heal you.” Today, on the path to being an ordained hospital chaplain, she walks alongside people through heartbreak, fear, and questions that medicine can’t always answer. She brings hope to people desperate for hope. She offers a presence that points to the ultimate Healer– Jesus. 

Now, every time she steps into a hospital room or a sacred moment with someone in pain, she does not carry a stethoscope. She carries a calling.