Inspiration in the Nation: Charlotte Dizon

Charley is the kind of friend who is just as comfortable and confident talking about the latest Hollywood trivia and fashion trends as she is about what God has been teaching her lately. She’s also a doctor, who has learned how to blend a career in medicine with her passion for discipleship.

Joy Teague Matienzo: Hi Charley, Please tell our readers how old you are and where you are from.
Charley Dizon: I was born in Manila, Philippines on New Year’s Day of 1975 which makes me 45 years old now. Yikes!

JTM: When did you decide to follow Jesus and how did that change your thoughts about yourself and your value?
CD: I went to an exclusive Catholic school that taught me basic Christianity and provided general facts about Jesus Christ, but I never really grasped the depth of His love for me. I was raised to believe that as long as I performed well and pleased everybody, I would go to heaven. But it was so tiresome to always make my parents proud of me while giving in to the pressures of my peers to look cool and stay popular. Behind the pretentious facade that I built for everybody’s approval, inside my core was a void that no one and nothing could fill.

I was lost until my Freshman year in University when I first heard the full explanation of the Gospel. I was told that God wanted me so much that He sacrificed the one who was most important to Him – His Son! That there was nothing that I could do that could make Him love me more. This truth changed me radically and now I no longer get my validation from people’s approval and acceptance. I was bought by the blood of the King of Kings. It is for free but it’s not cheap. He completely changed the course of my history.

JTM: How did you decide to study medicine and what were you hoping to do with it?
CD: Ever since I was a kid I wanted to become a doctor. Unlike other children, I was never afraid to go to the doctor because I adored my paediatrician. Not only was she beautiful and smart, she also smelled good and gave me candy every time I visited her clinic. I wanted to be like her. I also loved science and solving problems. More than anything else, I wanted to become a doctor to gain prestige, earn respect from men and have financial prosperity. I took BS Biology as my pre-med for three years and continued on to get my medical degree for four years.

When I became a Christian, my motives changed. I wanted to go to the nations as a missionary to honor God and make disciples. I would later discover that people would listen to me first, not because I was a missionary but because I was a doctor. Many nations will not freely give visas to missionaries but will almost always open their arms to medical workers. The influence of being a medical frontliner would become my entry tool to get into nations where Christ is not yet fully known.

JTM: Eventually medicine brought you to Europe. Was it what you expected?
CD: In 2002, I flew to the UK for the first time with high hopes of becoming a surgeon in London. I thought that things would be smooth and easy but I experienced the opposite. Aside from not having relatives in England, I was running out of money to spend and was having a hard time getting a visa extension. I applied for a doctor’s position in Denmark, out of respect to my uncle who suggested it, but I didn’t really care if they hired me or not. Finally I decided to give up Europe and returned to the Philippines.

The day that I received a letter from the Ministry of Health telling me that I was qualified to apply as a doctor in Denmark I knew it as an open door from the Lord but I had no idea that I was in for a big surprise. Due to the time needed for me to learn Danish, I had to resort to non-medical jobs in order to survive. This was such a humiliating experience. I wondered what I had done to deserve this. I’m a licensed doctor, but why was I wiping old people’s behinds? The Lord exposed the flaw in my character and revealed the pride in my heart. I allowed my profession to define who I was instead of being identified with Christ. Out of my distress, I called on the Lord and He rescued me. I bounced back because I realised that I could do all things — including babysitting, cleaning houses and taking care of the elderly — through Christ who strengthens me! It’s not about me but HIM and His will. After two full long years, like Joseph the Dreamer, I was called to the palace (in my case, the hospital). God did not meet my expectations in Denmark. He surpassed them. Not only my circumstances changed, my character was moulded forever.

JTM: After 7 years how did you know your time in Denmark was coming to an end?
CD: It was the summer of 2007 when I booked a flight to Spain to avail of the huge sale in Madrid, particularly by Zara and Mango, which are my favorite Spanish brands. But more than the shopping, I fell in love with the place and the culture, which is strongly connected to mine. During that time, Spain was at the peak of an economic crisis and the unemployment rate was high. No matter how lovely the place was, Spain could never match the salary and the lifestyle that Denmark was richly providing me.

I went back to Copenhagen but made a silent prayer to God to one day live in Spain. The Lord heard me. One day, I received a message from my friend, Mel who that time was scouting Madrid for a church plant and asked if I could invite my friends there to his small group. I ended up flying to Madrid to introduce them and returned 2 more times. On my third visit our regional head pastor dropped the idea in my brain to consider joining the church plant initiative in Spain. My spirit was so thrilled but my logic was so against it. Going to Spain meant starting from scratch. It would entail learning a new language before I could even apply as a doctor. The only means for me to live in Spain legally would be to be a missionary which would mean bye-bye, medical career. Ultimately His calling always comes before my profession, so I gave up my luxurious career, lost my residency in Denmark and took a bungee jump of faith to discover God’s plan for me in Spain.

JTM: Unable to practice medicine, what did you do in Spain?
CD: I served as a full-time missionary at Iglesia VIDApasionada for 7 years. As is required on a church planting team I wore many “hats”. I did stage design, accounting and multimedia for church services, participated in our weekly English Unplugged activities to connect with the Spanish locals, taught in our E4L English club in Complutense University and assisted in workshops for the youth of Madrid through our church NGO. These were our main means of engaging with the Spanish community. But my favorite weekly activity was leading Life Groups – especially the ones with atheists and agnostics. It didn’t take long before, because of my passion for helping people grow in their relationship with Jesus, I became head of the discipleship ministry.

JTM: What did you find most challenging and most rewarding about ministry in Spain?
CD: Of course, engaging atheists and agnostics has never been simple. It was such a learning experience because I had to do my own research and study of the Scriptures, formulating intelligent questions to challenge their questions and dissecting the heart and soul of the Spanish culture. The challenging part was being patient in walking with these people and waiting for them to come to total surrender to Jesus. The reward was their friendship and spiritual advancement. Every step they made closer to crossing the line of faith was a miracle that is mine to keep for my lifetime.

JTM: What did you learn about sharing the Gospel in that kind of atmosphere?
CD: Over the years I’ve been a missionary, I’ve learned three important P’s that have become my guide to sharing the Gospel. The first and most essential thing is to always PARTNER with the Holy Spirit. Most of the time as Christians, we are so easily led by our zeal to share the Gospel that we go on with our own script and rely on our own gifts. We have to remember that something supernatural happens as we are empowered by the Holy Spirit and he gives us the anointing, discernment and compassion. It makes sharing the Gospel more of a delight than a duty as we see him convict and change hearts.

Next is to wait for the PERFECT timing. We can only master this if we are partnering with the Holy Spirit. When I was in Spain I found myself surrounded by post-modern thinkers. I was literally chartering new territories finding the root of their doubts, skepticism and fears about Christianity and church. Although it was a challenge for me to shut my mouth when I knew that I had the answers, I had to wait for the Holy Spirit, who taught me to listen.

Then one day, my atheist Spanish friend said, “Charley, you always ask us questions about what we believe in. Why don’t you tell us what you believe in? Tell us why you are a Christian?” And that was my moment! It was the perfect timing, not for my long-awaited monologue, but for the hearts of my Spanish friends to give Christianity a chance.

Lastly, PREACH the Word! I believe in friendship evangelism and the impact of engaging our community. We can volunteer, organise parties or even provide theological talks to prove the existence of God, but at the end of the day we need to preach the Word! The Word is God’s truth that builds faith and can remove the blinders from the eyes of people and set them free. We need to discern the time to simply open our mouths and tell them the Good News.

JTM: After 7 years of pouring your heart into Spain how did you decide to go back to medical practice?
CD: I loved being in full-time ministry but also be honest, I missed Medicine. It has never been just a job or a career. It’s part of my calling. Being in life-and-death situations makes people more vulnerable and more open to hearing the gospel and receiving prayer. Being a doctor enables me to become a channel of God’s healing, keeps my brain sharp and also gives me the financial means to live comfortably and give generously.

JTM: As you considered going somewhere that you could combine both ministry and medicine, when did Cambodia come into play and what are you doing there now?
CD: Like with Denmark, Cambodia never crossed my mind as part of my life’s journey. But God is always full of surprises and in 2017 when two missionary friends from Cambodia were sharing their wins and challenges with me, I had all kinds of suggestions for their small group ministry. I could not stop thinking about it. To silence that voice in my head, I went to Phnom Penh in October that year for a visit. The rest is history. My only request to God before moving to Cambodia was for me to use my profession as a platform to share the Gospel to the Khmers and He did!

One of the benefits of being a doctor is that people are most likely to listen to you and follow your advice. After giving them medical treatment, I also give them spiritual advice and prayer, and invite them to our Life Groups and church services. Because I have a wider sphere of influence, I have more opportunities to lead them to Christ.

JTM: What are the perks/challenges of being a single woman professional and missionary?
CD: Being single is such a blessing from the Lord because I don’t think I would be able to travel the world and shop until I drop if I were married. Kidding aside, being a single professional missionary gives me more flexibility with my schedule, more freedom to go to the nations whenever I want and more focus on achieving my goals because I don’t have marital or parental responsibilities to consider. Life is much simpler for singles. Does this mean I don’t want to get married? Totally the opposite. There are moments still when loneliness knocks at my doorstep. Ninety percent of my friends are married and they’re not always available for meet-ups whenever I long for a face-to-face fellowship. But over the years, I have learned to enjoy moments when I am alone. The desire to get married is still there but I know now that marriage won’t complete me as a woman. I am already complete in Christ.

JTM: Is there a specific Bible verse that is special to you?
CD: Philippians 3:7-8 is my life verse. It says, “But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. 8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ.”

I had such big dreams when I was young because I was convinced that the Lord was with me. But God had bigger dreams for me. When I gave up my career in Denmark, cancelled my citizenship in Spain, threw the opportunity to work in France away only to choose to work in a third world country such as Cambodia, people close to me said that I had made the wrong decisions. One could see this as a wasted and sad life. But to me, it only shows that I have found the One worth living and dying for. All these things that this world treasures are worthless compared to the glory I gained in having Jesus as my Lord and part of His great eternal plan.

JTM: Can you tell us about time in your life when you needed the support of the women around you?
CD: I am so thankful that in every season of my life, especially during the difficult ones, the Lord never fails to surround me with mighty women to encourage, counsel and stand with me in prayer. One of these most unforgettable times was when I received my third visa rejection from the Spanish embassy. I almost gave up, questioned God and questioned my calling to go to Spain. While I was buried in tears, I received a Skype call from our Spain church staff and they not only prayed for me, they encouraged me to not give up but to keep holding on to His promise. After one month of waiting, my Schengen visa was approved via Denmark and I was reunited with my precious sisters in Christ.

JTM: What is one thing you think people should know about your homeland, the Philippines?
CD: The true treasure of the Philippines is her people. In spite of being faced with non-stop political problems, natural calamities, poverty and other injustices, Filipinos remain resilient, positive, hospitable and generous. Being the only Christian nation in Asia that acknowledges Jesus as Lord is the reason why our nation still stands.

JTM: Do you have a favorite recipe that you’d like to share with us?

THE LAZY CHEF’S BAKED CHICKEN RECIPE
Ingredients:
1 whole chicken (pre-washed with salt and calamansi or lemon)
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 to 1 1/2 tbsp rock salt
2 tbsp garlic powder and pepper seasoning
1 can of cream of mushroom soup

Procedure:
1. Pat dry the pre-washed chicken.
2. Sprinkle rock salt, garlic powder and pepper seasoning on the skin and inside the chicken. Massage gently.
3. Pour the cream of mushroom inside the chicken. To make sure that the liquid does not spill, seal the opening.
4. Drizzle some olive oil on the chicken skin.
5. Bake the chicken in 350F for at least an hour.
6. After the first 30 minutes, turn the chicken on the other side and drizzle more Olive Oil. Put it back in the oven for another 30-45 minutes. The juice from the chicken and the cream will serve as the gravy. Super yummy!