Seeking

Two months post Dallas Harvest America, the anticipation was swirling as the 39 th annual Harvest Crusade neared. Again, my husband, Rick, and I were asked if we would join our two boys, Jacob and Zachary, with the SWAT team. (Finances had yet to improve. In fact, they got worse, but the Lord continued to provide for our every need, including the costs for Jacob’s Summer High School Church Camp and the trip…again!) As was the case in "Waiting to Say Yes: Dallas," it was not an issue if I was called to go. This time, it was a matter of if we would be physically able to go. Cost aside, there were spiritual attacks that surfaced to prevent two of us from attending about two weeks prior and then directly on one, three days prior and even during the first day of the trip. No surprise. But God’s will always prevails . On the morning of day one, I read through 1 Corinthians Chapter 2 where it is packed FULL of power and truth. In sum, when we share with others, the messa...

I am thirty-one years old, and I began attending “SWAT” (Students with a Testimony) in February 2018. Two weeks earlier, Rick, my husband, and I dropped off our two sons, Jacob (going on 16) and Zachary (13) to attend for their first time. After asking them about their experience, my husband and I began talking, and the question came up, why are we not going? Neither of us could come up with a valid excuse, other than our age, but, rather, we came up with a list of reasons why we should go. Thirty minutes of worship. Thirty minutes of teaching on apologetics (how to defend your faith). Head to witnessing location, which is typically Tyler Mall. Men are paired or grouped up with other men, as is the case with women. One by one, each group disperses into the mall, praying, seeking whom the Lord would have hear the message of the full gospel – we are sinners, separated from a perfect and holy God; but he sent his son, Jesus Christ, to die on the cross, pay for our sins and rise from the...

Have you ever heard the question: just wait until you have kids or you’re married? I have yet to hear these in positive contexts. Mainly, it’s been a discouragement. And most often, it’s been followed up with, your life will be over. Not too long, but my husband and I are going on four years of marriage, and my life is not over (but my life as I know it could have been – more below). The contrary, my life is new! Our bond is stronger than ever, and I am beyond thankful I waited to marry Rick Valadez. Going back to when I was 20 years old, I was dating this man, and I did what I swore as a "Christian woman" I would never do while dating. I had sex before marriage. You see, I accepted as fact that Jesus was born and came to die to forgive me of my sins (much like a fire insurance policy) and make me morally good and blessed. But,  while I thought I was forgiven of my sins, I continued walking in and towards them . I was ready to walk down the aisle with him, but almost ...

Our SWAT team is back from our mission with the Harvest Crusade in Anaheim 2018.  The mission was fruitful, productive, exciting, encouraging, physically/mentally/emotionally draining, spiritually invigorating.  There was spiritual warfare, laughter, tears, joy, intense prayer, unity, and a laser focus on the guidance of the Holy Spirit to share the love and hope of Jesus Christ.  Hopefully, some of these words will enable you to picture the AWESOME work God did in Anaheim this week August 16-19. Where to start…which story to tell you about… they were all diverse, unique, and divinely appointed.  Let me start by telling you that God allowed our team to bring 63 people to a commitment or re-commitment to Christ.  Additionally, keep in mind that the majority of the time our team was successful in sharing the gospel and leaving people with something to consider.  It reminded me of a passage I read recently in my devo, 1 Corinthians 3:6-9, where some pl...

A fellow Swatian and I were walking back from lunch at the a mall in Dallas Texas. I was late Saturday afternoon and about to wrap up our day.  When we see this young African American man from afar sitting on a white bench alone.  As we get closer we notice he’s sharply dressed, wearing a navy blue suite, red tie and has his earbuds on.  He’s tuned out on what’s going on, but as we approach, My Swatian cohort engages the young man and we introduce ourselves to him.  Anthony was his name, he was 25 and was very warm and welcoming.  We told him about harvest America and invited him to come out to the event.  He hadn’t heard of the event so we began to share what the event was about.  There was going to be a concert with a couple of Christian bands and following that our pastor was going to be sharing the gospel. We explained that he was going to be talking about God, and his Son Jesus.  How he sent his one and only son on a rescue mission to ...