About

I grew up in a loving, Christian home in Southern California. At the age of 12, after attending private school since pre-school, I was enrolled in public school for 7th grade. It was at that age that I was faced with an identity crisis of being Mexican American, but not looking like one, like the rest of my classmates. After a year of intense bullying, I joined a street gang and began to live a double life. I opened myself up to the temptations of drugs, alcohol, crime, and sex. At 16-years-old, I found out I was pregnant, but soon after my son, Josh, was born, I realized that settling down was not the life for me. My parents kept my son while I continued to feed my cravings for this high-risk lifestyle.

 In January of 1996, my parents, after years of prayer, decided it was time for me to leave California. Without my consent or knowledge, they packed my bags and shared the news with me on the day I was to leave. After placing my bags in the trunk of the car, my parents drove me to LAX where I flew to the Atlanta airport and ultimately Cleveland Tennessee, where my mother had arranged for me to enroll at Lee College, my parents alma mater. After fighting resentment, bitterness, confusion, and fear, I re-committed my life to Jesus Christ six weeks after my arrival.

It was that same month that I discovered that I was pregnant -again – a student at Lee College, no job, no car, no money and 2,000 miles away from home. I believed the only option was abortion. After looking in the local phone book, I found one abortion clinic in Cleveland, New Hope Crisis Pregnancy Center - or so I thought until I walked into the center that day in February of 1996.

The pregnancy center counselor walked into that small room not knowing she would be confronted with fear, desperation, guilt, and shame. After finding out that it was a Christian resource center for women in crisis pregnancies, I said; “Look lady, I love the Lord, but there is absolutely no way I can have this baby. I will get kicked out of Lee, my parents will be so disappointed, and I won’t be able to bear the shame again. If I can’t have an abortion here, I’ll go somewhere else. There’s nothing you can say that will change my mind.”

 The quick thinking and pleaded intercession of the New Hope staff in the center that day began to rise on my behalf - as the spiritual battle between life and death raged. My client counselor came back into the room with a VHS tape and asked for a few more minutes of my time before I left. As I watched a documentary, the overwhelmingly brutal procedures of abortion left me paralyzed and hopeless.

I hid my pregnancy from my parents, my friends, my professors at Lee and church members. But I couldn’t hide it from God. In fact, I felt His presence daily in my life and could see the work of His hands throughout my circumstance. During my pregnancy and through divine intervention, I learned of a Christian couple who were looking to adopt. After prayerful consideration, I chose this couple to be the parents of my child. On July 30, 1996, I gave birth to a healthy, black headed, brown skinned, little Hispanic boy. I remember that last day I held him in my arms. The Holy Spirit revealed Himself to me in a way I had never experienced before. Never was I left to carry the burden of being separated from my child alone, but the pain has always been present.

 After graduating from college, I began serving my community as a police officer with the Cleveland Police Department. Throughout my 20-year career as a public servant, the Lord has given me many opportunities to share my story with people who are searching for a Savior, but not yet know it. In March of 2017, my 20-year prayer was answered when I was reunited with my 2nd son.