Presentation Women Building Destinies March 5, 2011: Victim of bigamy, with an alcoholic father

I want to thank the pastor for inviting me. When she invited me and mentioned the topic, women of impact, it caught my attention because I have been surrounded by women of impact. We have seen the impact women of the Bible but also those with whom one grows up.

And I believe that this is what we are called to do, to have an impact, not to let problems and circumstances have an impact on us, we have an impact on the circumstances. Praise the Lord.

Before continuing I want to read in First Peter 4 good stewards of God's grace, and we are going to read in Chapter 11. We read:

“…If anyone speaks, speak according to the words of God. If anyone ministers, minister according to the power that God gives so that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom glory and empire belong forever and ever. Amen…"

Let us pray, beloved. Thank you Lord for this day, thank you for your presence. Thank you because we know that you are here, Lord. Thank you for allowing us to get here, for the willingness, Lord, thank you for your unity. We ask that you speak into our lives according to our need. Guide us Lord and may we learn and grow in you in Jesus name. Amen.

Well, I was telling you that I have been surrounded by women of impact and within those women I can cite my mother, a woman devoted to the Lord with a broad ministry, devoted to her family, a woman many call her mom. She has given a marvelous example of service, dedication to the Lord, as a wife, as a daughter, as a sister-in-law, as an aunt, as a cousin.

The other mother that I have, because I have several, my pastor from Santo Domingo, Sister América, has impacted my life as well. A friend is 75 years old and we go out when we are in Santo Domingo and we share as if we were the same age. She has impacted my life. Mayra Rodríguez, you know her. Mayra has a gift of intercession that has made an impact on me.

I've known her since she was young. We grew up in the same church in Santo Domingo and she has that gift of intercession, but at the same time she has a sense of humor and that is something that we need, that joy that stays with us.

When I came here to León de Judá, someone who made an impact on me, Pastor Meche. How the Lord uses her in that special sweetness that comes from him. That has impacted me.

Vanesa Santos Mirabal, how adorable, tremendous. My sister Katia, with four children dedicated to the Lord, works, studies. Her children range from 17 to 3 years old and she goes to church twice, I don't know how she does it.

And my mother Ada, who has given me life advice, which I thank the Lord so much for her, and thank the Lord because she has helped me put those advice into practice. It is useless to give us advice if we do not put it into practice. She is my family here and I thank the Lord for that.

Of all those people I want to talk about my mother. She instructed me and my brothers on the way. A mother devoted to the Lord, as I told you, as the word says, instructs the child in his path and even though he is old he will not stray from it. Instruct the child is not to bring him to church, it is to teach him to pray, teach him to intercede, teach him to be a warrior from a very young age. I learned that from my mom.

She also taught me that commandment with a promise: Honor your father and your mother so that it may go well with you on the days that Jehovah your God gives you. Blessed be the name of God.

And you will say honor our parents. On one occasion someone told me, well, but my dad has been so bad that honoring him doesn't apply. It turns out that our parents have to give an account to God, that is something between them. We have to comply with what it says. Honor and how you say it, honor our father and our mother. It doesn't say our parents, it separates them.

And perhaps you will say, but you grew up in a Christian home, it was easy for you. My mother, a servant of God, my father an alcoholic. Alcoholic to drink Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday. If it rained I drank, if the sun came out I drank. If I was sad I drank. If he was happy, he drank. It was take. I don't know if you know that there are people who drink, as they say, they get drunk, they fall asleep, there are others who become happy, there are others who become aggressive. In my house the dishes were flying. It was a very difficult time that did not last 5, or 10, or 20 years. It lasted much longer than that.

And I must tell you that throughout this process my mother was always there telling us, you must honor your father. They should honor their dad. And he also told us, remember that you have a heavenly Father, think of that heavenly Father who supplies all your needs, that he is not going to leave you, four little children. And they were such difficult situations that at midnight, Mommy had to go out with us at midnight. We had to leave the house. And I didn't understand that.

Brothers, children assimilate everything, even a bad look between parents, and they keep it, they keep it. And sometimes we think, no, but he's too small, he doesn't understand. Of course. And that is affecting and affecting, and although my mother protected us, it was creating a certain resentment against my father in me. I loved him, I wanted him, but I did not understand why having an admirable wife, devoted to the Lord, a good mother, we good children, because despite everything, we were the model children of the entire neighborhood. We were embarrassed that the entire neighborhood knew the situation of my house, because when daddy would arrive drunk at midnight, the entire neighborhood would wake up because it was a terrible thing. That could not be hidden. It was the music, exploding. The neighbors had to come to help us. Blessed be the name of God.

And when we already reached a certain knowledge, mommy sat us down and told us, "Your dad acts like that because in his childhood he was rejected." Brothers, behind every vision there is a reason. And it is not that we are going to pass a lukewarm cloth, but you have to understand and everything comes from childhood. And this morning when I arrived I was praying for them, and they were praying for the children, the Lord has placed a burden for the children.

On the first morning of the church, the children's pastor, Jonathan, said that just as in the church they passed out pieces of paper to write down the requests, the children were also passed pieces of paper and he was surprised when he saw so many pieces of paper that said "Pray that my parents don't fight."

Don't pray for a toy, or for me to do well in school, or for my parents not to fight. And sometimes we see that our children are born healthy and suddenly develop diseases. Let's check what happens at home. I was a victim of that.

My nerves deteriorated, at school they had to call my mom to pick me up, they began to deteriorate. One day I wake up and notice that I can't walk well, they were in tremendous pain and I couldn't. I went to the bathroom, holding on, came back, sat down, and then called mommy. "Mommy, I can't walk well." He says to me, "Did you fall?" I told him, “No,” “But maybe you fell and forgot”, “No,” “You hit yourself.” "No." He checked me, there was nothing. That was Saturday morning. Sunday we went to church walking. To go to church we had to stop four or five times, I couldn't walk. On Monday they took me to the doctor. The doctor to mommy, "I'm going to transfer her to a specialist because she presents the beginning of paralysis."

And they took me to a specialist, they did the checkup. I also began to have problems with my hands and the diagnosis was indeed a beginning of polyneuritis, progressive paralysis. The doctor told her, “We're going to put her in therapy, but there's not much to do. She's going to be paralyzed."

Imagine yourself in the middle of a home with so many problems, this news. This was tremendous. And we got to the house, I went to the room. My mom looked up a medical encyclopedia and began to read, and right there in the kitchen she knelt down, opened her arms, and said, “Lord, I don't want my daughter to be paralyzed. I don't want my paralyzed daughter. I declare her healthy."

When I go out, I see that, my mother crying like a girl, I went to my room and I sat down and began to pray. And everything my mom taught me came to my mind. Everything she taught me came to mind. When I was born it was a sunny Wednesday and she named me Betsaida Noemi. Betsaida is a fishing house, Naomi, sweetness. My grandfather wanted to be named Carolina, but she said, that's her name.

And my mom explained to me why she gave me that name. She told me “It was in Betsaida that the Lord multiplied the fish. It was in Betsaida that the Lord healed the blind man. Felipe was from Bethsaida.” He looked up the Bible and taught me, “Look, there is Bethsaida. It is a city of Israel.” And all this she told me and my brothers too. She tried to fill that void, that wound, because my brothers were also affected.

And at that moment I began to pray and tell him, "Lord, you did all those miracles in Bethsaida, do that miracle in me too." I was only 12 years old. and I said, “Lord, don't do it for me, do it for mommy. I don't want mommy to suffer. She has too much to suffer for. Do it for daddy too, because if I get paralyzed, he's going to drink more. Do it for my brothers, I don't want them to continue suffering."

And there, brothers, I began to pray, to believe God. To believe God you don't have to know the Bible from Genesis to Revelation. To believe God you just have to believe in God and have faith. Blessed be Jesus. Believing him no matter what circumstance we are in. Believing that he is going to get us out of where we are. Blessing be Jesus.

And since I was a child, the Lord had spoken to my life that I would go to different countries, and that my feet would step on other lands. And sitting there I said, “I want to go to those countries and step on it. I don't want to go in a wheelchair." And I started to pray. Well, I was semi-inpatient, receiving therapy three times a week, more therapy at home, and one Sunday, in Sunday school, I felt a tremendous presence of the Lord.

Brothers, when the pastor says, we will intercede. When the pastor says, the Lord is going to bring healing, there is going to be liberation, brothers, look, we are going to forget about the sister who is next to us, in front, to the right, we are going to concentrate and be in the same tone. Because, brothers, the Lord moves in a special way at the moment we least expect.

Well, that day in Sunday school, the pastor said, "The Lord is going to heal Betsaidita today, let her come in, because the Lord is going to heal her." Brothers, the Lord healed me. Look. I have never sat in a wheelchair. Blessed be the name of God. Hallelujah!. I praise the Lord for that. I did not lose my school year. I had to do a lot of calligraphy because I couldn't write. I was totally affected, but the Lord healed me and the Lord is real and the Lord is good.

And this is a living testimony of what it is to sow in a child. Praise the Lord. Of what it is to sow in a child. Well, the difficulties continued at home and the time came, then a year after that I began the missions with Mayra and a group of young people. We would go to the remote fields, at the age of 15 I went on my first mission trip out of the country. I walked through three countries. I watered treatises. I preached at the age of 15 and I said, “Lord, your promise is being fulfilled, your promise has been fulfilled.” Blessed be the name of God.

Of about 15 countries that I have been to, only 5 have been on vacation, the rest have been missions and I give glory to the Lord for that. One of those trips was to Cuba. Cuba has been one of my missions that has impacted my life the most. I was saving for a car and it came to go to Cuba and the Lord put it in my heart to go to Cuba, and I said, “I'm going to Cuba. I went, I took out all my savings, I went to a place in my country called La Sirena, I spoke with a manager… La Sirena, the store is always full. I spoke with a manager to give me a sale price because I was going on a mission to Cuba.

I bought boxes of toilet paper, deodorant, toothpaste, soap and it was through a tour that I went. My mother put her head in her hand and told me, “I know that they are going to call me from there, that Fidel returned you, but amen. Glory to Jesus. If you feel like going, go." And well, it was a little test, because at the beginning I was a bit... because it was in those days when Cuba didn't allow itself much to go.

My pastor told me, "Yes, go" and my dad told me, "Let her go, she's going to be fine." Well, on the tour all these people with their suitcases, I didn't know anyone on the tour, with their very pretty suitcases, and I was full of boxes. Everywhere boxes, and they had to help me push my boxes. When I arrived in Cuba at the 5-star hotel, but outside, another reality.

I thought that the church that I was going to go to was going to be far away. Surprise. At the hotel counter I asked, “A church nearby.” Five churches mentioned me. I chose one and went and carried. I enjoyed that in the service and I must tell you that it was a marvelous mission. When I came back my account was at zero. I had promised my brother that I would have money, that he would buy me a car that year. We were already halfway through the year. I started saving. The Lord multiplied all my savings. December arrived, I did not have the car, I had asked the Lord to testify to him, and before my brothers, I wanted the car that year.

December 15, no car. December 30, no car. Blessed be the name of God. And me praying On December 31st I slipped out of bed and fell to my knees. "Sir, I want the car this year." And there were hours. So, my brothers had already searched, and nothing, everything was much more expensive or not really what we wanted. We got to a place, we got closer, we looked at a car and I said "That's it." I didn't say anything to them, I went to a little shade, I started to pray. They are checking engines. They come to me, “What happened? You do not like?" "Yes I like it. I am praying, go and negotiate.”

Well, they did so, they went quickly, they began to negotiate. The owner was not there, he was at home. To make this testimony short, because the testimony is very long, the owner of the dealer sent us to go to his house. He welcomed us like family, he handed me the car key, he told me, "We'll talk later, take the car." On December 31 at 6:30 p.m. the car was parked at my house.

Hallelujah! Sisters, you have to give. When we give the Lord works. You have to give. If we don't have the money, we're going to find a service. Let's go with time. A sister who has children who need a break of two or three hours, we are going to offer our service to take care of those children. We are going to take a soup to another sister who needs it. We are going to contribute, we are going to serve, brothers, the service. And let me tell you, serve without expecting anything. Because the blessing comes where we least expect. This is how the Lord works, so that no one gets glory, only him. Blessed be the name of God. Hallelujah!. Glory to Jesus.

Holy Jesus. Of my missions there are many more testimonies, but we continue. At the age of 31 I got married and it was a marriage prayed by the Lord with a person of God and I was very happy, that was the reason I came here to the United States, new life. It was a beginning to get married, it's a new beginning, imagine for me, coming to another country. I'm going to talk a little fast. Coming to another country, a new language, a new family, a new custom, a new temperature, everything new.

I was almost 31 years old and in my house my already grown brothers, men, we cried. The separation, we grew well united. My two brothers are now men and they are the best of friends. They care for each other, protect each other, love each other, respect each other, advise each other. My sister and I the same.

And let me tell you that, still at 31, that day, my dad was drunk. What a tremendous farewell. I left in tremendous pain, with that scenario. What marked my life was still there and although he had already made his decision, he had been baptized, brothers, but vice is something tremendous. The vice ends and he was rejected as a child and that was the only thing he knew, to drink. Take.

When he wasn't drinking, the best father. But when I drank, oh God! There were no children, there was no wife, nothing. The enemy always tried to bring misfortune in the house but could not. And I left sad, leaving my mom, my dad, my brothers, more leaving my dad like this, then thinking, now mommy is going to have to face that, because I was always at home intermediating.

And I came to my new married life, the first year, a wonderful year, brothers, sisters, respect, love, a blessing. I was happy, although it was a change and at first I was depressed by the distance and everything. I started working very early, as a child, I worked in a bank in Santo Domingo for 8 years, my church, my social life, for me it was a resounding change to come to this country. 6 months without working, at first he didn't want me to work, plus something else, he traveled a lot for his job. I was alone for a long time, but I knew that from the beginning.

But already in the second year, the trips were not for two weeks, but for three, four weeks, even 8 weeks, two months. The second year everything changed. It changed drastically. Tremendous emotional abuse. With this size that I have, he called me fat. And the abuse was so great that I believed it. I would go to the store and buy size 10, size 12, and that's how I dressed, because I was fat.

But it is a lie from the devil. And here we all are going to declare that we are beautiful for him. Do not allow, do not allow the enemy to bring messages to your mind about whether I am fat or skinny, or small, or whatever. We are beautiful to the Lord. At that moment I believed it all. He called me ugly, and mocked, contempt.

Did you know that one of the things that most marks a person and a woman is contempt? That is why immigration is so painful, because there is a lot of contempt. Discrimination against the immigrant. I felt totally despised by that man who confessed that he loved me, that we got married in a beautiful wedding, who sang a beautiful song for me in church. Everything changed.

Brothers, when we move away from the purpose of the Lord we open the door to our lives and we give authority to the devil, to the enemy. The Lord rebuke him, so that he may possess us. So, we become monsters. That person turned into a monster. He was a child of God but he had let himself go and the first thing he let go of was prosperity. He was doing well in business and we had to be careful with that too. The Lord blesses, but if the blessing becomes something else it will never come, he does not give it to us. The Lord knows the heart. He knows the heart.

And that's where it all started. So by the second year I said, well, let's go get help. No, we don't need help. I told him, let's sit down and talk, to find a solution. Not all it's rigth. I told him, well then, honestly, three years, if there is no change, I spoke with his, my family knew nothing about all this. I took a trip to Canada to talk to some uncles who were his advisers, they took a trip to New York, we sat down. At first all good. Same thing, reconciliation, same thing. There were like 25 reconciliations. Imagine yourselves.

And then since I was a child I wanted to be a mother. So, we agreed to wait a year and after that year start looking. Since he traveled so much, he almost never coincided, but within him there was no such desire, his desire was taken away. He had a son that I love very much, but he lost his desire and no. I have one, why another one?

And I clung to that, that I wanted to have a child, because that's how we were going to be together, my son and I. Well, it was something that I prayed and asked the Lord for so much and I always went, since I had a miss or two I went to the hospital. They already knew me at the hospital. And negative. The fourth time I went they told me, when you have 30 days you come, they didn't even test me because I was going so much that you're not coming anymore.

Well, I got pregnant. O what joy! And I went, they did the test and yes, I became a landlady, too, but I wanted to go to another center. And I went to that other positive center, and there I began to cry. They told me that the day he was born was the same day as his birthday. What happiness! I was happy. And there crying and crying with emotion, the nurses hugged me, I felt that one came out and came in with a piece of paper, and she hugged me. Do not worry, there is a solution, you just have to sign here and we will do the abortion for you.

In addition. I gave a ministry to those nurses at that time against abortion, that they thought that I was half coconut. And I got home and I already wanted to have confirmation of all those tests so that I could tell him. I tell you. And he points out to me, "tomorrow you get up and have an abortion." He repeated it to me that I was going backwards like that, because I couldn't believe what I was hearing. He told me, “I don't want that child. So you have to do it." I told him, “but, I can have him, he is my son and I can take care of him. Let me have it." He told me no. and I told him, “well, you know what? That is against what the Lord commands. I'm going to have it." And I refused that and started my medical appointments. But that great pain inside me, I couldn't believe what I had heard. The rejection continued. The mockery continued.

And I must tell you that he is a child of God allowed to be used by the enemy. Many times a difficult time because he was leaving for a while and I had to pay for everything in the house and I was left without money, without food, and I was left with bread. I had to wait a week to collect. Sisters, I lasted a week eating bread and drinking water. I divided the bread into sections, into portions. I just thought, if my parents knew this. But the Lord allowed all that so that my love would go away. Because he knew that if I stayed in that relationship I was going to be totally destroyed. I started to smear and it turned out that he was in the house. And I tell him, I'm spotting, at the hospital they gave me several guidelines: if you suddenly notice spots, you should come to the emergency room.

I told him, “take me to the emergency.” He refused. I left alone, at night. But, brothers, even if we are in need, in whatever situation we are in, the Lord is there with us. And one thing that we must understand is that even if we have children, even if we have a husband, even if we have parents, we must depend directly on God, have our trust in God, depend totally on him. Because the Lord fills everything in everything, and he covers all needs.

And the Lord sent me an angel that day. I stopped a taxi, I didn't tell him anything, or where I was going, he looked at me and drove off. But the Lord had an angel for me. Another taxi driver arrived, when I got closer, it was a woman, so I got in, I told her where I was going, she looks at me in the rearview mirror, I told her, I'm going to such a hospital, to an emergency. And then she says to me, “are you sick?” I told her, "I'm staining" through the rearview mirror, she talks to me and tells me, "I also had a loss." I didn't tell her she was miscarrying, but that was the word she used. I also had a loss.

It was an angel that the Lord sent me to prepare myself. The Lord knew that I was not going to keep the child, and there were two of them. I got to the emergency room alone and she told me, I also had a loss and she explained to me almost everything I was going through. And there alone, without family, in the hospital I faced my loss with which my soul left. I felt like I fell from the fifth floor without a parachute.

That marked my life. I didn't want to know about anything, about anyone. I was a daughter of God, who had served God, why did that happen to me? I didn't accept it. And my mother told me, you have to pray. Mommy, I don't even feel like praying. I don't want, I don't feel, I have no words. Pray. I was annihilating myself. I dried-up. Dry. I would come home, close the door and crawl right there on the floor. I didn't eat, I ate pop corn and water. I couldn't even see a sign for children's things, because right there everywhere in front of everyone, to cry.

Sisters, it's okay for us to cry, but we weren't born to be martyrs. We go through tests, but we have to shake it off and move on, because as we said at the beginning, we have to impact circumstances, not have circumstances, tests and experiences impact us. Each process is the Lord making our character, it is the Lord working in our lives. And I did not understand, I did not accept it, I did not accept it.

Then, people began to call me, who had suffered losses, and then I began to minister in my pain to those other people, to those other women. And that was healing, it was healing. But I hadn't taken the time to say thank you to the Lord. You have to give thanks for everything, for everything. The Bible says to give thanks for the good things, not for the not very good, no, for everything.

And one day I couldn't handle the pain anymore and I gave up and told him, Lord, thank you, thank you for this loss, thank you because he fills everything and in everything. Sisters, and you, those who have children will say, but the space of a child is not filled by anything. Yes. God fills it. The space of a husband God fills it. The space of any need God fills it. You have to be there, you have to know God to understand that, that's why Job and it was a book that the Lord made me read, and why don't I read psalms, proverbs, something that encourages me. No, Job. It was Job who had to read. Oh my gosh, like one sore on top of the other.

Ah, but that's how the Lord works. That's how he works. I had to read the book of Job. Not just read it, apply it to me and at the last he said, I had heard you more now my eyes see you. Blessed be the name of God. The Lord is real. The Lord is wonderful.

Today there is no voice that tells me mom, but there is a God that tells me, you are my daughter and I know what is best for you. Blessed be the name of God. He sees much further. He sees what is good for us. Blessed be the name of God. And you will say, well, Betsy, the best thing that can happen to a woman is a child. Look, the Lord is the one who completes us. The one who believes that when I get married I will be complete, ah, ah, no. the one who believes that when he has the child he will be complete, no. the Lord is the one who completes us and when we understand that we can say, we serve a real God, a good God, a God who wants the best for us. Blessed be the name of God.

Well, throughout this process the Lord spoke to me about Boston and I didn't want to go to Boston, I wanted to go to Florida. And September 11 came, the company I worked for was moving to Florida. They offered me to move in with them. A terrific package, even a better position, the same salary, better salary, a down payment for a house, paying for my move, everything. just imagine. And I was going to Florida. But it was not for there. The Lord had used my pastor and mommy to come here to Boston to León de Judá. Hi!

And I, mommy, León de Judá already knew about León de Judá, I didn't know about León de Judá. Sir, the Lion of Judah is the Lion of Judah. We have to give value to our Congregation. That saying, no, no, we have to live as such. León de Judá is known in many places as a church of God, a Congregation of God, and we have to align ourselves because the name of God will not remain in vain or in shame. We have to align.

Well, there was Mami, there is Mayra, there is Zenia, there is Tati, in León de Judá. And I, mommy, I'm not going to Boston, I don't want to go any further than Santo Domingo. I want to go to Florida, a two-hour flight and that's it, and I'm with you. I'm going there. No, no, no, mommy, I like New York. And the Lord speaking to me with that. But I don't understand anything. Well, September 11 happened, with my suitcase ready to go to Florida, the place to live, and the Lord told me, you're not going.

Brothers, look, one has to be well in tune with the Lord, in order to understand when he speaks to one. And one does not take the step and fall into the hole. I had my suitcase ready. And when the Lord said, you're not going, I cared about the boss, the company, the place where I was going to live. I said, no, I have to stay, I can't leave in disobedience. I stay here in New York, but I don't go to Boston.

And I was left in New York without a job, the situation of my marriage was tremendous. I said, it's time to take the plunge. 5 years had already passed. I said, now that I'm out of work I'm going to take advantage, I'm going to Santo Domingo, I'm going to talk to my parents. My older brother knew why he came to visit me when I had the loss and he himself told me, "you have to get out of this relationship." What advice. He himself saw the situation, he told me, you have to get out. There was a night that he left the house, without knowing anything about New York to walk. I couldn't take it. He told me, "no, it's that you have to get out of this situation." I told him, “please don't say anything to my parents. Don't say anything to daddy and mommy. I'm going to go, I'm going to talk to them and that's how it's going to be."

Well, since I was out of work, I took advantage and bought my ticket. Well, it turns out that one day before I leave, I'm washing up and I look like this and I see an envelope coming out of my husband's briefcase. At home there were always envelopes from his briefcase, but I had never had the need to go check anything, for what? To all this there were many infidelities, with all those trips. One day, he would wait for me to go to bed, then make his calls. One day I felt that the Lord lifted me out of bed, literally lifted me up. The office was in the house, when I approach I hear the conversation of two lovers. I said, wow, but I didn't say anything. The next day I told him, he told me that I was imagining things. She told her family that the miscarriage had made me insane, that I was hearing things. And well, I heard things, but I wasn't hearing things, I was seeing, totally separated. Physical rejection. "Please give me a hug." "No, no, no, you are fat, ugly." Tremendous.

Well, that day the Lord comes back and looks at me on that envelope. I go and say, ok, I finish washing up, I dry my hands and I go and get the envelope. It was open, I didn't have to breach it. I take some photos, there was a letter addressed to my husband from his wife, which was not me. I stayed, but is it what I'm reading or what am I reading? And I read it, and I read it and I said, no, someone has to read it and understand because they don't understand. I took her nervous, trembling, I went to her sisters, who were a wonderful family for me, and I taught her everything. And they, yes, that's what it is. They told me, you have to get a copy.

Brothers, you have to copy it, I didn't think of that, but they do and they adore their brother. Their brother has been like a father to them. Look, and nothing, I had to get the copy. The other day, the Lord wanted me to see that already so that... brothers, I didn't cry, I just couldn't believe it. I was a victim of bigamy and on the plane I cried because I didn't cry at home.

And when I got to my parents, I melted. I collapsed. I had neither physical nor emotional strength, it was like everything together, I was broken, in pieces. They had no way of reasoning or understanding, they had no desire to eat or the strength to chew. My mom had to feed me like this. But, we made a prayer team, a strong prayer team.

And there again, daughter, you have to move to Boston. And me, mommy, don't talk to me about Boston. When they mentioned that to me, I didn't want to, I rejected that. Well, I arrived in New York, we were already separated, but I had nowhere to go, I was out of work, I had to stay living under the same roof. Well, then I got a job, I had to work for a year to apply for an apartment, with only one week of work I went and applied. They rejected me and I said, please listen to me. And I left you another ministry, brothers, we are called to be warriors. That manager was not a Christian or anything, and I ministered to him right there and left. Two days later he called me. They gave me an apartment, with a week of work. With no proof that they were going to let me in that job, praise the Lord.

Well, then I moved from there, I was happy, living in a very good place, a job in the Rockefeller area in a financial company, and attending Time Square Church, a wonderful church. I was happy. And thank you, Lord, but in pieces.

He knows that sometimes one looks very well but inside are the wounds. And that's why the Lord wanted to get me out of New York, disconnect me from everything, because he wanted me here in Boston. And I didn't understand it. Well, the Lord began to close doors, because if you don't go to the good one, to the bad one. And the great job, I had to quit because the boss took advantage of her being single, and I don't know what, and… a married man, with his wife working right there. Tremendous test. I started to pray, they removed him from the position, but the Lord wanted me to get out of there. Even so.

And nothing, jobless again, willing to look for another job. So I decide to go to a Joyce Mayor retreat in Saint Louis for three days. I went there and not to tire him the guest was T.D. Jakes. Between everything he said, which was a lot, everything for me. I went with a group of friends who traveled from different states, he was preaching and I was sitting there and they were all doing this. Looking at me, it's all for you, Betsy. One of the things he said was, the Lord is speaking, he says to pack your suitcase, get out of where you are and move to where he is telling you.

That was it, brothers, it was that I had to understand somehow. Brothers, the Lord does not say, do not go that way, come this way, and we do not understand. What stubbornness! And he speaks to us in a thousand ways, but we continue there with that stubbornness, because this is not what I want. The Lord knows the best and what is best for us. Praise the Lord.

Well, I had no other choice, I came back to New York. I called mommy, “mommy, I have to go to Boston.” AHA! She bought a flight, came and brought me to Boston. He gave me the introduction so that I would become familiar. It was a vacation trip. We came to León de Judá. Oh, the famous church. Sister, forgive me, when I arrived I didn't like it. I didn't like it, I didn't feel like it and it was the enemy that I didn't like it, but it was here that the Lord wanted me.

And well, I started the process of looking for a place to live. A close friend offered me a job here. He offered me to stay at his house for 2 weeks because I had a job but had nowhere to live. So, nothing, I stayed there. They themselves helped me find a place to live and I started from scratch. I did not like it. It was against my will, but I was obedient. And the Lord had said that he was going to bless me here, that he was going to help me, that he was going to prosper me, and that encouraged me.

The first Sunday that I came, the pastor greeted me and I told him, I am new here. Without him knowing anything about me he prophesied tremendously, the Lord brought you here to make you, to help you, to renew you. He will bless you, everything you lost he will give you multiplied. It will put you in places you have never imagined. And that day I arrived home happy and called my mom on the phone in Santo Domingo, "Mommy, the Lord spoke to me through the same pastor." And she told me, “I told you. There the word is preached as it is. And Pastor Roberto Miranda is a prophet. Everything he told you himself will be."

And me hoping that everything would be the same. Well, I came in pieces, and I hoped that the Lord was going to put me as truth, because he did so and ground me. It hurts and it hurts. Hurts. Everything started to turn out completely the opposite of what I expected. All different. And the enemy whispering to me, "I told you not to come." Everything was different. The first day I went out to get to know the city, I still live very close to the Prudential and I went out to go to the Mall for my first time, and I was happy. Oh, how beautiful this is here! And entering like this, two young people, beautiful, precious, kissing as boyfriends. Full daylight. I went back to myself, I went back to my house, I called mommy.

Mommy, this is what the Lord brought me. And I believe that this is Sodom and Gomorrah. I could not understand, here everything is worse for me. I even got sick. I did not understand anything. And I said, Lord, you didn't bring me here for me to be ashamed of. They started making me great job offers in New York. They called me from a building that I had applied for, where the person who answered the door wore gloves, a building of those skyscrapers with a golf area in the same building, swimming pools, a gym, everything, luxury, and many offers. And the Lord here was that he loved me.

Well, after a lot of battling with saying to my sister, no, I'm going back to New York. This here doesn't work. The money is not enough for me. And it was that the Lord wanted me in the crucible, and I did not want to understand it. He wanted to put me in the oven to make me again and I was refusing.

Well, I told my sister, "we are going to fast for three days." Brothers, fasting is something that we must adopt and it is one of the tools of the Christian, not for once a year. Fasting is a daily Christian thing. Well, I joined my sister in three days of fasting. The second day, Saturday, I collapsed before the Lord and said, "Lord, forgive me, if I am so stubborn, but just give me a sign that this is where you love me, and this is where you brought me." I came to church early on Sunday, a wonderful message and the pastor said, Pastor Roberto, “Don't let the enemy confuse you, even if you see that the sky is black, even if everything turns out to be the opposite, the Lord has great things for you. But that's where you have to stay. Don't let the enemy confuse you." Brothers, that was the last thing, and I said, Lord, here I am staying.

So I started working in the children's ministry, in the nursery, starting from scratch, that's how the Lord wanted me. Working with the children. And the Lord told me every Sunday that I had to serve as a teacher, when they fell down while crawling, collapsed or walked, that's how the Lord wanted me: to start from scratch.

That process started. The Lord began to speak into my life. The Lord began to arm me. The Lord began to speak to me. I began to seek the Lord, I began to believe in the Lord, I began to trust in the Lord, and there I kept quiet, because I have never liked being seen much. That's why many people don't even know me, I still believe. And after five and a half years of serving in the children's ministry, many people didn't know me. I am already six years and peak in the church.

And in the middle of all this process, one day I wake up depressed and I got dressed also depressed. Brothers, you know that we have to give our best to the Lord. And that goes from praise to the hook. Two Sundays ago a sister who is here told me, "Betsy, you are always well dressed and well dressed." And I told him, “I have learned to give the best to the Lord, the best praise. I don't expect an important start to put on my best”. When I have an important outing, sister, I can't find what to wear because I wear everything to come to church, because it's my most important outing.

Let's give our best to the Lord inside and out. Because they knew that one of the things that the depressed person uses is, that very thing, to throw himself into abandonment. So, no, we are not depressed. We are called to give our best to the Lord. Well, that day I got up and dressed in mourning, I made an ugly little bun back here, because that's how I felt, and I went to my doctor's appointment. The doctor told me, "yes, you have to get some X-rays", and sitting in the living room to receive the X-ray, I take out a small mirror and look at myself, and I was scared when I saw myself. Wow! And I said, but Lord, yes, this is where I am going to meet someone, but how strange I am. And I started to look and fix myself and just as I close the bag, this young man comes with the most beautiful smile of my life, something that I said that people here in Boston did not smile. Well, he comes with a file, all dressed in his uniform and calls me. That man today is my husband. Hallelujah!

Amen. Even the microphone… oh, holy, I'm getting hot now, brethren. oh holy Excuse me, sisters. This young man with this beautiful smile became my best friend, brothers, and he is my husband today. The Lord has been giving me all those things that I lost. Contrary to the other that I blessed and forgave him, I forgave him from the bottom of my heart, I really forgave him and I bless him.

Brothers, it is the opposite. He loves me, protects me, cares for me, affectionate. The Lord does perfect things. And the Lord blesses us perfectly. Well, we got married and shortly after we got married I received a call from Santo Domingo that my dad had suffered a stroke. There began a different process.

When I came to New York I forgave my dad and when we talked he just made me cry. That took a burden off him, and it took one off me. And here was a different process. The stroke that my dad suffered was massive, it lasted 40 days in hospital, 30 of which in intensive care. Since my brothers had to work and I traveled from here to there, I checked myself into the hospital. We were only allowed to see him twice a day, one minute each, and I stayed in the hospital all day. But there in the hospital the Lord put me to minister to other people. And there was a young woman collapsed crying, and I am consoling her and she tells me, "you don't understand, it's my dad who is dying." And I tell him, "mine is also dying and is next to yours." And she looked at me, "but doesn't it hurt?" "Of course, it hurts, but I trust in a living God and whether he is saved or leaves with the Lord, the Lord knows what his perfect will is."

Brothers, then they put him in a room for ten days where my dad did almost every morning, and at midnight gravity. In one of those gravities, I couldn't fall asleep anymore and then the Lord told me to write a devotional. From that seriousness, from that test of my father, the ministry between us was born, from that ministry between us, the television program was born, to which I refused, because I fight with a giant every day called English, whom I face him every day and the Lord is helping me, and when I took the production classes, I didn't want to because of that, because I'm going to bring a program with this broken English that I have and this terrible accent that I have. And nothing, I took my class and everything was fine, and I forgot about it. Well, the director of the channel called me, she said, "Betsy, we want you here." And I explained to him, "but it's just that I have this accent." And she told me, "you have a special grace and that is what we want here on this channel."

At once they gave me spaces and the program has already been a blessing and the main thing is to open this program for León de Judá and from the beginning it has been like this, to glorify the Lord, to continue working on his work, to continue being faithful to him, and to talk about what is the wonder of the Lord.

I was in pieces as a loss, a victim of bigamy, with an alcoholic father, but the Lord is real. The lord is good. The Lord is wonderful and here I am to give glory to him, to testify that the Lord does work in our lives.

Sisters, let's trust in the Lord. And I want to show you something quickly. It says here, acknowledge. If you read, this word is read the same way forwards and backwards. That is what the Lord wants, that we recognize that we are his daughters, that we recognize that we are not here just to be mothers, or wives, or daughters, or aunts, or nieces. We are here to serve God, to recognize that we are made to serve him, to please him, that we are warriors. Of course you have to cry, and when we cry, let's cry, but then let's wipe our tears and put on our armor and say, I wasn't born to be depressed. I was not born to be a martyr, I was not born to be a sufferer. I was born to be a woman of impact, a woman who makes an impact wherever she goes, a woman who makes an impact with her life, with her testimony, with her living, with her recitation. Hallelujah! With your praise.

The Lord has made us to shine, sisters, and I brought something here that I want to show you and that is that we are pearls. The Lord has made us pearls, but look at a great difference. And it is what the Lord wants with the women of León de Judá. Here we have, and with this I finish, he got tangled up.

Sisters, a round of applause to the Lord. Hallelujah! A round of applause for you now. Already. just as the Lord is, he gets entangled. Look, a pearl doesn't stop being a pearl. She is pretty but she is alone and the Lord has called us to be united. Here we have a little bracelet, several pearls, pretty, like a brooch, but it's just a little bracelet. Here we have a necklace, more pearls together, very pretty, prettier than the little bracelet, but it's only one turn.

The Lord wants us like this. United. Let's get rid of spiritual nonsense, gossip, envy, why she does and me no. Hallelujah! We are all special to the Lord. We are all special to the Lord. And look at this necklace, the Lord uses it together in different ways, like this, with two turns, three turns. And when we get closer the Lord uses us in many different ways.

This is how the Lord wants us, sisters, united. Let's unite, because alone we can't. Alone we cannot, we must shine together. We must come and present ourselves united to the Lord, because two are better, two are better than one, and that applies to everything. Let's have confidence. One of the pearls, one of the jewels that we must always wear is discretion. Let's be discreet.

If a sister confesses something to us, if she doesn't give us the authority to say it later, we're going to keep it, because that's going to prevent us from going outside to seek advice, where we're not going to find the right advice. We are going to help each other, we are going to love each other.

It doesn't matter if it's English, Spanish, Italian, French, if we're from Guatemala, Honduras, Santo Domingo, Puerto Rico, wherever it is, let's unite. I love you in the Lord. My name is Betsy. They named me Betsaida Noemi, but they call me Betsy. And something that I want to close is, I am going to turn 45 in August and I say my age, not so that you can tell it or I am going to ask it, it is that this is something between us that we must understand. Age is a dignity. Each day is a gift from God, each new year is a gift from God, a blessing. We will wear our age with pride. Amen. And to shine together for the Lord. I love them. The Lord bless you.

Amen. We are going to say a prayer and if there is any need that requires prayer, the sisters will also be here praying, we are going to pray for any need that you have. We know that it has been a message in the small whistle that the Lord has spoken to us, but we do not leave without having a special blessing. Praise the Lord.

Glory to Jesus. Lord Jesus we thank you for your word, thank you Lord, because you speak in different ways, thank you Lord, because you are worthy of all praise, because you are powerful, because you make, Lord, from a worthless stone, a special pearl for you. Thank you Lord, because you know every wound, you know every process, you know, Lord, every reproach, but through all that, you will receive glory, honor and praise, because you fill everything in everything, Lord. We represent you, Lord, to mothers, that they can instruct their children, warriors from childhood, that it is not only the provision of bread or clothing, but to teach them, Lord, prayer in the house. We represent the married, that you give us understanding to maintain our marriages, Lord, to be victors in you.

Lord Jesus, shut our tongue, shut our mouth when we must. Not to annihilate our husbands with the tongue, Lord. Help us control ourselves too, Lord. We present to you the singles, Lord, you know their hearts, their needs, their desires. Lord, prepare them for when that blessing comes, they know how to take advantage of it, Lord. The divorced, Lord, you will fill that empty space because we are married to you, Lord, you are our Lord, our Father, our husband, our lawyer, our God who fills everything in everything. And we never tire of repeating it, Lord.

We present to you the widows too, Lord, bless them, help them to be of instruction for us, Lord, and for others. We present to you the pastors, the women with ministry, the women, Lord Jesus, of different ministries because we all have a ministry in you, Lord. The worshipers, Lord, we present to you each one of the lives represented here. We were born to serve you, to be fighters, winners.

Lord Jesus, we strip ourselves, Father, of glory on this day and forever from every spirit of martyrs. We are not martyrs or depressed, in the name of Jesus, we leave the past behind and continue before you, Lord, to reach the future, to continue in the present in victory and we discard all the past. We know that the past is to build our character, to bless other lives, to give glory and honor to you, Lord. Thank you, Lord, on this day for this cult. Join us where we are going and help us put this into practice. May joy always be in us. Thank my Lord. Amen.