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Olympic Dreams Do Come True

I usually talk about the AMAZING time I had in Sydney. I forget the WONDERFUL time I had at a Winter Olympics. That coveted press pass around my neck was my gold medal 🥇 I had full access to competitions, practices and press conferences. I LOVED every minute of it! And what a blessing that I was there when the skater I had met and interviewed beforehand won the gold! Sooo many memories… God is Good! Here (above pic) I’m watching a little ski jumping and posing in a snow globe.

I’m opening up my Disney vault again to share these photos (above) with Skating Icons! Die-hard fans will recognize all of these giants of the sport. Each photo has a backstory of how I got there. I have tons of other pics that I’ve taken of elite skaters at performances, competitions and practices I’ve attended over the years. I’ll save those for another time. Enjoy these never-before-seen pics.

Now, ready to see a few pics of my own skating days?

I wasn’t content just watching skating and gymnastics on TV. I had to also experience both sports! I spent hours upon hours skating and doing gymnastics during my teen years. I was a unique kind of jock. LOL Here’s a glimpse of my skating days .. I loved doing spirals, sit spins, spread eagles, lunges and more. The images are grainy and the exposure and lighting are off, but hopefully you can get a picture of my skating days. These are never-before-seen images, so enjoy this short video!

You can read a little more about my Olympic Daze in By Faith: Adventures and Reflections on Walking With God Here and Abroad.

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Did this post encourage you? Get access to the FREE Feisty Faith: Trusting God Day by Day 5-Day Sampler PDF as a gift when you sign up for Abounding Faith’s email list. Get updates on Abounding Faith’s books, blog, podcast, life coaching and more by clicking here or the image below.

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Reflecting on that Spectacular September in Sydney

God knows what’s on the other side of our YES!

The gal smiling in these pics had no idea what God had in store when He chased her down during one amazing week in Sydney …

So much transpired during that one week and in all the years that have followed.

My life has never been the same.

You can read about how I’ve seen God’s fingerprints on SIX continents in By Faith: Adventures and Reflections on Walking With God Here and Abroad. There’s also discussion questions you can answer in your journal or with your small group and a chapter on how to live your God-given dreams.

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Did this post encourage you? Get access to the FREE Feisty Faith: Trusting God Day by Day 5-Day Sampler PDF as a gift when you sign up for Abounding Faith’s email list. Get updates on Abounding Faith’s books, blog, podcast, life coaching and more by clicking here or the image below.

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Looking Back at Three July Short-Term Missions Trips

Three of the 5 short-term missions trips I’ve been on took place in the month of July. My missions trips have taken me to the Amazon Jungle in Brazil, the Andes Mountains in Ecuador (left pic) and the streets of Ethiopia, Honduras (right pic) and Peru (bottom pic). Missions trips weren’t on my radar when I was growing up, but when God calls, it’s best to listen. He knows what’s on the other side of our YES!

I share many miraculous and lovely testimonies from these trips and more in my book, By Faith: Adventures and Reflections on Walking With God Here and Abroad. By Faith will stir your heart to follow God’s plan for your life. It includes a chapter on how to live your God-given dreams and a discussion guide you can use with your small group or book club. By Faith is available in print and on Kindle on Amazon.

Blessings as you move forward by faith!

P.S. All these pics were taken at such pivotal moments in those trips. That stadium experience in Honduras (top right pic) was incredible! I felt like an Olympian for Jesus. God is Good!

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Did this post encourage you? Get access to the FREE Feisty Faith: Trusting God Day by Day 5-Day Sampler PDF as a gift when you sign up for Abounding Faith’s email list. Get updates on Abounding Faith’s books, blog, podcast, life coaching and more by clicking here or the image below.

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My Gold Medal Moment and Road to Damascus – Reflections on Sydney

This month marks a milestone in my faith journey. It’s been quite some time since the Lord chased me down in Australia. I’ve been walking with Him ever since.

My trip to Sydney was a cross between my gold medal moment and my road to Damascus. I’m sharing just a taste of the sights and sounds I experienced in the short clip above. You can read about my Miraculous and Lovely time in Sydney in By Faith.

There have been highs and lows, but God has remained faithful. It’s an honor to get to share some of what I’ve learned over the years in Books 1-4. I’m so looking forward to sharing even more of the insights and truths I’ve learned in Book 5. Please stay tuned! God is Good!

Walking by faith ain’t easy, but God will see you through! When God calls, you’d be wise to answer. He knows what’s on the other side of our yes.

Blessings to you as you walk by abounding faith, hope and love and live your God-given dreams.

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Reflecting on Past July Missions Trips

Three of the 5 short-term missions trips I’ve been on took place in the month of July. My missions trips have taken me to the Amazon Jungle in Brazil, the Andes Mountains in Ecuador (left pic) and the streets of Ethiopia, Honduras (right pic) and Peru (bottom pic). Missions trips weren’t on my radar when I was growing up, but when God calls, it’s best to listen. He knows what’s on the other side of our YES!

I share many miraculous and lovely testimonies from these trips and more in my book, By Faith: Adventures and Reflections on Walking With God Here and Abroad. By Faith will stir your heart to follow God’s plan for your life. It includes a chapter on how to live your God-given dreams and a discussion guide you can use with your small group or book club. By Faith is available in print and on Kindle on Amazon.

Here’s a short excerpt from By Faith:

“I must say I am an accidental short-term missionary. At least in my eyes. I never grew up wanting to go on missions trips. I certainly didn’t know any missionaries. Over the years, I did discover that I enjoyed traveling. My goal years ago was to travel to the cities that hosted a certain major sporting event. And God allowed me to go to stadiums in Athens, Greece, Sydney, Australia, Salt Lake City, Utah, and Los Angeles, California. Not bad! I am so grateful for all the wonderful places I’ve gotten to travel to over the years.

But God had different plans for me. After years of traveling for vacation and for work and after my amazing time in Israel, I knew it was time to give back.

All this talk about traveling can sound kind of glamorous to some, but it’s not always easy to get on a plane, leave all your loved ones behind, and go to some foreign country. There are shots to take beforehand (and sometimes gigantic malaria pills to swallow during the trip!), money to raise, vacation time to be used. There’s also lots of prayer and fasting to get ready for the spiritual battles that will take place.

Surprisingly enough, sometimes the toughest battles are fought long before even setting foot on the plane!”

May you be encouraged, empowered and inspired by reading By Faith. Blessings!

P.S. – All these pics were taken at such pivotal moments in those trips. That stadium experience in Honduras (top right pic) was incredible! I felt like an Olympian for Jesus. God is Good!

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Want to know what’s happening at Abounding Faith? Join the mailing list and get updates about Abounding Faith’s books, online training, podcast and more. As a thank you, you’ll get access to the free “7 Journal Writing Prompts to Fuel Your Faith” PDF.

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Be Encouraged, Empowered & Inspired as You Walk by Abounding Faith, Hope and Love

As you may recall, my “One Word” for this year is SHINE. Oh my, what a time for all of us to SHINE for Christ!

God has been preparing us and has called us for such a time as this!

How are you holding up? Need a boost in your faith? Need an extra dose of hope?

Abounding Faith is dedicated to encouraging and inspiring you as you walk by faith, hope and love and live your God-given dreams.  Abounding Faith empowers and equips men and women, young and older and those of diverse backgrounds to grow in their faith and love for God through uplifting books, online training, videos, podcast episodes and more,

As we approach the middle of 2020, here are a few updates from the first part of this challenging year:

  • The Fuel Your Faith page is filled with encouraging videos, articles, podcast episodes and images created especially to help spur you on during this pandemic.  You can check out the inspiring page packed with free and uplifting content here.
  • The Abounding Faith: Choosing Faith Over Fear course I’m teaching through the New York School of the Bible (NYSB) this June will be a powerful time to help build and fortify your faith. We’ll delve into God’s Word and discuss God’s awesome track record for coming through for His people. You can take this edifying class from the comfort of your own home, no matter what state you’re in. You can learn more here.
  • The NEW “Discovering Your God-Given Purpose” online course is perfect for you if you’re yearning to live with passion and purpose and desiring to make a difference in this world and in your generation,  God has designed you for a specific purpose and for this time in history.  You can learn more and sign up for this empowering course here.
  • Book 5 – Stay tuned for an upcoming update.

God is Good! I’m so grateful that I can help bring hope and encouragement to hurting hearts and can help empower and equip those seeking God’s purpose for their lives and help build their faith.

I’m also grateful for your continued prayers and encouragement as I live out God’s call on my life in this season!

If you’re being blessed by Abounding Faith’s work and looking for ways to show your support, here are a few ideas to prayerfully consider:

Dream Team –  Let’s join forces and SHINE together ✨ You can learn more here.

Abounding Faith’s Books – By Faith, Crossing Your Jordan River, Abounding Faith and Waiting on God Well will inspire you as you journey from your wilderness to your Promised Land. Order these uplifting books on Amazon for yourself or to help bolster someone else’s faith.

Online Store – Shop for unique and lovely mugs, journals, tote bags and other gift items exclusively at Abounding Faith’s online store.

Social media likes, shares and comments on Abounding Faith’s pages and kind Amazon book reviews are also always welcome.

Your faithful support of Abounding Faith’s work helps to continue spreading God’s love to those near and far and helps to ensure the production of future faith-fueling projects.

In these challenging times, my prayer is that we all draw closer to God and that our faith in Him will be strengthened. That’s at the core of all that Abounding Faith does.

Let’s not just go through this trying time, but grow through it.

Things may be rocky now, but take heart. God promises to work all things together for our good (Romans 8:28) and to turn our tears into dancing (Psalm 30:11).

God is seeing us through one day at a time.

Stay well. Stay encouraged. Choose faith over fear. Blessings to you and yours!

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Want to know what’s happening at Abounding Faith? Join the mailing list and get updates about Abounding Faith’s books, events, podcast and more. As a thank you, you’ll get access to the free “7 Journal Writing Prompts to Fuel Your Faith” PDF.

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Highlights From 2019 – My Year of “Surprises”

My “One Word” for this year has been “Surprise.” I have delighted in the big and little surprises the Lord has had for me this year.

I’d like to take a look back at some of the lovely surprises sprinkled throughout 2019. I hope you enjoy taking this trip down memory lane with me.

What a blessing to be invited back to speak at Chapel at Nyack College in February and to be part of two Meet the Author events in their library this year! You can read more about my visits in this blog post and this one.

What an honor it was to teach a class based on my Abounding Faith book at the New York School of the Bible this past June! You can read more about my lovely experience teaching the Abounding Faith: Believing God for the Impossible class here.

What a privilege it was to lead the service for my friends at Central Delaware Trinity Covenant for the fifth straight year. You can read more about that blessed time here.

What a treat to get to teach Life Skills classes for my friends at The Bowery Mission’s Women’s Center! The two sessions were based on my book, By Faith.  You can read more about my visit here. It was also a delight to get to speak at Chapel for the women and at The Bowery’s Tribeca site.

The Lord showed up in such a beautiful way at Abounding Faith’s BELOVED Women’s Conference, presented by Nyack College.  And what a delightful surprise that the church was decorated for a wedding! You can read more about my third women’s conference and Abounding Faith’s 10th event here.

It’s wonderful to see how Abounding Faith’s books are blessing Readers near and far. These uplifting books have been encouraging young and older, women and men and ministry leaders and new believers.  I hope you enjoy the super short video above. I’m thrilled that I’m already getting great feedback about Book 5 from my early readers! Stay tuned for more details.

What a joy to get to minister with my friend Pastor Gary Fishman four times this year. You can read about my visits to AGLOW Queens Lighthouse here and Eternal Hope Ministries here.

Other surprises this year included celebrating my connection to Apollo 11 and getting to meet Pastor Jim Cymbala of the Brooklyn Tabernacle at a gathering for Pastors and Leaders. For the first time, I also got to hear Ravi Zacharias and Anne Graham Lotz speak in person at my home church, Times Square Church.

Other notable moments from this year included producing my 15th episode of the “Abounding Faith for Today” podcast, marking the 1 st Anniversary of By Faith and writing my seventh article for Charisma‘s website.

God is so Good!

 

Was the year perfect? Nope. Not by a long shot. But was it filled with surprises? Absolutely!

Thank you for staying on this faith adventure with me. I appreciate all your encouragement and prayers!

I plan to continue helping to jump start people’s faith and bring hope to hurting hearts. If you are being blessed by Abounding Faith’s books, events, podcast and more, here are some wonderful ways to show your support:

All the best to you in the new year as you walk by abounding faith, hope and love and live your God-given dreams! Blessings!

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Want to know what’s happening at Abounding Faith? Join the mailing list and get updates about Abounding Faith’s books, events, podcast and more.

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Over the Moon: My Connection to Apollo 11

In honor of the 50th anniversary of the lunar landing, I’m proud to share that my Dad was a machinist who worked on parts for Apollo 11’s two capsules. It’s only recently that my Dad has begun sharing some of his fond memories of that time in his life. It’s been great hearing his stories about how dedicated and disciplined he and his co-workers were to make sure every part and every detail was just right for this historic mission.

My Dad had previously worked as a machinist for automobiles, helicopters and airplanes. He enjoyed some of those projects, but he’s still over the moon about having worked on parts for the lunar module.

My Dad became fascinated with space exploration during his teen years. He founded two mountain climbing clubs at his technical high school in Ecuador.  When he would reach the mountains’ summits, including the towering Cotopaxi volcano (more than 19,000 feet above sea level), the stars would really seem within reach.

Once he was in the United States and he had the opportunity to work on the lunar project, he says he was very excited.

My Dad recalls working 70 hours a week and how everything had to be super precise. He knew how to work basically any machine needed, so his supervisors loved that.

He was one of the youngest on his team and one of only two Hispanics.

My Dad worked on parts for the capsule that landed on the moon and the one that remained in orbit with the 3rd astronaut. He worked on the project for about 2 1/2 years.

He cheered when their mission was accomplished on July 20, 1969.

After the successful mission, work soon slowed down and my Dad eventually switched fields. He would go on to run a successful business for years and has been involved in community service (and has even met two or three Popes over the years) but he still beams when he talks about working on Apollo 11.

It was a blessing to get to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the lunar landing with my Dad at the Hall of Science.

Here’s what my Dad had to say on the historic anniversary:

“It was a privilege for me to work as a first class machinist building parts of the lunar module project, especially the capsule that circled around the moon and the capsule that took the astronauts from the cycling capsule onto the moon. Happy 50th Anniversary! Congratulations United States for conquering the moon. God bless America!”

He added that he felt like he was celebrating his own birthday. Sweet!

Growing up, I didn’t know I had a connection to Apollo 11. I’m so happy to now know that my Dad played a role in helping “The Eagle” soar and land on the moon.

I was also so touched to hear that upon landing on the moon and before even stepping out of the capsule, the first thing Buzz Aldrin did was take Communion.

It’s a great reminder that God is Good and Lord of all 🙌

“When I consider your heavens,
the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
which you have set in place,
what is mankind that you are mindful of them,
human beings that you care for them?” (Psalm 8:3-4 NIV)

 

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All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.comThe “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™

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Mid-Year Check In for 2019

My year of “Surprises” continues to be a blessing, thank God!

It was an honor to be invited back by Nyack College to speak at Chapel and to be back at the pulpit leading the service for my friends at Central Delaware Trinity Covenant for the fifth year in a row!

It was also an honor to teach the Abounding Faith: Believing God for the Impossible summer class at the New York School of the Bible based on one of my books!

It was a delight to have my 8th article appear on Charisma‘s website.

I’m now working on Book 5 and gearing up for my third women’s conference.  Abounding Faith’s BELOVED Women’s Conference will be in October. I’m thrilled to welcome back Nyack College as the Presenting Sponsor.

I’m looking forward to the surprises God has in store for the rest of 2019.

How is your year going?

Do you remember the “One Word” you chose at the beginning of the year? Are you remembering to Pray, Dream, Do & Repeat?

Are you seeing God’s faithfulness in your daily life? I sure hope so!

As we look ahead to the second half of 2019, I hope you will continue the year on fire for the Lord!

If you need a boost in your faith, Abounding Faith’s uplifting books, podcast, blog and YouTube channel are here to help spur you on as you live your God-given dreams.

I’d also be delighted to share a Bible-based message with your group and share the love and hope found in Jesus at your next retreat, chapel service, outreach or other event. Here’s a super short video that highlights some of the speaking and writing I’ve been called to do in this season of my life. You can also learn more here.

If you’re still feeling called to write a book, I’d be happy to help make that dream a reality. For a limited time, I’m offering a “Write that Book” Strategy Call to help guide you in your book writing journey. You can learn more here.

May the latter half of your year be even better than the first!

I hope to continue sharing more good news with you. Thanks for your encouragement and for staying on this journey with me.

Let’s make the rest of the year the best of our year!

Blessings!

 

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NEWS – Teaching Summer Class at The New York School of the Bible!

 

I’m so honored and humbled to share that I will be teaching a class for women this June at the New York School of the Bible (NYSB). The class will be based on my second book, Abounding Faith: 30 Bible Heroes Who Will Inspire You to Believe God for the Impossible!

God is so Good!

You can read the course description by clicking here. The class will be held on the following Saturdays: Jun 1, Jun 8, Jun 15 and Jun 22 from 9 am to 11:45 am.

Local Ladies, I invite you to register today! Come be inspired and encouraged in your faith along with your sisters in Christ.

I took classes at the NYSB during a pivotal time in my life. I gained valuable knowledge and skills that helped launch me into this season of my faith and writing journey.

I’m delighted to go back to the NYSB as a member of their faculty.

Ladies, we’re going to have a special time in the presence of the Lord. Register today by clicking here. I’m looking forward to seeing you there, and I’m already praying for you!

If you’d like to learn more about the wonderful work God is doing at the NYSB, please see the video below.

God is moving. Thanks for all your prayers and encouragement!

P.S. Fellas, I hope you’ll be praying for this special class and will help spread the word to the local ladies in your life.

 

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