Helping the Hurting - Autumn 2002
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A word from a Woman of Zion.
My name is Melinda.
I’m 41 years old. I’m the wife of a Youth Challenge Alumnus, and the mother of two wonderful boys. I truly thank God for providing the vision for a support group for women whose husbands were in the program. The husbands were getting support from the program, but we wives also needed support. Miriam Rodriguez was approached about pioneering a support group for us that would encourage us spiritually. The support this group called “Women of Zion” has given me is one of the reasons I was able to persevere. The Lord has not only given me the privilege to participate in the “Women of Zion” group, but also to be a “Daughter of Zion”. This is what I mean: I believe in this hour God is speaking to all of his daughters, The Rebeccas, the Miriams, the Ruths, the Naomis, the Rachels, all of you He’s called by name to be released and to be all that you were meant to be! There are other women who are hurting, as well, and the Lord has called them by name. He loves them too. We can reach them, and God can help them. Join us as together we continue “Helping the Hurting!”. I thank God today, together with my husband and family, for the ministry of Youth Challenge.

My name is Raul.
I came to Youth Challenge because I realized that I needed to make big changes in my life. I took a leave of absence from my job and entered the YC Men’s home. I graduated in 1999. I am a blessed man! The Lord restored my life, my family, my home, and my job! I am free from all life controlling substances. I was asked to join the Clinical Pastoral Team at the hospital. It is a blessing to give back-- to show others what God has done for me. I now attend a wonderful church called Glory Chapel International Cathedral, together with my family. Where I teach the preteens, my wife is an usher, and my son is a member of the youth group. God has truly been good to me. I thank him for the ministry of Youth Challenge and for your faithful support in helping families like mine.

“Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever.” “Being confident of this that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” Amen!
(1 Cor 9:25 & Phil 1:6)

My name is Marisa.
April 1997 was a very hard month, but the beginning of a great new life in our Lord Jesus. My husband is a great man of God today. He used to be known as the drug addict, loser. He was an outcast in the family. But God had a plan. I thank God for Raul, my husband. He was very brave, and said “Yes!” to God. He told me: “Marisa, I have a problem. I need help. I can’t do this alone. I am not able to stop: this addiction is too strong.” He knew that he was about to lose everything.

But God came in. I dropped my husband off at Youth Challenge Men’s home on a Monday morning, not knowing my future, which was looking pretty cloudy. I heard The Rev. Dr. Raúl González preach that God is in control. I kept hearing those words and I found I could face each day remembering that God was doing something greater.

While God was healing my husband of all the pain and hurt he had, the void he had always felt as a child, the Lord was healing me of my hurts also, and was preparing me as well. Now I can help others because I know what they are going through!

I am very proud to be a part of the Women of Zion ministry. This is where the wives of the husbands who are in the program meet to share our concerns, pray for each other and most of all, listen and give back to others what we received. Someone might be going through what you once had to face, and you can share your experience, and “give back”. Youth Challenge is the best thing that ever happened to me and my husband and our son.

My name is Alex.
I’m blessed too because now my father is a man of God. I prayed and cried for him to make it and he did! I saw how God answered my prayers. Now I can share my dad with some of my friends who aren’t with their fathers. I go to church with my mother and my father! My dad is a teacher and my mother is an usher. I enjoy the youth group.