Old Man/New Man Podcast - Danielle Gutierrez & Stephen Canup

It's time to put off the old man, which is corrupt, and to put on the new man, which is created in righteousness and true holiness. It's the Old Man, New Man podcast with host Stephen Canup. Hi, this is Stephen Canup. Thanks for tuning in to the Old Man, New Man podcast. I'm here with my friend, Danielle Gutierrez, and we're going to have a conversation today. Thank you for coming. So this is the Old Man, New Man podcast. That's the old man, and I'm glad that I'm the new man. Amen. If any man be in Christ, any person be in Christ, they are a new creation. Old things have passed away, behold, everything has become new. So that's kind of the purpose of our podcast, is really kind of to have discussions like this, just me and you have a conversation, and our intent really is to let people get to know you. And somewhere in your story, there's going to be hope and encouragement for other people. So we all have a story, and I want to encourage you, wherever you are, in whatever facility you're in, that the Bible says that we overcome by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of our testimony, not loving our lives so much as to shrink from death. So what that means is that we overcome when we testify about what the blood of Jesus has done in our lives. Amen. Amen. And I know you've got a testimony of what the blood of Jesus has done in your life. Oh, yes. Yeah. Amen. Everyone has a testimony, and we should always be willing to share it. Amen. The Bible says to always be willing to share the hope that lies within you.

So that's kind of, that's really the only purpose we have this podcast, I think, is to just give hope and encouragement to others. So Danielle, tell us just a little bit about yourself growing up. What was your home life like? Maybe did you grow up, were you born in Lubbock? That's where we are in Lubbock, Texas. Yes. Born and raised in Lubbock, Texas. Tell us a little bit about that. Well, I heard a testimony last week, and the sister said it perfectly. She said a normal dysfunction. Okay. A normal dysfunction. Yeah. So pretty dysfunctional, but you don't know it when you grow up in it. So single parent home, mom raised us, so she had me at 16, which is very young, so we grew up together, basically me and her. Wow. Did you have brothers and sisters? Yes. I had two sisters younger than me for the longest time, and then 20 years later, my brother came along. Oh, wow. Yeah. But my mom never used drugs when we were younger. She just worked all the time. So really, we bounced around a lot. There was a lot of instability. My dad was in and out of our life. He's dealt with incarceration pretty much his whole life, addiction his whole life.

But he didn't live with you? They had separated? No. Yeah, they separated when I was about two years old, but he would still come around, and my mom was very cordial, and he'd say he wanted back in, and she'd let him stay with us maybe a couple weeks, and then we wouldn't see him for like a year. So he was in and out? Yeah, very in and out. That happened our whole life. There was childhood sexual trauma. There was a whole lot of violence, not necessarily from my mom, but because of the instability in the home, living with different family members, seeing different people in addiction, just violent situations, family members in domestic abusive relationships, things like that. You know, unfortunately, a whole lot of people have had to go through things like that. Yeah. Yeah. That's why I say normal dysfunction, because we grow up with this mindset that that's just normal because that's been my story, and I've heard it so many times from others as well, and pretty much that's the story of almost every woman in my family. Sexual abuse, physical abuse, mental abuse, no kind of spiritual guidance at all. What was there was very twisted, like a twisted sense of Catholicism with superstition, which I honestly believe is kind of a thing here in Lubbock, but that's how we grew up. The devil has such deception. Yes. The devil uses all kinds. He oftentimes uses religion to twist it, right? Oh yeah, definitely. I remember something I heard a lot growing up to get me to behave was from older Catholic grandparents and stuff was like, if you don't stop that, God's going to punish you.

You do that, God's going to punish you. God's going to punish you. God's going to punish you. So I think in my subconscious, in the back of my mind, I kind of didn't want anything to do with God because he was always out to get me apparently. You just wanted to stay out of his way. Yeah, I'm like, let me just not do anything where he's going to come for me. Yeah, exactly. So what about your teenage years? What was that like? So you were living in a house with dysfunction and many homes. Was your mom on drugs? Not when me and my sister, who's a year younger than me, not at a young age. My mom herself actually didn't do drugs until she was like in her 30s. But we've seen it from lots of relatives with the bouncing around and everything. Which by then you were 14, if she had you at 16, you were at least, yeah. But what she did deal with all of our lives was depression. She dealt with severe depression, again, no spiritual guidance, so nowhere to turn to But for work and men and even women, my mom dealt with homosexuality as well. So again, a lot of instability there. We saw her in many different relationships, just unhealthy ones. We were always left down and out, broke, walking, just a bad situation. With her trying to work, she couldn't have had much money with raising three kids. Yes, three kids at the time. My youngest sister is eight years younger than me, and so three kids at the time, yeah, she didn't have much money. So that's why we often lost homes, evictions, things like that. And I was actually a really good student, like elementary school. I always caught on to things really well, loved to learn. The teachers loved me.

I like to learn, yeah. Yeah, I was a good student. And I mean, I was in all kinds of programs, anything, everything I could be in. I really think it's just for attention. Also just because I got good feedback there, and I didn't get that really at home. And when I wasn't at school, we were pretty much roaming the streets because mom was at work until seven, eight, nine, ten sometimes. And so pretty much me and my sister, who's a year younger than me, we pretty much just ran around all the time. And so there was really no guidance. So did you end up getting in trouble, or were you able to kind of stay out of the way of trouble or what? Well, so once the teenage years, you know, teenage years are difficult for any teenager. So when you had no guidance, you don't know what to believe. You've been raised by so many different people. Everybody has something to say. So many different kinds of behaviors you've been exposed to. You really just don't know who you are. And so the places that you find comfort are with those people and those things that you've seen. And so I was naturally drawn to the kids that were fighting, that were smoking, that were drinking, that were cussing. That's all I ever saw from my family, even though my mom didn't do it. Everywhere we had been, I mean, aunts, uncles, cousins, I mean, our grandparents used to put the gloves on us and make us fight each other, me and my sister and my uncles. And so it was a thing to be tough, don't be a punk, you know, all those things. We grew up with that kind of fighting, violent mentality, which I always, I look back now and I'm like, they pretty much set me up for failure because the biggest I was in my teens was like 124 pounds. And when you're told to never back down to anybody, I'm like, there were lots of people

bigger than me, way bigger than me. And so that was not a wise way to teach your child to grow up with that kind of mentality. So anyways, I actually, the very first thing I ever started doing was drinking at 13. I started drinking alcohol and that quickly became an addiction, quickly became what I turned to. I realized that I would forget everything whenever I would drink. And you know, the Bible says that the devil comes as an angel of light and he does. It always starts off as fun and games, laughing over just having fun. But at, you know, 13. I started drinking, 14, it turned into a promiscuous lifestyle, so began having sexual relationships at just 14 years old, smoking marijuana at 15, started using ecstasy and cocaine. And by 16, I was a full-blown alcoholic, like I could not go to sleep without being blacked out drunk. And so your school life must have really suffered. Oh yeah, it came to a halt, like just, it just stopped. I stopped showing up and no one was home to make me go. And so I just stopped going. And I remember one time I had missed like two weeks of school and I showed up and it was a test day and I took a test and my teacher came over to me, he goes, guess what you made? And this was in ninth grade, I believe, he goes, guess what you made? And I was like, oh, it must be pretty bad. You seem upset. And he was like, he slammed it on my desk and he said, a 100, he goes, why don't you just show up? Oh wow. He was so mad at me because I just wouldn't show up. He goes, this is easy for you. So you had the talent. Yeah. God had gifted you the talent and ability and you were off doing something else.

Yes. Yeah. I was pretty much wasting my gifts and he was one of several teachers that I appreciate that left that it kind of impact, even though I didn't express it right then and there, you know, I was a hardheaded teenager already in the lifestyle. But even today you remember that. Yes, I do. Like he cared and I wish I would have listened. But you know, part of the testimony, but yeah. And so I actually, I failed eighth grade and had to do it again, barely made it through. All of this was because of attendance. And then in my ninth grade year, I failed it because of attendance. And that's whenever I was like, well, I'm just going to drop out because I don't want to be in a grade lower than my sister and things don't look like they're changing, you know? So I actually dropped out. I did later on in life, go back for my GED and did a little bit of college, but that also fell through because I was still dealing with addiction. And now, and now I'll just tell everybody you're actually teaching. Yes. And so very passionate about what I do because of those teachers like that, that cared enough to tell me the truth. Yeah. Yeah. And so, yeah. So you're able to actually give hope and encouragement to other people because of some hope, some encouragement that you got. Yes. So I have actually always wanted to be a teacher since I was in the second grade. But of course, like I said, the road that I traveled led me far from that for a long,

long time. Yes. So just to be here today saying, you know, that I hold a paraprofessional position and that I'm able to do that is all glory to God. It's a miracle. It's again, another part of the testimony of His goodness. So you quit school and did you, we'll fast forward a little bit, but did you ever get in any kind of trouble where you had to go to jail or? Yes. Prison or anything? I did a couple of short stays in Lubbock County. So because of the alcohol use I did, I got in trouble over and over and over again as a minor though. So they just kept, you know, sending me back home to my mom. But as soon as I turned 17 and I got caught again, you know, with alcohol, I remember the cop saying, oh, you just had a birthday. He was like, you're going to the county. And I was like, oh my goodness. It was awful. Was that a shock to you? I guess it was like a reality check. I think what was more of a reality check was when I got to county, I knew everybody there. And I looked around and I was like, I was bound to end up here. You know, I remember when I first came to church, Pastor Jared Sain, and this is just, you know, ahead of the time. This wasn't around when I went to jail, but he said, do you want to know where you'll be in five years? Look at your friends. And looking back, you know, I had already had that revelation because I looked around and I was like, it's no wonder I'm here.

I literally knew everybody going in, like whether they were going in or coming out, I knew everybody. But you never really had to go to prison or anything, but you went to county jail several times or what? A couple of times, yeah. That happened. And that got your attention? Yes. Did it change the way you started living or anything? Sadly, no. It just made me not be so pushy. public with my intoxication because that was a great deal of my charges was like public intoxication, minor inconsumption. I always got caught because I was too drunk to function, act normal or you know I was out in public. Dr. Darrell Bock So there's a point in here where so you grew up and you didn't really know God. Dr. Melissa Young No. Not at all. Dr. Darrell Bock You didn't really go to church or anything. So there at some point in here you had an encounter with Jesus. How did that begin to change or what was how did you first start seeking God? Dr. Melissa Young So fast forwarding you know after I kind of settled down whenever I met my now husband Gilbert. Dr. Darrell Bock Okay. Okay. Maybe I skipped. So you even before you started serving God you met Gilbert who's now your husband. Dr. Melissa Young Yes. Dr. Darrell Bock And so were y'all kind of running and gunning

and in the party life yourself or what was going on? Dr. Melissa Young Yes. So I settled down in the sense that I was not sleeping around and those things anymore because now I was actually in a committed relationship. And he showed me something totally different because he cared about me. But he came from a broken home and I came from a broken home so neither one of us actually knew what love was. So it quickly got yes again it started off as fun and games partying together drinking smoking we both did those things cocaine all that stuff. But then it got really real when I got pregnant. And then I did choose to stop everything while I was pregnant. But with quitting everything cold turkey and hormones and my husband not well he wasn't my husband at the time but not willing to quit. We did not like each other. And things actually sad to say they got violent pretty quick. We've dealt with domestic violence. And again like we both really loved each other but we didn't know how to we didn't know God we didn't come from homes where you showed affection. There was no there was no I serve you serve me kind of relationship. It was all me me me my way my way my way. And then again we were both dealing with addictions that just that just doesn't work. Did Gilbert ever go to jail. Did he. Yes. He did. Yeah. He did. Was it behind domestic violence. Yeah. We had so many domestic violence calls.

Yeah he did a stretch in jail for that. He didn't have to go to prison. No he didn't have to go to prison. He signed and got time served after his stretch in the county. And just to let y'all know both of them now go with us into the prisons. So yeah even though they weren't in prison they they saw enough of incarceration in jail and the kind of life that puts you in prison. Yeah. And incarceration including prison has that's that's one of our passions for prison ministry is because even though me or him didn't do any prison time ourselves. Our families have been plagued with incarceration. You know his brothers my mom and my dad multiple cousins. One of my cousins who was raised like a brother with me because his mom and my mom were always trying to live together so they could afford things. Just so many family members aunts uncles we have several family members incarcerated right now. Oh really. In the Texas prison system. Oh yeah. And it was actually an old joke like when we got together. Now I know the power of words and we don't say these things but coming from our families it was like a rolling joke or a thing to say three in three out. When three are coming out we're like oh we're fixing to see three go away or when three went away we're like well at least three are coming home. It was three in three out. That's actually something that we would say which now I know is a word curse over our family. Yeah. And so I just rebuke those things and anytime anybody's coming out and someone tries to say that I'm like no in Jesus name they're not going back.

We try to grab a hold of them as quick as we can when they get out now in hopes to just give them that same hope that we found and we're on a godly mission to stop those generational curses in our family. Stop that cycle. Yes. Amen. So that is our passion for prison ministry. The closest and one that impacted me the most is probably. by my mom. Tell us, tell the folks about that a little bit. So, like I said, she never did drugs until she was like in her 30s. Drinking got pretty heavy. We actually started drinking and smoking together, things like that, while I was a teenager. Well, long story short, she started riding an old friend in prison, and when he got out, he wasn't the knight in shining armor that he had claimed to be while he was riding her. Got her addicted to crack cocaine for the first time in her life, and it was just a downward spiral from there. She committed a really horrible crime and was sentenced to 15 years in the Texas prison, the TDCJ system. In that time, I remember all of us had gotten so bad that I was actually kind of grateful that she was gone, because at that time, in that time where he was out and she was out, they had my brother. So things got really ugly. We're all just trying to kind of help each other survive, but none of us got along because we're all dealing with addiction, we're all dealing with violence. I remember one of the last times that I helped her out with the hotel room for her and my brother, because I didn't want him sleeping in the car. I was just like, oh man, I'm so tired of this. She had already committed a crime at this point, but ... Darrell Bock At this point, you're still not serving God. Mary Barbera No, I'm not. I'm still in the party life myself, but I was more on the ... At this time, I was involved in drugs to the point where I was actually like selling and making some money here and there. So as the oldest, and like I said, me and my mom grew up together. So we had more of a friendship, like a bitter friendship type relationship. So she would lean on me often to help her with my siblings and finances and things like that. It was kind of, I felt like my job to help, just

to help, even if we didn't get along because we rarely got along. At one point when I was 15, I hate to say it, but me and my mom actually even physically got into an altercation. That's how strained our relationship was. Darrell Bock So how did she ... So she ended up catching this charge, and she went to prison, got 15 years sentence. Mary Barbera Yes. Darrell Bock So what ... Mary Barbera It was aggravated, so ... Darrell Bock So she had to do at least half before she could come up for parole. Mary Barbera At least half. Yes. But even before she went to prison, though, while she was in the Lubbock County Jail, she actually found the Lord. She found Jesus before she actually got shipped off. She spent some time in the county, and my mom had never ... She had went to jail maybe a couple of small times before, too, but never anything this serious. Darrell Bock So this book in front of you, Jailhouse Religion, that's a term we've all made fun of. But for me and for others, it can be the real thing if you let it be. So I guess for your mom, it was the real thing. Tell us about that. What happened? Mary Barbera We did. We laughed, and we're like, oh, here goes another one. Darrell Bock You even made fun of her. Mary Barbera Yes. Yeah, we actually did. But she didn't let up on it. Even when she went to prison, she would call me. She surrendered in 2013. That was the year. Darrell Bock Praise God. Mary Barbera I talked to her over the phone, through letters, and she kept trying to tell me about Jesus. I'm like, we'll see when you get out if you're still trying to tell me about Jesus. I was kind of being a knucklehead. But she just didn't let up on it at all. And I believe… Darrell Bock Could you see a change in her? I mean, did you get to go visit her in prison? Mary Barbera Yes. Yeah. Darrell Bock And so maybe you talked to her on the phone and wrote letters. Did you think that it looked like something has changed with her? Mary Barbera

She definitely sounded different because something that the Lord places on my heart every time I go into, especially the women's prisons, the very first time that I went in, I remember Him saying, there's a Mama Lori in there. And my mom's name was Lori, and they called her Mama Lori in prison. And I knew what the Lord meant by that. And that was that, number one, that a lot of those women, and I just would like to tell them this themselves, is that a lot of your greatest crimes were my mom's greatest crime. And that was depression, letting the enemy lie to you. And so that was the number one thing he told me. The other thing he told me is what happened with my mom. That, and again, just would like to speak to the ladies watching this, that just like my mom, if you're sitting in those white suits in there, that you're in the perfect place for a miracle. Because that's exactly what happened to my mom. She was transformed in there. And I believe that her surrender and her prayers had a lot to do with mine. I surrendered my life in 2016 while she was still in there. Now we're both talking about Jesus. And all of our family is thinking that we've both gone off the deep end. I'm like, but now we've actually found our sanity there now because we were crazy before. But yeah, and so yeah, there was that. She found the Lord in 2013. She didn't let up on it. I found the Lord in 2016. And yes, there was a huge difference. I mean, us being able to talk about God together. She was so understanding of my situation at home.

Again, up until 2016, I was still dealing with all those things when she left. And so now I have a 18-month-old brother who's the same age as my daughter when my mom left. So did she leave him? Did you get to raise your brother? Yes, yeah. Because I know he still lives with you. Yes, yeah, he does. So my grandma actually got custody of him, but as far as schools, doctors, all that stuff, that was up to me, yeah. And yes, up until this day. And he's the same age as my oldest. So my daughter's actually six months older than her uncle. Wow, that's funny. Yeah, and so- Somewhere in here, Gilbert must have got saved. Yes, so when I got saved, and this is another huge part of my testimony because if you look it in the Bible, it'll show you a lot about relationships. A lot about relationships. And it was a lot of horrible falls because of relationships. There were. The Bible really speaks, you know what, there's some stories that'll curl your hair in there. And you know- I mean, all the way from the beginning, right, Adam and Eve,

when things aren't in the proper order. If they're not in the proper order, yeah. And so when I actually got saved, we had already been attending church for a little while. So Gilbert actually started attending our church two years before me. Is that where you go now, Gladtiding Church? Yes, Gladtiding Church. Gladtiding Church of Lubbock. Yes. Yeah, that's where I go to. Yeah, well, Gilbert started- Pastor Jared and Jessica Baker. Yes, yes, they're awesome, I love them. I'm so grateful for them. But Gilbert actually started going there while we were split up, because again, that lifestyle, we would split up, get back together, split up, get back together. It was over and over. And he actually started going, and my very first response when he told me, he was inviting me to church, and my first response was, who is she? Oh. Oh, like, I know you're going to church to see somebody, and it ain't no Jesus. Oh. So I refused-

You were a little bit cynical. Yes, and I had refused, because I was out in the streets, we weren't together, so I was just- So did he actually start going to church before you did? He did, and so I refused to go to church, because in my warped mind, he was after someone. But I did go back home because of that reason, back home with him. And the horrible thing is that I didn't want him to go to church either, because I swore that someone was there for him. It took me two years, and then they would send flyers for their events and things to Gilbert, and there was a flyer that floated around our house for a while. When this time, I too, with addiction and violence and all those things, I dealt with severe, severe depression. At one point, I had a doctor tell me that I was severely clinically depressed, and I needed to be admitted into an emergency room right away. Wow. But I refused to go. That's happened to me one time, too. Yeah, but I refused to go. So, I mean, I was just, I would randomly have these outbursts of anger and fits.

And one day, as I was destroying the kitchen in an outrage, Gilbert was like, what is wrong with you? And he said that often. Yeah. but this time something hit. Sometimes we deserve it. Yeah, there was seriously some things wrong with me. But this time, I don't know. It's just, I can't explain it other than just God reached in the pits of hell and snatched me out because this time something just clicked and I was like, what is wrong with me? Wow, so you finally asked the question. Yes, I was like, what is wrong with me? I have a man who loves me. I have a daughter who I love with every bit of my being. I have a home. What is wrong with me? Why can't I ever be happy? And it just dawned on me. I've tried everything. I've tried drinking. I've tried smoking. I've tried partying. I've tried snorting. I've tried everything except God. So we learned, after I came to the Lord, I finally realized that we all, and I've heard this before, we all have a God-shaped hole in our soul

that we try to fill with everything else and nothing lasts. Nothing really fills that until we surrender and submit and ask God to come in and fill it. So God, the Holy Spirit, actually the Spirit of Christ comes and lives in us and fills that up. So is that what happened? You had that happen? Yeah, so I thought about that. The only one thing I haven't tried is God. And I was like, well, where do I go? Well, all I can remember was that little Family Fun Day flyer flying around my home. Family Fun Day. Yeah, and so I'm like, it was all God, even that I was like, you know, let's try this church Sunday. Gilbert was surprised too because I never wanted to go because of the way I was thinking. And so we tried it. And the way I can describe it, like when I walked in, my foot like instantly went into my mouth because I had said some horrible things, you know, because of my crazy thinking. But I was immediately hit with the Spirit of God. Felt just an overwhelming sense of love. Amen. It is a very welcoming family church.

And they honor, let me tell you something, they honor Jesus and the Holy Spirit is welcome there too. Yes. Well, fast forward, I fall in love with the church. I fall in love with the people. I fall in love with Jesus. Amen. And I just wanted to go more and more. That's the key. Falling in love with Jesus. Yes. He's always loved you. He just wanted you to love him. Yes. And so I decided all in because there were still some things we were hanging on to because we like to do that, right? We're like, oh, I know Jesus, I'm good, but I'm still gonna dabble with these drugs over here. Or, you know, we still weren't married at that time. This was about six months in where I just fell in love with Jesus and I wanted to go all in. Amen. And Gilbert didn't expect that. He thought we were gonna casually attend church and we could still just go about our lives. Worldly Christians or carnal Christians, which is, that's not even possible. Yeah, exactly.

Come on. Exactly, that's still on the- You're still on the fence. You're still in the devil's territory, really. Exactly, yes. Deceit, deception. You're no threat to the devil like that. He's like, oh yeah, you can say you're a Christian. But I fell in love. I started wanting to open my home to Bible studies and things like that, but I couldn't because of things we were doing. And so there's a bit of resistance. Then again, I found I was clashing with Gilbert and one day the Lord just said, no more, that's enough. And so I told him, I was like, okay, the Lord is telling me all in, it's time. Again, like I said, this is a huge part of my testimony because the Lord knew what I wanted most, was a family. Some sense of normalcy, probably. Yeah, for my daughter not to come from a broken home like we did. Amen, amen. But with Gilbert not wanting to go all in yet, and I knew that the Lord was calling me, I said, okay, Lord. I said, I will give you my life. I said, even if it costs me everything I ever wanted. Amen.

It's me and you now from here on out, no matter what. I don't know what I'm gonna do as far as my family or anything like that. I said, my residency, I didn't even know where I was gonna live. I said, but it's me and you from here on out. I said, I'd love for him to come with me, but even if he doesn't, I'm all in. Amen. And I messaged Gilbert and I told him that. And I said, I'm not coming home till all. All the drugs, everything's gone, everything, I'm done. I don't want to sell, I don't want to use, I'm done. And I said, and if you don't want to give it up, then I'm done with you too. And he got rid of everything within an hour and said, come home. And I- Wow. That got his attention. Yeah, I always think about that scripture that says, those who lose their life for my sake will gain it, and those who try to cling to it will lose it. And that's what I had done all my life, desperately trying to cling to all these things, not putting God first, and I was losing them. I was losing them to the devil. My family, everything I ever wanted, but it wasn't until I fully surrendered to God that I actually gained those things. I got the husband I always wanted. We got married months later, so I got the husband I always wanted. We don't deal with domestic violence anymore. Like you said, we're raising godly children. They're the first in our family to be raised in a church.

How many kids do you have now? Well, like I said- Well, you have your little brother, but you have three- Yeah, so we have three children of our own. My little brother still lives with us, and then, like I told you, we're expecting another one right now. Oh, no, you didn't tell them that. Yeah. Yeah, we're expecting another one on the way. Oh, praise the Lord. Praise God. Expected maybe February of next year. And y'all have both gotten really involved in church. Yes. Can you tell the folks a little bit about what life has been like since? Now, did it take a little bit longer for Gilbert to totally surrender, or when you totally surrendered, did he finally say, yeah, I'm all in with you, or- Yeah, it took him just a little bit longer to stop the smoking, but he stopped the selling. We stopped the drinking. We stopped the partying. Like everything stopped, and then the domestic violence also stopped. Now, we would still get angry, and screaming and yelling was still a thing, but the physical violence stopped, but the Lord even helped us work on that as well. And so, yeah, I mean, it hasn't always been easy, but with the leading of the Holy Spirit allowing the Lord to tell us what to do, and us say, yes, Lord, and obey- If you're willing to be obedient. Yes, and obey. Right? Obedience is huge. People think that once we really give our heart to Jesus, everything's just hunky-dory

and roses from their own, but it's not, is it? I mean, you still have trials and temptations and challenges. So, I love to share how we actually overcame domestic violence. We do this. We go to the Lord, and we complain, oh, so-and-so's doing this, and he just won't do this, and he just won't do that, and the Holy Spirit ... I was going in about Gilbert one day, and the Holy Spirit said, you be quiet. And I was like, that's not what I want to hear. You're part of the problem, he says. Yeah, and he said, you be quiet. And so, I started doing that. When we'd get into arguments, I would just be quiet, and he would pick and pick and pick, and I would explode eventually, but then each time that I did that, I was quiet. I lasted longer and longer and longer until eventually he didn't faze me anymore. And then he could only argue with the walls for so long, and so then he just stopped, and literally, that's how we overcame domestic violence. Holy Spirit told me to be quiet. Not what I wanted to hear, but it worked. It worked, and God is ... How does Pastor Mark say it? He's such a genius, he'll even make you look smart. If you listen to him, he'll even make you look smart. So your life now, I know you lead a celebration. Yes. Together, you all lead a Celebrate Recovery group, which is, for those of you who may not know, that's like a Christian 12-step program. Yes. Yeah. And so, yeah, we do that. Every week, Thursday nights at the church. Every Thursday.

Yes, every Thursday. I know for a fact that a lot of people like to go to that meeting. Yes. We have such a strong community in Celebrate Recovery all over Lubbock through that group, and it's beautiful. Y'all even meet on ... Y'all even have a meal on Thursdays. Thanksgiving is always on Thursday, and y'all always have a Thanksgiving meal in the evening for everybody, don't you? We do, because coming into Christ, you'll find that you don't always have a whole lot of support, especially from the world, and unfortunately, even from family. So holidays can be rough for people in recovery, and one year, we were like, what are we going to do? We're not going to have our family. All they do is drink and party, and the Lord said, there's others like you, and so we're like, well, let's have Thanksgiving at the church with others like us who need a safe place to celebrate the holidays. So yeah, we do that every year now, too. It's beautiful. Yeah. And y'all are active. I don't know. I don't know. What do they call the ministry service team? What do they call it? The deacon care team at the church. What is it? The deacon care team. Deacon care team. Yeah. Because I know y'all are involved in a lot of ways at church.

Several couples that are on the leadership team. I really admire that. I've told you before I really appreciate what y'all do because you do it really, I think, with a very sincere heart, and you're wonderful servants. So God has made you into those things, right? Oh, yes. Right? Definitely. She loves much because she's been forgiven much. That's right. Amen. Is it John chapter seven, maybe? Yes. I think so. It's in John. Yeah. So Glad Tidings Church started Glad Tidings Christian Academy, what, three years ago? Yes. So it started from, what, pre-K three through seven, and now it's up to nine, or what? It started pre-K through six because- Pre-K through six. Yes. And then each year that we've had it, it's gone up, but it stopped at eighth grade last year. Stopped at eighth grade. Okay. Yes. So you help teach over there. Yes, I do. What a blessing.

So your kids are enrolled there. All of my children are enrolled at Glad Tidings Christian Academy. So that's like having homeschool, but you actually have it at church. Yes. Right? So God is so good and so faithful to the desires of your heart if you just listen and obey because I've been a stay-at-home mom for several years, and when I finally did get a job, I was able to go work where my kids were at school. Isn't that awesome? It is. It is. It's only God that can arrange these. Only God can do these things. But you have to be willing. You have to be surrendered to meeting, seeking. That's the thing. Yeah. It's in the seeking. He tells me that often. Remember, it's in the seeking. It's in the seeking. I did want to, if it's okay, to touch back on the situation with my mom. Yeah. So we're both surrendered. Oh, yeah. We didn't ever wrap that up for you. Yeah. We both surrendered to Christ, and I wanted to come back to this for the ladies that may be watching, because I went through a lot while she was in prison. Like I said, I had my brother, my other siblings as well.

I'm in custody battles with my other sister's dad. All kinds of stuff. Lots of things were going on. Yes, and so I know what it feels like to be waiting on those parole reviews and things like that. But what I really wanted to highlight was the favor of God and what happened when my mom surrendered. Remember, I told you it was aggravated, and so she wasn't even supposed to see parole until after like seven years or so. Seven and a half years, yeah. Yeah. But this is the testimony, because she spent her whole time in prison serving the Lord and being surrendered to the Lord. So not only did she get to see parole earlier, she actually was released after five years. Are you kidding? She did five years. That's impossible in Texas. That's only a God thing. Only a God thing. But you know, when we picked her up, I don't know if this is like everybody or just people who have families waiting on them, but they have you do a class at the end with your loved one before they actually let them go. And I always remember, it's always stuck with me. Of course, they don't tell you this till the end, right? Till the end of the sentence. But she says that the lady, the instructor, whoever was doing it, she said, nothing with the state of Texas is set in stone. And that really stuck with me because I'm like, you're right, because the favor of God will supersede any sentence, will supersede anything, anything of this world. And I saw that personally with my mom.

I mean, there was full surrender. So the reason why I still have my brother is because unfortunately, three years after my mom got out, she passed away. She passed away. But I tell people all the time, I would not trade those last three years for the 20 something years before she went to prison, because when she came home, she was a whole new person. We got to do ministry together. There was a lot of reconciliation in our family. I finally got to see her free, free. And the freedom started in prison, but I got to witness it firsthand, and we did recovery together. I helped her launch Bible studies. And a month before she passed away, by the grace of God, she actually got to travel all over the state of Texas. Again, God's favor, because she was on parole still, and her parole officer agreed. Her job agreed to let her have, everybody gave her a whole month because the favor of God. She went all over the state of Texas. being fishers of men, she went preaching the gospel. She did? Yes, all over the state of Texas, to different friends and family members, and actually a couple of family members that she visited, they also passed away shortly after that visit. And so – Had they given their heart to Jesus, maybe, because of what she did? Yes, she talked to them about the Lord. And you know, what I said when that lady said, nothing with the state of Texas is set in stone, we don't – so not only with the state, that resonates with me though, is because we don't know what the future holds. But we know, what we do know, is that we only have this one life to live. This one life.

And giving it to Jesus is the best thing that you can do. I just wanted to sit here and just tell all the ladies that what I saw in my mom those last few years of her life was nothing short of a miracle for our entire family. And just that, that only God can do that for you. Only God can do that for you. And yes, like you said, through surrender, but this is something else I like to tell the ladies in prison. Go ahead. We're going to wrap up in a minute, but this, I do want to give you a chance, just talk to the men and ladies, whoever, men and women that are watching, and just, if there's something you haven't been able to say, go ahead and say that. And then I'm going to ask you to press out here in a minute. Okay. So, this is huge, because while you're in prison, all you've got is time, right? Time. This is a big subject, a topic of conversation, time. Nobody knows how much more time, or maybe they've told you you have this much more time, whatever. But what I saw with my mom, when she passed away, I went through all her paperwork, and this woman, she kept everything. She kept everything. But what I found was in prison, she used all her time to indulge in the Word of God. Wow. I mean, I found correspondence after correspondence after correspondence, certificate after certificate You should love to do those correspondence courses. I told her, I thought to myself, it was just kind of a joke, I was like, wow, she couldn't just do one workout, because she came home kind of heavy. But no, she literally just indulged in the Word of God, and that is why She was working out her spiritual woman inside. Yes, yes.

And the Bible does say that physical working out is of little benefit, but it's our spirit that we do need to be concerned about. And she spent every moment in there getting filled. So when she passed away, the Lord gave me Romans 8, 28, what the enemy meant for evil. God can use it, can turn anything around. God works all things together for good for those who love God and are called according to His purpose. Yes. So do I believe that all those bad things happened to my mom because God made them happen to her? No. We make bad choices, and we let the enemy lie to us sometimes, and we make bad choices. But if we'll give it to God, that prison sentence, if you'll give it to God, like I said, you're in the perfect place for a miracle. That is where I saw that basically what the enemy meant to break my mom became what the Lord used to make my mom. Yeah. I love that. Say that again. The enemy meant to break my mom became what God used to make my mom. She surrendered it to the Lord, and she was molded into the woman that He always was calling her to be. Wow. The mom, the Christian, the godly woman. And that's actually Genesis 50, verse 20, what men meant for evil, God can use for good. Hallelujah. Yes. And so that's why I say if you're sitting in those white suits. If you're watching this behind those bars, you're in a perfect place for a miracle. Give it to God.

Don't give the enemy one more second, because he doesn't deserve it. He's already took too much from us. The Lord promises to give it all back and more, and He did that. Even in those short few years at the end, I mean, like I said, I wouldn't trade it for the 20-something years before. And so the fact that she was getting prepared. We just recently did a discipleship course, and it's on Pando. It will be on Edovo as well, but a discipleship course about sharing the gospel. And so what we're trying to do is teach you inside how important it is to write there where you're at. It's on Pando. is to share your testimony, how to share with your cellie or someone across the yard or on the rec yard or somewhere, how to share your faith, how to share the gospel. But the fact that your mom allowed God to pour truth into her, and I know what that's like because I was like her. I was addicted to Bible correspondence courses because he was just pouring truth into me, and I loved to learn. So the fact that she did that, then when she got out and she was able to go to her family in different parts of Texas, and at least one or two people, if not more, I know she planted a whole lot of seed, but at least one or two people probably, that seed probably sprouted right quick because you said two of them actually passed away. That was, she was getting prepared, and so that's what we all ought to do, use our time wisely in there to get prepared because you don't know what God's going to do with you tomorrow or the next day. God, we have to rely on him one day at a time, right? Trust in the Lord with all your heart, right? And trust him to lead you. So wow, that's so important. Is there anything else you wanted to say before we wrap up? That's such a compelling testimony.

I just love our conversation. I just wanted to say, when I talk about a complete turnaround, the leaving for a month was what she did towards the end of her life, but in between that time, I mean, there was an online ministry where she was faithful to her church as well. Really? She no longer dealt with homosexuality. Wow. She got free of that? Even in her passing, I still seen those seeds growing. Her manager took over her Bible study group that she had been ministering to at her job. They still have her picture hanging up there. Really? That's awesome. Yeah. So many things, so many things. So she was delivered from all kinds of things. All kinds of things. Amen. She walked her talk. She lived it out. She probably wasn't perfect, but she did the best she could to serve God with all of her heart. Everything that came out was Jesus and the love of God and scripture. She was so patient and graceful. What an example. What an example. Yes. That's awesome. So, jailhouse religion that we all make fun of can be the real thing if you let it be. Yes.

Is that right? Yes. Oh, definitely. Amen. Amen. Hey, I want to get you to, can you pray us out? Yeah, sure. All right. Lord, Heavenly Father, thank you for this opportunity to share, Lord, and just bring the hope of God to any men or women that may see this. Heavenly Father, I pray that they would just have an open heart and open mind, Lord, and just receive all that you have for them, Lord. Not sell themselves short of what you can do in their lives, Father. I've seen your miracles, Lord, and I just pray, Heavenly Father, for restoration and healing in their lives as well as they submit unto you and they continue to seek you first, Lord, that all these other things would be added unto them. I thank you for freedom in their lives, freedom from the inside out. Lord, I thank you just for doing mighty miracles and that you're still the same God that raised Christ from the dead. Hallelujah. Thank you, Lord. Excuse me. You have not lost your power. The Holy Spirit is evident and real and tangible, and I just pray that they know this today and they receive for themselves, Father. Lord, I just pray blessings over everyone here and everyone watching, Father God. I just pray a hedge of protection over them, Lord, and I thank you for the call of God on each and every one of their lives. We rebuke every lie of the enemy that says that they're the ones that are too much or too far gone.

I just rebuke those lies in Jesus' mighty name. I thank you for freedom because whom the Son sets free is truly free indeed, and Lord, I know if you can do it for me and my family, you can do it for them, Father God, and so I thank you. I just pray for lives changed today, never going back to those old things again. In Jesus' mighty name, Lord, may you get all the glory and honor and praise. Amen. Amen. Amen. Thank you, Danielle. That's so sweet. Thank y'all for having me. And you got me crying over here. Hey, thanks for tuning in to the Old Man, New Man podcast with Danielle Gutierrez, and we're so grateful for you. Come see us again. God bless you. God bless you.