I Have A Testimony #37 with Sis. Adi Montes

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1508sCoX0gq3QgcbPL5zSnSCWCeayJbJa/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=100161294576961440459&rtpof=true&sd=true

Rev. Mario A. Najera (00:10):

Greetings and praise the Lord. Welcome back to iHAT podcast with me, your host, Rev. Mario A. Najera. It's been a while since our last episode and I want to start by thanking you all for your patience and continual support. Life happens and time moves so fast, and by the time you know it, it's another year. Speaking of another year, I thank God that in February I turned 46. By the grace of God, we are still here and we are excited to return and continue sharing and uplifting the name of the Lord with you all. I also want to take a moment to give a special thanks to my amazing wife and both of my sons for their love, their encouragement and unwavering support. Their prayers and dedications have been a true blessing, especially for myself and for this podcast as we start a new year. Also, I'm thankful that there have been some upgrades to our setup.

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It serves as a motivation factor to try to continue to create content and an even greater experience for you all. Some things you might be able to notice, others well, you need to trust me that they're there. As we move forward. I ask for your continual prayers that God will grant me wisdom, the ability to be consistent and that this podcast would be used to continue to glorify God and to uplift his people. If you've been blessed by our content, we'd love your support in spreading the word before, I would ask, Hey, go to PayPal. Hey, if you want to bless us monetarily with the love offering, but there's other ways that we can go to support this podcast. You could share with a friend. You could leave a review or a comment you can like, subscribe, all those things that just take a click of a button, that just takes a little bit of effort.

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It will go a long way, but please also check out our webpage @ www.ihatpodcast.org. So again, our webpage is www.ihatpodcast.org. So you can check out the content, you can check out past interviews, you can check out to see where we stream. Or very simply, just pray for this podcast, pray for this servant, amen. That we can do this for the honor. Glory of God. We're glad to have you here today for today's podcast of I have a testimony, listen to today's podcast. Be encouraged and let's keep growing together in faith. God bless you all and enjoy. I have the privilege today to have as a guest, the secretary of one of the greatest districts in the state of Arizona, Messengers of Peace, Sis. Adi Montes on the podcast today, Sis. Adi, Praise the Lord and welcome to the podcast and thank you so much for accepting this invitation.

Sis. Adi Montes (03:22):

Amen. Thank you. Thank you. It is an honor and a privilege to be here.

Rev. Mario A. Najera (03:27):

Great Sis. Adi. We are connecting together virtually, but nevertheless, we are coming in agreement to testify of the goodness and the mercy of God, and we want to speak life. We want to speak Jesus so that all that here will know that no matter where they find themselves in their life's journey, that Jesus still loves, that Jesus still saves and that he's still doing works within his people. In Jesus' name, Sister.

Sis. Adi Montes (03:50):

Yes. Amen. Amen. Amen. We're here to testify of God's goodness.

Rev. Mario A. Najera (03:55):

Yes. Amen. Sis. Adi, I haven't had the privilege in meeting you in person, although we were in the same event for national youth advance this last year, but I didn't get to greet you in person, but they had a section, they had people that were going up and sharing a little bit of their testimony, and when I heard yours, what you shared again, and I wrote this to you, that it really touched my wife and also myself, but my wife also because although it was a different type of infirmity or illness or health issue that you were experiencing, she had the same thing that was going on in her life as when she was a young person. So it really touched her and I was like, you know what? I really want to see if we can connect and get this completed, but to kind lay a foundation here, because I'm pretty sure you're going to mention that, but to kind of lay a foundation here first, can you share Sis. Adi a little bit about your upbringing and what kind of environment that was for you and what your experiences that you can recall growing up?

Sis. Adi Montes (05:05):

Yes, yes. Amen. I was raised in church, well, my parents were baptized when I was about two years old, so all I know is church. All I know is being at church, being taken to church events and my dad being in ministry, he became a minister when I was five and they were servants. They served at church, whether it was in ministry or cleaning. I remember I lived about two minutes away from the church we used to attend at that time, and we would walk to the church just on a regular day just because we wanted to be there. That was my upbringing. I grew up going, all I knew was church. All I knew was we get ready, we have to go to church this day and we got to do this. And I knew about Jesus. I mean, we would go to Sunday school and they would teach us and my parents would teach us here at home, but there was never really that intimacy when it came more down to a personal level when I was growing up. Although I knew, although I was sure that I had to be baptized, I was sure that there was a God. I believed in Jesus, but there wasn't that true intimacy that I do have now that I had to experience as I got older.

Rev. Mario A. Najera (06:39):

Yes, no, definitely. And your early memories of your parents being servants, being in church all the time, that can really take two different roads for a lot of people. If you've been in this as long as we have or yourself, and especially being family in ministry, we can see that there's two paths, right? One that kind of leads off into the children taking after their parents and fulfilling the blessings of that calling other that have experiences where they're like, I've experienced too much kind of, but praise God that you're still here, Sister. Amen. You gain that understanding. Yeah. So you talked a little bit about your earlier understanding of God, but what events led to your realization then of that personal and intimate relationship of needing to be baptized and have a personal relationship with him? What are kind of the circumstances that occurred at that time?

Sis. Adi Montes (07:35):

Well, what had to happen, and now I see it as it had to happen for me, was going through that illness.

(07:45):

That was really a turning point because again, I believed I would go to church, I would pray, but there was no real relationship with Jesus, and I was on praise team. I was with the youth group. I would serve with the children. I know I would do all of that. I was so busy within the church, but there was not that real relationship. So then I got sick and it was a lot of unknown. We don't know what she has. We know that this is happening. Her levels are like this, but we don't know why it had to happen because then I had to realize that the way I was living before, although it's not terrible, it wasn't bad. There was not that true intimacy with Jesus. There wasn't that true relationship. I had to learn that there was much more than just being busy within the church. It took much more than that because I was so consumed, and you know what I'm serving, I'm doing this. I'm doing it at church, I'm doing it for him. But there wasn't that relationship, and sometimes we forget or we don't know the difference. And that's what happened to me and that's why that was my turning point. That was my realization that he's going to heal me, but not just that I have to go in deeper with him. I have to know who he is, and I just know of him. I knew I grew up in Sunday school. I knew a lot, but I didn't know him at a personal level.

Rev. Mario A. Najera (09:35):

Yes. Yeah. The word of God speaks on that. It says your mouth, they speak about me, but your hearts, they're far from you.

(09:46):

So definitely, and people can get themselves involved in service so much like you said, they're missing that intimacy. They're missing that relationship part of what it is. And you think about it, anyone can enter into a church. Anyone can enter into the courts of worship and praise, but we start talking about the tabernacle and the presence of God. It's that relationship. It's that relationship that's going to take you further. For sure. Yeah, definitely. So how did your life change? What are some things that you saw in your life after accepting this personal relationship with Christ?

Sis. Adi Montes (10:25):

Yes, I realized that I needed to be baptized, and this was all during the process of the illness I was going through during that process. And I realized that there was nothing, whether it was with this illness or without the illness, I couldn't live like I used to, I couldn't live not knowing Jesus, not being closer to him. So I decided enough because a lot of the reasons why I would make excuses as to why I wasn't getting baptized just yet. I would say that like, oh, not yet. I knew I was, but not yet. Not yet. They were excuses that now I'm like, wow, they don't even make sense. They were small things that were impeding that decision. And when I decided to take that step, I told my parents like, okay, I remember I told them a day before the service, before I actually got baptized. And I was like, I want to get baptized tomorrow. And they were like, yes, we'll do it. Yes, we'll organize it. And I told them, even if Jesus doesn't take away this illness. I know I have to. I know where I stand, where I want to be.

(11:52):

And I realized that once I got baptized, I wasn't out of the waters healed. It didn't occur like that to me, but I realized that he was going to be closer to me. He was going to be with me. He was going to bring me out of that process again. Even if he didn't, it was going to be okay because now I knew him. Now I got closer to him. I found that true relationship with him that I didn't have before. And now it had turned, shifted where I would serve, but I knew why I was doing it. I knew for who I was doing it. I knew it was a different type of passion when it came to serving because I had that passion before. But it was just different when you get to know who you're doing it for and you get to know him, that relationship.

Rev. Mario A. Najera (12:47):

Yes, definitely. And that's just, we can definitely find ourselves in those crossroads where, Lord, let me see you do something and then I'll do something, then I'll give my life, then I'll do

Sis. Adi Montes (13:01):

This.

Rev. Mario A. Najera (13:01):

And God's saying the way that it works is you put in the effort, you put in the faith, and then you watch me work on your behalf, on your part. So I mean that really is inspirational that when you came to that realization, when we think about surrendering in the physical, we think about giving up and giving in. But when we think about it spiritually, it's just not necessarily giving up. We're lost. But just to say, Lord, I'm just trusting completely in you. That's my surrender. I'm not trying to have a game plan besides trusting, trusting in you.

Sis. Adi Montes (13:37):

It's hard sometimes because I am one of those people that when it comes to Mary and Martha, I'm Martha, I'm doing something. I got to have some sort of control and giving up that sense of control in the way where I don't know what's going to happen. I don't know the answers, but Jesus, you're going to bring me out. That was so hard for me to do. And don't get me wrong, sometimes it's still hard, but just leaning on that understanding that is Jesus. And just like His word says, he's gracious and he's compassionate, and he's so merciful that even in our times of we need to have the control, we need to have this going the way we want it to. He's still compassionate when it comes to that. Yeah,

Rev. Mario A. Najera (14:25):

Yeah. Amen. Yes. So many times, right where that human nature kicks in, we want to put Yeah, and you definitely, and the one thing I've always seen God do in those situations in regards to his love and his grace, and when you do just surrender to that, God is faithful, God is faithful, He is faithful. And no matter what it is, there's things going on behind the scenes that we can't discern. We can't tell, but God is doing something. God is working in something for our favor.

Sis. Adi Montes (15:02):

Oh, yes.

Rev. Mario A. Najera (15:03):

Yeah. And like you said, just being able to give up that control and just saying, Lord, you take over, take it from here. And that's a big difference I believe between when you're praying, God, take me out of this. Instead of saying, God, take me through this.

Rev. Mario A. Najera (15:22):

Be

Rev. Mario A. Najera (15:22):

With

Rev. Mario A. Najera (15:22):

Me

Rev. Mario A. Najera (15:23):

And take me through this. Oh, wow. So you were talking about this illness. How young were you when you were going through all of this?

Sis. Adi Montes (15:34):

When I first started, I was 14.

Rev. Mario A. Najera (15:37):

Wow.

Sis. Adi Montes (15:38):

I was 14 years old, and that's when all of the procedures started, the hospitalizations, the medicines, all of that. That's when it first started. And it carried on to, I remember for about a year, a year and a half, it was constant hospitalizations. It was going and staying there for a couple nights and leaving and procedures and doctor's appointments. So it was throughout my first early years of high school. So I wasn't present in school. I wasn't going to pretty much anything that people my age then we're doing. I was pretty much in an isolation as well because they didn't know what was going on. They didn't know it was a lot of overprotection within the doctors, my parents and

Speaker 4 (16:39):

I.

Sis. Adi Montes (16:40):

Yeah. So it dragged on. I was about 17 years old and before I turned 18, I told myself, and I told Jesus, I was like, I don't want to drink medicine anymore. I don't want to. I was drinking medications every single day and I just knew that there was something that I didn't need it anymore. I didn't need it anymore. And it was just something that would just impede little things. It would make me a little more drowsy. And I told Jesus, I don't want to, don't want Jesus anymore. I don't want to. I'm just going to stop. I'm just going to stop. And I did have to take, it was a process to stop just because I couldn't just cut that medication. It could have backfired. So I did. And for the honor and glory of God, I stopped all medication before I turned 18. And ever since I haven't taken anymore and now I'm 25. So praise God.

Rev. Mario A. Najera (17:41):

Yes, definitely. And I mentioned to you earlier, and it's interesting because the parallel, like I mentioned about my wife and how she felt so connected to your testimony when she heard it when you were sharing at NYA was because she dealt a lot with severe asthma. There was a lot of things that would trigger it. This is when she was smaller, so she lived in Chicago at that time. So there are a lot of things that would trigger it. And there goes an ER visit her parents either early in the morning, late at night, whatever it was. There was no specific time, just whatever. So there goes her parents taking her to the ER, and she said that she would have this routine already that she got so familiar with the staff because she was there so often. Yes. She would kind of recognize the staff that were there. And you think about her parents, like she said, she felt so bad about

(18:33):

Because they would see 'em there kind of sleeping there. She was there trying to be there with her, and then she had siblings, but there they were with her. So that's when she said she really made that connection when you were sharing that. And again, another parallel is that when she said that she finally got tired of taking and medication inhalers and everything. So she said she locked herself in her parents' room, and I wish I could remember how old she was, but she was pretty young. She said she locked herself in her parents' room and she prayed and she said, Lord, she goes, I don't want to do this anymore. She goes, I don't want to take these medications, so I just want to leave it in your hands, but either you take me or you heal me or you take me. I don't want this to be my life. And then she said that she kind of fell asleep. And then finally her parents got into the room and they woke her up and she said, she goes after that, she just felt different. She just felt something off of her. And after that prayer experience, she said she never had another asthma attack. She never had to be in the ER again. She never had to take any type of medication. And it was just like, I wasn't thinking of that stuff when I was 14 years old in my life about having these struggles about taking medication. So to me, that was really, I was just in awe. And that God honored her prayer to say,

(19:58):

Alright.

Sis. Adi Montes (20:01):

Yes. And something I learned with taking that leap of faith because I was so consumed and I need to go to this doctor, I need to take this medication, I need to do that, that it was so normal and I didn't realize that it's not normal. It wasn't what Jesus doesn't want us to be sick, and I had to really let go of, I have to do this. So here, Jesus, I'm surrendering you, surrendering the medicine to you. I'm surrendering all of this to you because it was also a, I have to because then I'm going to feel like this. I have to because I'm going to feel the pain again. And it goes back to surrendering, surrendering all of that and just laying it at the feet of Jesus and telling him, you take it because I don't want to it anymore. What became normal in our head, it's not normal. He doesn't want us to live with that.

Rev. Mario A. Najera (21:06):

Yeah. Wow. That's good. It becomes normal, like you said, it is an everyday occurrence it seems like. So it just consumes you. It consumes you. Yeah. And then like you said, it becomes your normal. So in other words, seeing the doctor, it's kind of things you can control. You can control making appointments, you can control and going, but like you said, letting go and say, Hey God, you direct it. You tell me you do these things.

Speaker 4 (21:31):

Wow.

Rev. Mario A. Najera (21:33):

Yeah. Like I said, heavy things to be thinking of. Yeah, 14 to 18, I wasn't thinking about those or my age. My wife was as a child thinking about, I'm not taking my inhaler, I'm not doing this. It's interesting where we come from a lot of different backgrounds though, and how God is the constant is the only thing that's the same, that he's powerful. He's gracious. Yep. He remains the same. He's merciful. Yes, yes, yes. Oh my goodness. So now Sister, in your years of serving God and being there where you're at, what way do you feel God has called you to share your faith with others? And what was that calling like? Is there a position you're serving in or something that you feel God has called you or that you're working in a calling at this time?

Sis. Adi Montes (22:23):

Yes. Well, I started when I was about 10 years old at my local church. They would do kind of like ministry fair, what are you interested in? What would you like to help out in? And we were juniors, so I like this or I like doing that. And I remember I wanted to do the sound. I wanted to learn how to move the sound and do all of that. And I went to my pastor back then and I told him, pastor, if you give me permission, I want to train with the sound techs and I want to learn. And he tells me no. And I was 10 years old. I was like, why? And he was like, no, I want you to try out the praise team. And I was like, oh, I don't do that pastor. I am too shy. I am too timid to be up there. And he was like, just give it a month. He said, give it a month. Go constantly to practice. Give it a month and then come back and tell me that you want to try sound. And I was like, okay, well we're going to obey. And I did. I tried it out and I ended up loving it. I felt like it was a calling that Jesus gave to me. And about two months in, I got scheduled to be on praise team for a Sunday service. And after he comes up to me and he's like, I told you, I told you, I told you. And he's like, I had a vision and I saw you there and you didn't want that. He's like,

Speaker 4 (24:09):

But

Sis. Adi Montes (24:10):

I just wanted you to see it on your own. And I was on praise team at that church. And then my dad became a pastor where we're at now in Mesa. And I'm still worship leading there. And as I grew older with the young people, just serving with the young people and coordinating events and ventas as at church or whatever it may be, going to youth camps, I got a strong passion for our young people. And being a young person myself, knowing how this generation is, how the world now is, you get a stronger burden. And I've been serving with our young people as well. And now for the glory of God with AZ MoP and in this position and coordinating events, and it is just seeing the work of God in the little things. And yes, we have to do our part. We have to organize, we have to plan, we have to set events and do that background

Speaker 4 (25:27):

Work.

Sis. Adi Montes (25:29):

And it's such a privilege because we set it and there's a point that we all say when we get together as a team, we're like, we did our best. We planned as much as we could. Now it's Jesus, it's your turn, it's your turn. We give it all to you. And that's one of my favorite parts, kind of like a relief. It's a relief off our shoulders and seeing, because what the Lord is going to do, he's going to do something because he is good. No matter if we messed up, no matter if we forgot to do something, he's still going to

Rev. Mario A. Najera (26:01):

Move. Definitely. Yeah. No preparation will definitely breed miracles or movement of God as long as, like you said, preparation is really important. And it's so great to know that sister you're in a position to be impactful. And that's one of the things about serving. It's not about how people can serve you, but how you can serve others. So being able to have that ability to pour into people. One of the things that I've always, I talked to our young people now because I have an opportunity to work with them here in 1st Tucson. And just to say, guys, I'm getting older, the minister's getting older. Before they used to hear phrase a lot, the young people are the church of tomorrow. I was like, there's no, today's tomorrow.

Rev. Mario A. Najera (26:49):

Yes.

Rev. Mario A. Najera (26:50):

Yeah, today's tomorrow. So where are the next preachers coming from? Where are the next Sunday school teachers and children ministry? We need to start being ready. But yeah, definitely pouring into it because that's what it is. I remember, how am I going to teach someone to do this if I want to be doing it? But then God gets ahold of you and speaks to you and says, yeah, because your time's going to come or you need to move on or you're done or whatever your season. So someone's got to take over that. You just can't leave it empty. So when you understand that, it's like that's, you prepare yourself and then you need to help prepare the people that are coming up next before you. And that's really important for sure. So I'm really glad to hear that the Arizona Message of Peace, your local church there has someone as yourselves Sister that's there and supporting and ministering for sure. That's awesome. So your parents are the pastors of the Mesa church then

Sis. Adi Montes (27:50):

In

Rev. Mario A. Najera (27:50):

Mesa? Yes,

Sis. Adi Montes (27:51):

Yes. We're there in Mesa. We're second Mesa.

Rev. Mario A. Najera (27:54):

Second Mesa, okay, perfect. Yes. Alright, great. So again, being a child of ministry, being a pastor child, a pastor's kid, again, a lot of things you get to experience. Some things probably you didn't want to experience or see,

Rev. Mario A. Najera (28:09):

But

Rev. Mario A. Najera (28:09):

Sometimes it just happens, right? Yeah. But was there a particular season where it was extremely difficult and challenged your faith journey? And how did God show up in that? So something may be kind of recent or whatever happened, but to let you know that God was doing something in your favor, have you experienced anything like that in your walk with God?

Sis. Adi Montes (28:35):

Yes. And it's funny how it transitioned, talking about seasons. Seasons start and seasons end seasons are beautiful, but sometimes they're painful. And in the walk with God and in our walk with Christ, we also experience pain.

(28:58):

And actually we experience pain more than the usual, the more than what people could even think. But one of the most recent is being in ministry, being so close and seeing Jesus work and serving and your faith sometimes stumbles because we expect things to be different. So there was a time as a pk, as a pastor's kid where I didn't want to be a Pastor's kid. I didn't want that title. I was just me. I just wanted to be me. I didn't want somebody to, what I didn't want was all eyes on me. That's what I didn't want. And I would always tell my parents, I make mistakes and people are going to see my mistakes and I don't want my mistakes out there. And it was a little stumble on the road because you do have all eyes on you sometimes. And sometimes people's eyes can be a little deceiving. They deceive themselves or they want to see something that's not there and it will be probably called out sometimes or said at things. And

(30:35):

That made me stumble a bit when I was in my younger years. And I realized that it was hard. How can I keep my faith so strong? Jesus, how can I continue to grab a hold of your hand when I hear voices saying this, when I see things happening? And that was a bit of a learning process for me that no matter what the outside world or even the inside world inside our church says, that was hard because also as a younger person, you grow up with brothers and sisters in the church and you see them and you're like, you know what? They're so right with God. Jesus uses them. But we also, I didn't realize then that they're also human. We we're also flesh trying to fight every single day, trying to carry that cross every day just like I fail, other people fail. And that was something that I had to really learn and grab a hold of that faith that no matter what, yes, you know what? I'm going to make mistakes every day. But Jesus is so merciful that he forgives me exactly how he forgives the other person next to me. He's going to forgive us every day and not letting the outside noise or the mistakes of this sinful world stumble our

Speaker 4 (32:07):

Faith. And

Sis. Adi Montes (32:09):

That was one of the most, the biggest learning and faith stumbling things that I had to learn how to deal with the inside noise inside the church. It gets hard sometimes, especially as a young person.

Rev. Mario A. Najera (32:27):

Oh yeah. I mean, think as a dad with myself, I have two boys myself, and it's the same thing. You can talk about me, you can say whatever you want to say about me. And my saying to my boys is always like, they don't pay you my bills. I go, they can affect me a little bit, but I'm going to be okay. I'm still going to get up and go to work and do whatever.

Rev. Mario A. Najera (32:50):

Yes.

Rev. Mario A. Najera (32:51):

But when it comes to my boys and my wife, you become that papa bear. It's kind of like, so yeah, you kind of worry about that. You don't want them to have those type of experiences that can kind of affect their faith, like you were saying a little bit because of who their dad is or what position other people hold. And because there is a standard, there's a standard that's held for pastors, for families. But at the same time, you were saying as Christians, if you're a member, you're not just a member, but you're a member of the church or the body of Christ, there's a standard for you also. And one of the things that I've always learned is don't dare look at, don't dare look down at people because the same mercy and grace that you need to cover you,

Rev. Mario A. Najera (33:39):

It's

Rev. Mario A. Najera (33:39):

The same that God is giving them. Like you're saying earlier, we're all on the same boat. We're all in the same boat, for sure. Yeah. But it could definitely affect your faith because there'll be seasons where that'll challenge you, like you said, the outside noise. And if you stay too long in there, it begins, the season is you're no longer benefiting from it, but you're stuck there. You're still there. And then God can't use you as God is intending to use you because you are still in that other season. God saying, no, I took you through that. You learn what you learned. You're going to mature, you're going to grow from it because now I need you to take the step into this next

Rev. Mario A. Najera (34:17):

Season.

Rev. Mario A. Najera (34:18):

But some people are like, I just can't believe.

Rev. Mario A. Najera (34:21):

Yeah, we get stuck. We get stuck in the pain of

Sis. Adi Montes (34:24):

The past.

Rev. Mario A. Najera (34:28):

And again, it is what it is because it's truth. It's very true. We'll face those pains, but again, God is not expecting us to die in those things, but to die to ourselves and move on just to move on like, hey, because what's going to come further down the road is going to be a lot more you of things that you're going to have to face. So yeah. Yeah. It's amazing how God does things and how God, like I said, God takes us through it for sure.

Sis. Adi Montes (34:54):

Yes. And realizing that I have to remind myself all the time is it's not all about me. It, it's actually not about me. And sometimes we're like, well, it's my world, it's me, my feelings, and that's not true. It's all about Jesus. It's not about me.

Rev. Mario A. Najera (35:15):

Yes. Yeah. We're living oracles. We're living parchment paper and the way that God let people see God. Yeah. The way people see God is through us. The world is not out there reading their Bibles. We're supposed to be reading our Bible, so how are they going to know about this God that saves. But when they see us, actually, we had a conference last night with the young people on Friday, and that's one of the things that we brought up. I had the privilege, they asked me to do it, and that's one of the things that we brought up is that the world out there doesn't have an idea of God is besides what you present to them because you're Christian.

Rev. Mario A. Najera (35:53):

Yes.

Rev. Mario A. Najera (35:55):

So yeah, a lot of times we think about it's just affecting me or it's just me. It doesn't matter if I do, but you don't understand that God has called you for a purpose and a reason that you're going to affect somebody's life, that you're going to affect somebody's life through the way you respond to something, the way that you react because you're a Christian. So yeah, it's very true. You're so right to do that. You don't think about, it's about me. And a lot of times God's saying, no, I need you to step up. There was a phrase I learned early in ministry, you got to put your big boy pants on. You got to put your big, big girl skirt on because sometimes it's not fun. Sometimes it gets you right here. But hey, we just got to continue to move on serving God the best we

Rev. Mario A. Najera (36:41):

Can. Yeah,

Rev. Mario A. Najera (36:44):

Sis. Adi for sure. But along this journey, thank God, obviously we always have God with us and we experience these things, but one of the great things to have also is someone that we can lean on or a mentor, for example, someone that we can kind of talk to here. But who would you say are those people or that you've met that are the most influential and impactful persons in your faith journey today? And if you could share also why it is important to have these type of people in their spiritual journeys.

Sis. Adi Montes (37:20):

Yes. I have a lot of mentors that, or a lot of friends and mentors that I can go to and maybe some of them for specific things that they have. That's good. My main ones would be my parents, my pastor and his wife and my mom. And there's things that sometimes I have to share. I have to tell 'em sometimes I am your daughter right now I'm not a church member. And then I'm like, okay, I need you to talk to me as my pastor now and then we try to talk like that sometimes, but they're the ones that know me the most. They're the ones that raised me and their true example of just who Christ is and how to love people and how to be the walking hands and feet of Jesus. And they've helped me with so much. They advise me all of the time. And it's so important that we can go to our pastors and their wives because they know or they can even see things discern things that we sometimes can't and we sometimes don't see. And sometimes, yeah, you don't want to hear it. There's things that I'm just like, oh, I didn't want to hear that or I didn't like that, but at the end of the day, I'm like, thank you Jesus for them, because I would've still been living like that. I would've still been acting that way or whatever it may be. But that's what they're called to do as well.

(39:11):

And they're just so awesome in that. Another would be my co-laborers Sis. Eunice, Bro. Angel and his wife, Sis. Jackie. They're not only my co-laborers when it comes to AZ MoP, but they're also really good friends of mine that yeah, we will organize and we will laugh about things and joke, but we also sit down and we pray and we share what's going on. And sometimes we just call each other and we're like, Jesus told me this today. Or

Speaker 4 (39:46):

We

Sis. Adi Montes (39:46):

Just share about Jesus and we teach each other about it. Bro. Angel and Sis. Jackie were actually right before this. I was on a phone call with them and I had let them know, and they were telling me and Bro. Angel before he hung up. He was like, we're going to pray. Let's just pray. So he covered me and prayer for today.

Speaker 4 (40:07):

And

Sis. Adi Montes (40:08):

Those are the kinds of friends that you can hold on to because they're also fighting our same fights. We're here in this world fighting and it's good to not do it alone.

Rev. Mario A. Najera (40:23):

Yes. Yeah, definitely. One of the good reasons why to seek out mentors or counselors, because we weren't meant to do this alone. We're a body of Christ. When we think about the church, it's the people. It's a body of Christ. When someone has success, we all have success. When someone has failure, we all have failure. That's the way it should feel. That's the way it should really be. Because again, we're not called to be here to do it by ourselves. We're not islands. We're not.

Rev. Mario A. Najera (40:56):

Yeah, that's

Rev. Mario A. Najera (40:57):

True. Yeah. We're not superheroes. We're not anything like that. But yeah, we're really called. But yeah, that's definitely important. And Sis. Adi, I just want to point something out that a common theme in my mind that's running through this whole conversation, and I want to encourage you to continue to find strength in your relationship with God. But the common thing is your obedience. Your obedience. I mean, you think about since you were sharing that when you were younger, you're dealing with this illness, but just being obedient to the calling of God and following the steps that he asked and you received healing, listening to your pastor to say, you know what? No sound you're going to do. Praise team. I encourage you to do the praise team. But like you said, you were obedient there and for you to mention your parents, not only because they're your pastors, but the fact that they're your parents. But again, being obedient to what their instruction is for you. Because the one thing about being, even if you're just young or being Christian, we always mistake being corrected as being hated or being just, it's something negative, being corrected. But the reason why, the reason God, and it's in his words, the reason why he brings chastisement or attention or anything to our lives is because, not because he hates us or because he's mean is because he loves us.

(42:22):

And if your pastor or your parents don't correct you, if God's not bringing people in your life to bring attention, it's because he loves you. Because they love you. So again, just that theme that just your obedience Sister and that is going to continue to take you a long way in your relationship with God. So I want to encourage you, Sis., to keep up the great job. The word of God even says obedience is greater than sacrifices. Right. I'm not going to do this. I'll do this. God, I just need your obedience because when I'm asking you to do something, you're going to be obedient to do

Rev. Mario A. Najera (43:00):

It.

Rev. Mario A. Najera (43:00):

So I encourage you to keep doing what you're doing. That's awesome. Yes. So Sister if you could give a word of counsel to somebody that may be, again, we were talking about earlier, pain is real. The struggle is real, right? Yes. When people are going through things, like I said earlier, it becomes like you mentioned, they're normal. They're every day, right? It is all consuming kind of. But if you can just give a word of counsel to someone that's struggling in their faith or they find themselves in a certain season at this time, what would you want to share with them, Sister to someone that's listening?

Sis. Adi Montes (43:42):

Yes. Just to keep holding on. It's something that we always have to remember is that we're not too far gone. We're not too damaged for Jesus. There's nothing that we've done or that will do, or that there's nothing that he can't fix. He's the creator of all things and that he truly is our strength. He truly is that peace that we're all seeking. He truly is that answer that we're all looking for. And it's hard. I'm not saying the walk with Christ is easy. It's not. Sometimes it's painful and sometimes it's hurtful and sometimes it's stressful, but he gives us that peace. He allows us to sleep in peace because that's who He is. He's a God of peace, of God, of mercy, a God of love, and to never stop sharing who He is. Never be selfish with what he's done for you. I pray that I never lose a passion to share of the goodness that he's done for me. I pray that I don't become so selfish consumed that, oh, I only want Jesus for myself

Speaker 4 (45:01):

That

Sis. Adi Montes (45:01):

I can share it with all those around me because we all have our own worlds. I can't reach those in another place and I can't expect somebody else to come and reach my people, the people I'm with every day. So being that voice that Jesus showing Jesus to my world and also encouraging everyone else to be that light to your world,

(45:29):

Share the love of God to your world because if maybe there's somebody that will encounter and that's the only Jesus that they'll ever encounter, maybe that's the only prayer that they'll ever encounter and we don't know how much of a difference that can make. Maybe later along their life they're like, I remember when this person prayed for me and I felt this. And they start seeking more and getting interested, and that's what we can hope for, that the Lord stir something up in them and changes their life, but to never stop testifying of God's goodness as long as we have voice, as long as we have breath, trying to make him known throughout and just trying to help other people find the salvation that for the mercy of God we have.

Rev. Mario A. Najera (46:19):

Yeah, no, definitely. Hold on, hold on. Just like the sun's going to go down. There's going to be another day. As long as there's life, there's opportunity, so for sure. Hold on. Yes. And it's interesting you're saying that it doesn't matter where you find yourself, God can always reach no matter what's going on, God can help you fix. I remember recently hearing God has more mercy than you have mess. And I was, I'm going to take that. I got to

Rev. Mario A. Najera (46:45):

Take that. I'll take that mercy because I mess.

Rev. Mario A. Najera (46:49):

Yeah. I go, that was so good. I was like, that's so true. God has more mercy than we have mess. We can never out mess God's mercy. Got it. Yeah, definitely. And you're definitely right about planting a seed. You plant a seed and that's our responsibility to plant seeds and God takes care of the harvest. God's going to make it grow. Yeah. So throw seeds out there. Throw seeds out there.

Rev. Mario A. Najera (47:18):

There's

Rev. Mario A. Najera (47:18):

Going to be some that land on dirt that's ready, some soil that's not ready on, but our responsibility is not to worry about that our, it's just that, like you said, share. Share who the Lord is. Yeah. Share who the Lord is. So that's definitely good. You mentioned Second Mesa there, but how could someone that is listening today connect with your church? Maybe they're in your area or looking for a church out there in Mesa, but how can they connect with your church and your ministry?

Sis. Adi Montes (47:45):

Yes, we are on Facebook. Our name is Restoring Lives and we're here on, if I remember the street correctly, it's Mesa Drive and University and we have a big sign, so you won't miss us. And yeah, if you're around, if anybody is around the Mesa area, we're there Sundays at 11 and we're just trying to make Jesus known to the city of Mesa as well.

Rev. Mario A. Najera (48:18):

Yes. And I'm pretty sure if any changes or anything that they need to know about just schedule, they can probably look it up, like you mentioned on

Sis. Adi Montes (48:24):

Facebook. Oh yeah,

Rev. Mario A. Najera (48:25):

I mentioned,

Sis. Adi Montes (48:25):

Yes. Perfect.

Rev. Mario A. Najera (48:26):

Perfect. Yeah, yeah. That's great to hear. Alright, great. Sis. Adi, I really want to appreciate you joining me today and being here. It helps build a faith, right? Like you said, when we confess, when we share what the Lord is doing, what the Lord has done, it helps to stir faith. So I'm really glad to hear that God has continued to do something in your life also and just in our lives that God could continue to do it in other people's lives too. We're going to be praying for you, Sis. Ari, for you and your ministry, your church. Again, we really want to appreciate you guys out there, where you're at and the work that you're doing for the Arizona Messengers, the Peace, we're going to pray for you and the leadership and the young people because yeah, such a time is exists. The church, the young people are the church of today, of now day. We're going to be praying for you all for sure. Sis. Ari again, thank you so much. God bless you. Thank you for your

Sis. Adi Montes (49:24):

Time. God bless. God bless you.

Rev. Mario A. Najera (49:37):

As we wrap up today's podcast of I Have a Testimony, I want to take the time again to thank Sis. Ari Montes for making yourself available and for sharing a bit of a testimony, sharing some wisdom, sharing some insights with us. I know it's blessed me and I hope that has been a blessing for you to hear how God moves and how God moved in her life and how God is moving in her life. And I pray again that this conversation has somehow encouraged you and strengthened you in your faith. To our listeners, again, thank you for joining in. I pray that again this episode has lifted you and will help you to draw closer to your relationship, your personal relationship with Christ. If it has blessed you, I encourage you to share with others, to leave a review, to leave a comment, to go visit our website, www.ihapodcast.org.

(50:32):

Go visit it. You can see past content that's posted on there. You can see where this podcast is also streamed. You can see the different avenues that it's there for you and that's how you can give your support. Clicking on that like button, clicking on the subscribe button, sharing, commenting before I used to ask, Hey, you want to support this ministry with a love offering? Go here or go there. But again, we can bypass that. But just a simple act of doing these other things, clicking and subscribing and liking and commenting, and it can help further this podcast to reach different heights that the name of the Lord can be uplifted, but very simply, again, if we can't, the very least I pray that we can do is pray for this podcast, pray for your servant. Right. I also want to thank today for Behind the Scenes helping out today, my son Jared, help clicking on some of these buttons I don't have to worry about anymore and being available to do that for me.

(51:31):

Pushing, like I said, record and just being supportive and I really want to appreciate 'em. I also want to again, speak to you that listen or remember that don't matter where you find yourself in your journey. God is present, God is close, and he's working in all things for our good. Keep seeking Him, stay in his word. Continue to walk in faith and until next time, may the Lord bless you and keep you. Stay encouraged, stay faithful and we'll see you in the next episode. Lord willing of, iHAT podcast and of I Have A Testimony and God bless you all.