412 Exposed

I remember someone once asking me... "Do you think you will ever preach?" I laughed and answered "unless God strikes me down from heaven... NO." That was at the beginning of 2010. Within a month in my prayer time I kept feeling like God had filled me with something to say and I was supposed to say it. As I was reading the bible I came across a verse 1 Timothy 4:12 Let no one despise your youth but be an example to the believers in word, conduct, love, spirit, faith, and purity. I loved that scripture and posted it to my Facebook. A week later my Pastor, Boss, & Dad walked into my office and said he had received a new vision for our young adult ministry and wanted me to head it up. I freaked out a little bit inside. My eyes got wide and I asked... why me? He said, well I really like the verse that you put on your Facebook and think you would be a great face to the ministry. Although I didn't know what it would fully entail, as always, I said yes. I am a fan of starting new things, changing things up, and basically doing whatever needs to be done (especially in the things of The Lord). So with that being said we started along on working out a plan to kickstart this new ministry. At first I just kind of MC'ed Sunday nights. Although inside I felt the desire to speak, I never mentioned that to anyone. As I said before... God would have to strike me from heaven to make that happen. Along with the desire welling up inside of me, Pastor Loren asked me to speak the following month. With shaky and sweaty hands and my heart beating super fast... I did it! It was a crazy experience and I loved every minute of it! I knew this is what I was supposed to do.

Almost 4 years later, we as a young adult group, have been striving to be exactly who God has called us to be. With 1 Timothy 4:12 in mind... we are pressing forward in the plans and purposes of God. My burden is to see a generation, my generation, rise up and take their place in the plans and purposes of God. No matter how hard, how uncomfortable, or how unprepared we may feel... for this generation to say YES to His call!

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Home is Where the Heart Is

2 Little Girls I Get VERY Excited to see When I am in El Salvador

El Volcan in San Salvador

El Salvador. A beautiful place. A broken place. A place crying out for Jesus. A place I call home. Back in 2008 I traveled to El Salvador and received a heavy burden from the Lord for this country and the people in it. Since 2008 I have been to this country over 20 times ministering in word, song, camps, and one on one deep conversations. There were times when I could not even imagine coming back to the United States the burden was so deep. But as always, I came back and kept this country in my prayers. This country will always be on my heart and I will continue to travel there until I am told otherwise (by the "big man" upstairs.)

I wanted to share one story from my travels to El Salvador. In 2005 my parents changed our annual family trip from Florida to El Salvador convincing us we would love it since the weather was in the 90's. I remember landing there and thinking "what in the world am I going to do in the country?" The only American restaurant close to our hotel was pizza and if you know me at all I HATE PIZZA. Our hotel was right across the street from a mall but of course... "it wasn't safe for me to go there by myself." With that being said... I stayed at the pool in the sun until I was told I had to leave to eat or go to service. Needless to say, I told my parents I would never return to that country... EVER.

In 2008 for some odd reason I decided I wanted to go to El Salvador with my dad. He brought Mike and I along with him and my whole attitude was changed. I looked at the country with open eyes, I met and made long lasting relationships with people there, I ate all sorts of food (including pupusas), I opened my heart during church services, and long story short, fell in love with the country.

As I said before, The Lord put the burden on my heart for El Salvador. You never know what situation God is going to use to change you. Most of the time we want the situations around us to change but what is most important is letting the situations change us to be more like Him.

Mr. & Mrs. Garza

February 8th 2013 marks the best day of my life. Rewind to 2004 when I laid eyes on this tall handsome young man, Michael Garza. I knew right then that I was going to marry him. Forget the fact that I had never had a boyfriend before... he was the one. Flash forward through the next 9 years, through the ups & downs, the good times & the bad, the craziness of young adult life, traveling the globe with and without Mike... we finally said YES to forever. This is one of the best decisions I have ever made. After years of writing "Ashley Garza" on notebook after notebook... it was finally official! I was Ashley Garza, wife of Michael Garza.

Beautiful Flower Girls

Five Girls that Mean THE WORLD to Me

The Most Handsome Groomsmen