Guest Editorial: Denise Hernandez
What a difference 5 months can make! My name is Denise Marie Hernandez-Fuentes; I was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico. I am a mother, wife, friend, daughter, and most recently a disciple of Christ! God used my son Richie, my boss and friend Dr. Delores Inniss, and my sisters in Christ, Elizabeth Eckels and Melanie Coyle, to reveal the truth to me.
I married my high school sweetheart, Richard Hernandez. He is the love of my life and we have been together for 21 years. His love and support are unconditional. I have 3 wonderful young boys, who fill my life with pride and joy. Miguel Angel, 15, plays football and lacrosse for Timber Creek High School and is full of life, laughter and surprises! Then, comes Joshua, 16, my son who has autism, and he is a blessing from God! He is full of love, tenderness and just plain lovable. Last but definitely not least, my first born, Richard Edgardo, is 19. Oh! Lord! Richard is full of energy, knowledge, laughter, kindness, and most importantly, he is full of love for God and everyone else around him. He recently graduated from TCHS and is going to lead a Bible Talk this fall at Seminole State College, where he will be a full time student! Everybody loves Richard!
I work with Orange County Public Schools in the Professional Development Services Department with a 3.75 million dollar BRIDGE Leadership grant. Our goal is to recruit leaders, mentor them, train them, and provide a system to ensure that we retain them. As you can see, I am very familiar with Jesus’ concept of recruiting, discipling, training, keeping faithful and raising up leaders!
It all started with ZUMBA, yes with Zumba! Richard and I met our wonderful pastor Anthony Eckels at Zumba, not knowing he was a pastor. Anthony approached my son and invited him to Sushi Night for a fundraising event. My son was thrilled and he went to the fundraising event. He came home that night very excited and he said, “Mom, you should see how excited these people are about God and how they just love each other and help each other.” Richard continued to visit the Eckels’ for bible studies.
1 Timothy 4:12 says: Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity. God used my 19 year old son to teach and inspire me to study the Bible! Richard came home so excited about the studies and would share bits and pieces with me. He invited me to church and I started going with him. What a thrill it was to see such a close group of people gather at church, praising God with all their hearts, receiving such a warm welcome just because I was a child of God and Richard’s mom. WOW!
Richard came home one night and said, “Mom, Elizabeth would like you to come to one of her bible studies. You should go mom, I will help you study the bible as well.” After 5 months of bible studies and fellowship with my brothers and sisters in Christ, on Mother’s Day, I was baptized by my son, Elizabeth and Melanie. What an amazing feeling that was! As a young disciple I am so excited to be a child of God in Christ. Psalm 17:8 says, Keep me as the apple of your eye; hide me in the shadow of your wings. Now I know why The Bible says “I am the apple of God’s eyes” because I feel so special in my walk with Christ.
To God be the glory!
Denise Hernandez
