Mountains and Valleys

Shortly after the prayer meeting we had a series of meetings that resulted in an interpretation of what God had given us during corporate prayer and fasting. We decided to start a separate nonprofit called E49 Corporation based on Ecclesiastes 4:9 and the principal of “two are better than one”. Tammy Vallejo agreed to take the lead as the President and form the corporation. The corporation was formed in December 2009 and by March 2010 received it’s tax-exempt status as a “Church” through Growing Healthy Churches. The “mountain top” experiences of late 2009 and early 2010 were foundational and exciting! But by 2010 those experiences transitioned into a season of refinement and “the valley”.

The following is the testimony (in it’s original form) of Tammy Vallejo presented to Restoration Life Church in 2010:

“We were content, happy, living a life of comfort in our McKinley Park home. We were making two incomes, owning our own business and dutifully serving in ministry at our church. We had two wonderful teenage daughters and were feeling completely at peace with where we were. Thinking, this is it…we have arrived, we are on the right path. We were comfortable…. 

And then, God gave us and specifically Tammy a calling…. 

“In a very short span of time, I organized and started E49 Corporation. We began to move forward on a plan to start a home for girls where we could rescue young teens from trafficking and other homes for youth where they could come and be loved. We also started looking for commercial buildings to become the “hub” in the community. Things were moving very fast! 

Then we brought my 12-year-old niece into our home and several months later we added my sister. If you’re counting, that’s 5 girls and Tom in a 2-bedroom home! 

I decided to partner with a fellow Christian in my real estate business and quickly we started working on several projects together. My business plan for 2010 would have resulted in a salary four times what I had ever brought home. And I thought this was God’s blessing that was going to come to us because we were willing to do what He was caling us to do.   Don’t get me wrong…I’m not saying that God doesn’t do these things but for us our expectations of blessings… in hindsight… were worldly and prideful. 

I specifically remember God saying to me one day in prayer, “you need to get ready for a battle”. And then, as fast as the vision came, we entered the valley. One member of our nonprofit board after another began to experience family tragedies. Our family began to have trials we had no idea how to handle on our own. Our own financial picture turned and suddenly our best year ever began to look like our worst. Our well planned out, middle-class, debt free lifestyle began to fade away until almost supernaturally we found ourselves not being able to meet our bills. 

Friendships began to be tested, It looked like I would need to close my business and we were now faced with losing our home. And on top of that, we found ourselves thrust into dealing with issues that touched the lives of our friends and family; embezzlement, substance abuse, physical, emotional and sexual abuse, alcoholism, drugs, sexual promiscuity, sexual orientation, teen pregnancy, cutting, suicide and even criminal issues. Our happy go lucky, middle class, everything is good lifestyle suddenly and drastically changed. We felt like we were watching someone else’s movie.

You see, I am a planner. I am the person who looks forward years and tries to anticipate what is coming. But every safety net we thought we had planned for began to be stripped away and tested; our finances; my business; our home; our kids; and our church. One by one, God said…”do you trust in those things to define you or do you trust in Me?” Everything we had ever based our trust on changed in an instant. 

And suddenly, Tom, I and the girls, were left with each other, our friends and God. As we battled each situation, the outcome was the same, our plans, knowledge and experience, weren’t enough. Each trial ended with us agonizing over the choices and eventually surrendering it to God and saying; “it’s in your hands Lord”. Our prayer each day became, “God you make the decisions today so that we don’t have to”. We were at a crossroads; we could either embrace where we were and trust God for the outcome; or we could get mad and bitter and walk away. But God is so merciful.

Each day he provided the answers. I found myself being drawn to books I would have never chosen whose messages were exactly the answers we needed. Scriptures like Romans 8:28 “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who[a] have been called according to his purpose”.

The Beth Moore studies that I went to during this time felt like they were written for me. The prayers from many, many, different circles, the working lessons we got as we worked through each trial and the professionals that God provided who in almost every situation turned out to be believers. 

There was a trip to Tahoe where I sat in a hotel room overlooking Lake Tahoe and all of its splendor and God reminded me in that moment to trust him because he could see more than I could see. And Lastly, I remember when we had to turn in our SUV because we couldn’t afford it. Through a series of random choices we ended up in Auburn with a Salesperson who after a few minutes of meeting us started witnessing to us and sharing his testimony that spoke specifically to us about things we were going through at the time with our teens! 

God was present in the details and he comforted us at the times we most needed it. And lastly, the peeling away of the Onion….God revealed things to me about my character, hang-ups that I thought were long gone and baggage I had been carrying since childhood to bring me to a place of contentment. He humbled me. He helped me understand that I didn’t have to work so hard for God to love me. He just does!

And so, we stand before you today, still in the midst of our battle, to share with you that our answered prayers don’t always look the way we think they should. God has reminded me along the way that he does want me to have the desires of my heart, but only He knows the best path to get us there. And OURinterpretation of what being “rescued” looks like may be in conflict with his. 

In our situation, the path God led us to take; butted up against some very deeply held beliefs and in hindsight rigid, prideful and self-righteous views on God’s wishes for our lives. He didn’t rescue us in the way we wanted and thought we should be according to the world’s standards; he didn’t save our house, our car, our finances, my company and even some of our friendships. Instead, he gave us freedom to live our lives for him unencumbered by worldly things. 

And in regards to our calling; we still believe we are called to complete God’s purpose in that calling. We believe he is still refining us though to be ready for it. And we still believe we will be blessed by our calling and our willingness to be called according to God’s purpose. But our expectations of what those blessings will look like are different now. 

Today, we really understand from experience that tomorrow the very ministries we are called to and the very people we are called to help; could be me, or one of our daughters, or one of our friends. We understand that God works all things for the good according to HIS purpose. And sometimes, God allows circumstances to happen in our lives that “just happen”. They are not a reflection of failure or punishment. They just are and only God understands why.

I want to end with this; James 1:2-4 Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters,[a] whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. 4 Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. “