JENNIFER GUARDADO

I enjoy reading the Feature Friday submissions I get because I’m able to peek inside someone else’s life and learn some of the trials they’ve survived, but I love to hear how courage and strength prevail and how something much greater came out of the mess. This week’s feature doesn’t disappoint at all.

She’s a Southern California native and the eldest of 5 siblings. Her mother was a teen mom and her father was absent so her Grandmother instilled hard work and core values, teaching her that the details are important, no matter how small they are. She was also raised to be proud of her culture as a Mexican American. Despite her mother having her at a young age and not having a college degree, she watched her mother climb the corporate ladder with her strong leadership and management skills. She remembers watching her mother and thinking “Whatever I do in the future, I want to do it like her.” Needless to say, Jennifer was equipped with those same leadership skills and a strong desire to create a space for women. Even though she had everything she needed financially, her childhood lacked a solid family structure with both a mother and father in the home. As Jennifer got older, she and her mother didn’t get along so she left home at 18 years old. This left Jennifer feeling confused and angry and all she wanted was to be loved and affirmed. A year later, she discovered that her biological father was shot by her mother in a tragic accident And that same year, she found herself pregnant and in an abusive and toxic relationship “With no support, no desire to be a mother, and fear gripping me, I chose abortion” She vowed to never speak about it and to not let the abortion affect her.

Things continued to spiral out of control in her relationship and she was jailed numerous times for domestic abuse. “And I remember sitting in a cell asking myself “What is wrong with you? Why can’t you leave this?” But in 2011, she lost everything, her relationship ended, and she lost friends, her job, and her car She was at the end of her rope “I could no longer hide behind a false image and I was so afraid to face myself in singleness. She admitted that being in a relationship, as toxic as it was, allowed her to be distracted from the self-care she desperately needed

At 24, Jennifer knew she needed to discover exactly who she was and to heal so she gave her life over to God She couldn’t manage the guilt she had suppressed for so long and the healing that her breakthrough would require demanded her full participation. And since 2013, she’s allowed God to use her to heal other women. She speaks locally at schools and retreats as well as internationally through social media sharing her experiences through love and hope

Jennifer acknowledges her trials prepared her for the journey of affirming women “My past pain has created a platform for me to help other women and it has made everything that I have been through worth it.” Once she was able to put her ego, pride, and fear to the side, she was truly able to carry out her heart’s work and reach the women she needed to reach The love and affirmation she was once looking for were found within herself, and once she discovered that, the possibilities were endless

Today, Jennifer heads up Woman Affirmed, which is a community of women that come together to grow, heal, and affirm their worth in the people around them She has also served her church through mission work in Uganda, Mexico, and Thailand and will be going to Cambodia in June! She’s discovered that the person she’s become is the exact person she needed when she was younger

Her hard work and dedication have been rewarded through the success and growth of the women around her Jennifer has been able to empower young girls and women everywhere to discover their purpose and find their voice She’s out here doing God’s work and shows no signs of slowing down any time soon

We want to give Jennifer her flowers today and let her know that we stand with her and the work she’s doing for others

We love you, girl!

You can check out Woman Affirmed on IG: @woman.affirmed

Jennifer is doing a Summer Singles fellowship and book study based off the book "Singled Out in a Couple’s World" by Christa Smith. She’ll have details soon, but the book can be found on Amazon: HERE!

If you or someone you know would like to be a feature, let us know!