An Invitation from Wilshire Baptist Church

Yesterday was a powerful day as I spoke at Kelly and Charles Secker‘s Sunday School Class at Wilshire Baptist Church. I can’t wait to see the video. Each time as I prepare to speak I pray for God’s words to speak through me and for my words to fall to the ground. My pastor always prays that before his sermons and I think it is a good prayer because I certainly want God to be heard and to be glorified : HE transformed, restored, and healed my life. Because of HIS grace and mercy I am clean, sober, and healthy today. 

Kelly did a beautiful job introducing me and as I watched her from my vantage point memories of us as school age friends started to ricochet through my mind:  Cheerleading, Water Skiing. I remember once we went to her lake house on Texoma and skied in February!!!  We both LOVED to ski so much we didn’t care about the freezing water. But when it was my turn I couldn’t take it and had her swing the boat around so I could ski straight onto the beach which was all rocks, I was less concerned about falling onto rocks then re-emerging in those  freezing waters.!! : )))) Endless hours of tumbling in her front yard as we took a break from watching the 1976 Olympics with aspirations to be the next Nadia J  Then the night we went out and  Kelly met her future husband Charles, they started dating after that evening. All the memories brought a smile to my face and then it was time for me to get up and share.

Many of you know my story by now so I won’t go into that but I hope you will watch the clips we put up.  I am never sure how I did but always so hopeful that the message of hope was relayed and that I connected with my audience.  From the reaction of the class after I was done I do believe God touched them in some way. Many people came up to me and gave me a hug thanking me for sharing. That always means so much to me. I forgot to really talk about my website and book but that is okay. Next time at the suggestion of both Melanie and Kurt I was advised to have cards made to hand out when I speak so others can reach me. Melanie made an excellent point that some people may want to talk to me but not in front of all their friends and that makes perfect sense. It is good to have two voices (Mel and Kurt) that have media backgrounds.  I feel so very blessed. I hope you enjoy this clip from Kelly. It meant so much to me : )

Light shines more brightly through broken vessels!

Today the article came out in the Wylie News.  Since I didn’t have a chance to read it before hand I was somewhat nervous. Anxiously I kept checking on line to see if it was there but it never appeared so this morning I e-mailed Judy Truesdell , the reporter, and she told me I could come by the office and pick up the paper about 11. She then said she hoped I would like it and I replied that I was sure I would.

A little after 11 I drove to the Wylie News office on Ballard and nervously went into the building and asked for the newspaper. The lady working asked me how many I wanted and I said 5. She smiled and said I must know someone in the paper as she walked back to get the copies. As she handed me the paper, I looked at the top of the front page which showed an adorable boy with a camel. Smiling at the cute photo, I flipped the paper to the bottom of the front page and there I was : as a cheerleader years ago and more recently in front of the Van Pelt home. The headline was titled “Light shines more brightly through broken vessels “ one of my favorite sayings . Excitedly I began to read the story I know so well.

Judy did a wonderful job capturing my story  and the message that I want to convey: That with God all things are possible and if you allow HIM into your life he will heal your pain. That  your wounds  can now  be a source of hope and healing to others. I was so very blessed and honored. After reading the article I asked if I could meet Judy in person and she was called to the front where we hugged each other as if we had known each other for years. I thanked her again for choosing to write about my life.  Everyone in that office was so very kind to me  and there was no judgment at all. It was such a beautiful day.

Satan did try to steal my joy: I broke a tooth in the front part of my mouth,  someone got really upset with me about the story, and a couple of other conflicts happened, but after a few tears I stopped and refused to succumb to those feelings that were enveloping me. I remembered who I was in Christ and I decided to stand firm in HIS TRUTH. HIS TRUTH is what  set me free in the first place.. This was an awesome day for me and God blessed me tremendously with this article as I try to move forward  to achieve my goals and dreams. No one is going to steal my joy!!

Click here to read the article. Thank you for all your support and encouragement. I appreciate every comment more than you could know. Blessings to all of you :))

It's all in a name

Matthew 10:26
New King James Version (NKJV)
26 Therefore do not fear them. For there is nothing covered that will not be revealed, and hidden that will not be known.

I have been so extremely blessed recently as I have tried to embark on a career in speaking and writing my book. I still have so very far to go to make this a reality but a lot of awesome things have taken place since I rolled out my website that makes me believe my dreams can come true:) 

With that being said I want to share something that happened recently. Last week I was contacted by a reporter for the Wylie Newspaper, I was so honored that she was interested and wanted to write about my life , well GOD’S WORK IN MY LIFE, that is what it is truly about because I am still a mess with many issues and sin but through GOD’S grace and mercy I am clean from drugs and living in complete freedom, joyful most the time. I am so very thankful for that : )

As I began talking with the reporter she asked me about my name: Susan DeFace Washington. She had checked out my website and seen it spelt differently sometimes with a capital F and sometimes not. She said when she writes an article she usually mentions the whole name one time then refers to the person using their last name so she wanted to know if I wanted to include the name DeFace . At first I said “No”: I didn’t keep my maiden when got I married so I didn’t see the need . But within seconds I changed my mind. The name DeFace is so important to me and to my story, it is who I am.

This name DeFace has been the bane of my existence for as long as I can remember. In Jr. High the teasing was endless with barbs like “ Don’t Deface traffic signs “ etc. My father’s name was Richard but he went by Dick so his name was Dick DeFace, need I say more ? Now all the ribbing was done in fun but it was still the bane of my existence.

DeFace is also a very uncommon name. I have no blood relatives left other than my children and my sister’s children. There is no one: not a cousin, aunt, uncle, 2nd cousin , etc . To be honest there were never any aunts, uncles , cousins. It was always just us. I have never met anyone with the last name of DeFace other than me . 

With it being such a unique name it brought light to many situations in my life when I really didn’t want any light being shed on them. I remember once when I was in 9th grade my parents had gone to the lake and I was supposed to be staying with a friend but we decided to stay at my house alone. The next day I needed to get to my other friends house in Lakewood because my parents would be picking me up there. Van Pelt was not close to Lakewood so I decided to call a cab. I can’t remember how much money I had but my plan was to watch the meter and when it got to the amount I had have the driver stop and I would walk the rest of the way. ( I made to the spillway on Garland Road ) This was a great plan ( please note the dripping sarcasm in my tone :) , my criminal thinking was starting young believing I could pull off this act of deception and disrespect to my parents : ) 

Any way I called the cab company and gave my address and name to be picked up. The lady who worked for the cab company asked me my name again and I replied “ Susan DeFace” . She then asked me if I was Dick DeFace’s teenage daughter and I didn’t know what to say. I think I finally said yes because even then I knew there weren’t any other Susan DeFaces around. She dispatched the taxi and said she would be calling my father because she wasn’t too sure he would want me running around in cabs. I was busted !!!! If I had been Susan Johnson this wouldn’t have happened :)
Well as you know my life went on and after many tragic events and MANY POOR/DESTRUCTIVE CHOICES on my part I was indicted on drug charges, deservedly so. It was in May of 2001 that I got indicted, I had been married since 1986 and had not used the DeFace name since then but for some reason when the Dallas Morning News ran the article “Teacher indicted on drug charges: Meth Lab Found in Home “ they referred to me as Susan DeFace Washington. There was no hiding anymore , God was going to expose everything . At the time I was disgraced and humiliated but it made me face the truth. I had to. I knew that anyone who read that article that had ever known me would know it was me. They might not know I had married and my last name was Washington but the DeFace was distinctive to me, there aren’t any others. My life was exposed and I couldn’t hide any longer.

So I told the Wylie reporter I am Susan DeFace Washington so please refer to me as DeFace Washington. She asked if I wanted it hyphenated and I can’t remember what I said because the hyphen doesn’t matter. The name does. DeFace is my name and I am proud of it. At one time when you looked at my family the first thought that came to mind was the tragedies, addictions, suicides, felonies, prison, etc. but now I hope when the name DeFace is heard or read you will think of God’s Amazing Grace, Victory, and the Freedom from the chains that bind that come when you surrender your life to Jesus Christ. That is my hope. I am Susan DeFace Washington and there is no more shame. Praise the Lord for his Redemption and Restoration.

Getting ready for Overton

About to head out to the Northeast Texas Treatment Center in Overton , Tx to share with the residents. I am so excited to revisit this place. This is where I was sentenced after being placed on deferred adjudication for 10 years. Although I relapsed and eventually went to prison I learned a lot there. This is where seeds were planted for the healing to take root and begin.

I was 40 years old and coming out of my own wilderness. As I have said I feel so very blessed and thankful to God as I take this journey revisiting places of pain and defeat now standing in victory. PLEASE PRAY FOR ME AND FOR GOD'S WORDS TO SPEAK THROUGH ME . I will keep you updated and I hope I can take some pictures. It was such a beautiful place. One morning I remember we were on the porch and heard all this noise coming from the ropes course and we ran to see what it was . This pine trees were huge and unbelievably gorgeous. What we saw were wild horses running through the woods.

It was breathtaking. That picture has always stayed in my mind and I am sure it is symbolic to something. Maybe the freedom with which they ran, I am walking in that freedom now. I will think on that more. I will check in when I get there :))

Angela: God has blessed me with this young lady -- She is my friend, my daughter, my mentee.

 John 16:33 “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”  

Today I want to share another letter I received from a very dear friend, she is more like a daughter to me but before I do I want to take you back to when we met and how our relationship developed, she was and is my oldest daughter Hailey’s best friend. I can see the tapestry of God’s handiwork from the beginning.

I paroled out of prison in the summer of 2003 and came to live in Wylie. We had a small run down trailer on the outskirts of town and I was placed on a leg monitor as a condition of my parole. None of this mattered because I was so happy to be with my kids again, to be free, and to have AIR CONDITIONING. The trailer was like a palace compared to prison  (Life is all about perspective)  :) 

It was so awkward at first with my kids because I had let them down so many times and I knew they didn’t trust me.  The week before we got busted in 2001 CPS had visited them at school to interview  them and I remember sitting in my silver Toyota Camry in our driveway talking with my kids about this interview and assuring them that nothing bad would happen, a week later we were busted and CPS took custody of them at school. After I got out of rehab and they came to live with me and my father things went well for awhile but then I relapsed and got sent to prison. It was going to take some time to rebuild the trust and I was so scared about the damage that had been done hoping they would make good choices for their lives and in their friendships.

In the summer of 2003 Hailey had just gotten out of 8^th grade and would be starting high school in the fall. I knew this was a pivotal time in her life. There had been some concern about the friendships she had before so I was hoping for new friends to come into her life. God blessed us with Angela Tucker and Amanda Steele. These girls were outgoing and involved in extracurricular activities: Amanda was a cheerleader and Angela’s brother was quarterback of the Wylie Pirate’s Varsity Football Team.  Hailey just blossomed as she spent a lot of time at Angela’s going to football games, being with her family and just hanging out. I was so happy for these friendships.

Angela was and is a beautiful girl and their friendship continued to grow. They have each told me that they have such fun together and just laugh all the time. I understood perfectly because I had many friendships like that growing up. Just those special girls you enjoy being with because you can be yourself, be silly,  and just laugh !! Friends are so important.

Angela’s brother graduated at the end of their freshman year and went off to college the next fall. After that Angela’s home life started to deteriorate. Her parents separated and eventually divorced which left Angela alone far too often. I was shocked and saddened when her mother moved to Oklahoma and left Angela who was about 17 at the time alone in the house; her father still lived in Wylie but was struggling with his own alcoholism so was not there to guide her.

It seems after that her life started spiraling out of control. She quit attending school and started  partying too much and it wouldn’t be long before she hit a pretty hard bottom.

My relationship with Angela really began when she was locked up in Collin County jail and I began to write to her and she began to write back. Her letter says it all. I am so very proud of this young woman and the changes she has made in her life. She is a wonderful mother trying to create a beautiful life for her daughter Summer,  she now has a good job, attends church regularly , and basically has turned her life around with the guidance of God. This could have been a much different story but with God all things are possible.

God is just so AWESOME and I love that I have been able to witness first hand the transformation in Angela’s life. I love her as much as my own kids and so thankful to have her in my life. 

Hailey and Angela in 9th grade.

Her letter for my book and website  is below:) I was moved to tears by this, it was a beautiful gift to me.

"Susan Washington has had a huge impact in my life. She has been my spiritual leader, my guidance counselor, and most of all she has been my friend. We met when I was in junior high, when her eldest daughter, Hailey and I became best friends. It was not till later on in life when Susan and I really began to form an irreplaceable friendship.  Hard times hit my home when I was about sixteen. My parents were going through a divorce and like the typical teenager who faces many challenges, I began to party.  I blew off school, and began to care about very little. I started getting into more and more trouble and at seventeen was placed on probation for a felony. I continued my downward spiral doing whatever I wanted and eventually met a guy that enjoyed being in my chaotic downward spiral. We were together for about a year when I became pregnant. I instantly quit all of the partying. I decided to try and get my mind right and life on track, not only for myself, but for the new life I was going to bring into the world. Unfortunately, some things of my past caught up with me, as they always do. I found myself being convicted of my second felony at age eighteen. The court revoked my probation and I was stuck in jail with no way out; pregnant with my saving grace. I was lost and alone. All of my so called “friends” had left my side and I felt as though nobody cared about me. Susan began to send me letters while I was in jail. It was really the only mail that I received other than a few letters here and there from my child’s father. Those letters meant the world to me. Susan’s letters let me know that at least someone out there cared about me and could understand what I was going through. She was so encouraging and hopeful. She could relate to me in so many ways because she had been through so much herself. This is when our relationship began to deepen.

Our hometeam ( from left to right ) Angela, Scott,Me, Shane, Sandra, and Amada :)) These are my people !!

I was let out of jail on probation again. I was eight months pregnant. Immediately I started attending a home-team at Susan’s church which she co-led on Wednesday evenings. The people there had all been through so much and were so accepting and loving. Through the Wednesday night meetings my relationship with Susan began to deepen even more. I started going to church with her on Sunday’s and found so much love and encouragement through her. We were going through stages of coming closer to God together. I knew Susan when she first came out of prison. She did not have a relationship with God then, and I have had the privilege of watching her transform into this amazing woman of God; that I can only hope to be someday. I am so thankful that God has placed Susan in my life. I would have been lost without her helping me along the way. I cannot wait to see what God has in store for her life. I have the honor of watching her touch the lives of others daily and I know exactly how it feels. Susan has touched my life beyond words. I love you so much Susan. Thank you so much for everything. To quote Christian singer Francesca Battistelli “You are the Angel by my-side.”

Love Always,

Angela 

 Angela and I at my 50th Birthday Party !!!!!