(An attempt at) A Short Bio
I was the first-born in what would end up being a family of six children. My parents lived in Southern California at the time of my birth, which happened in Santa Ana. We moved around a lot when I was growing up and particularly between California and Texas in my younger years. We lived in Baytown and Deer Park, Texas. We also lived in Lone Pine; Westminster; Midway City; Garden Grove; and Norco, California - just to name a few of the California cities. The longest stint that I remember was again in Santa Ana from the time I was nine until I was fifteen, which is when we moved to Norco. I lived in Norco until about midway through my senior year of high school, at which time my parents divorced and I was sent to Needville, Texas to live with an aunt and uncle and finish high school. I graduated from Needville Sr. High in May of 1978 and attended a whole semester at Wharton County Jr. College in Wharton, Texas, majoring in Agriculture and minoring in music. My aspirations were to return to Needville High as an Ag teacher and do something with music on the side. Neither of those things happened. I dropped out of college as a result of some family turmoil, and shortly thereafter returned to Southern California to live and work with my mother in Huntington Beach. Over the span of the next couple of decades my life would be full of drama and turmoil, and I'll share more about that in my testimony. As an adult, I moved back and forth between Texas and California several times. I was extremely co-dependent and was not much more able to put down roots than my father had been. When the dust finally settled, however, I was in Northern California - married with three children. Two years later, I was blessed with my fourth child at the age of thirty-six and the next small children I would have in my home would be grandchildren. I have been married to the man of my dreams for almost twenty-four years(in just a few days, actually). We have four children and six grandchildren - all gorgeous! My oldest is thirty-seven and my youngest is eleven (we adopted one of our grandchildren). I have one adult boy still at home and preparing for the mission field (a former history major at Southwestern University) while his younger brother is attending West Texas A&M University. It seems I'm still going back and forth between California and Texas though. My husband and I lived in Northern California together for fourteen years, then eleven years ago we moved to Central Texas. It's kind of ironic, because my husband was born in Texas and lived in the same Northern California town we met in for all but three months of his life before we moved. His parents are originally from Austin, but moved to California when he was three months old. I always thought I wanted to marry a Texan and we joke about how I had to go to California to find him.
The Lenz Family
This is all of us taken when my oldest son graduated high school is 2012 (It's the only picture I have of all of us together. (Standing L to R) Matt (now 21 and attending college); Michelle (mother of Lissy, lives in California); Joshua (the graduate who went on to attend Southwestern University in Georgetown); and Shauna (mother of Leah and J.J., lives in Austin). :-) (Seated L to R) J.J. (now 8); Me; Lissy (now 17);; My husband Rich with Leah (now 11) in his lap. We also have a rescue California Spangled European Short-Hair tom-cat named Kharjo. I am very blessed!
No Longer a Captive - my salvation testimony (as shared at New Life Church, Alamo, CA., November, 2004)
Isaiah 52:2 says "Rise from the dust, O' Jerusalem, remove the slave bands from your neck, O' captive daughter of Zion," My name is Brenda Lenz and I stand as a testimony that God is in the business of repairing and restoring broken lives, and that He sets free the captive daughters of Zion, like me. When I was originally asked to give my testimony I wasn't too excited about airing the ugliness of my past for everyone to see, to be honest with you. But, I was willing to do it if it would convince even one person to give God a chance to change their life for the better. My testimony is not an incredibly dramatic one. I didn't come to the Lord overnight as a result of thunder from heaven, and I can't even give you the exact date it happened. It was a process over several years, a little nudge here and there until I finally got to the edge of the cliff and jumped, and Jesus caught me. Up until the summer of 1995 I was a very different person than I am today. I even had a different name. My name was Brenda Co-dependent Adultress, with multiple last names. My story is not an unusual one. Raised in a dysfunctional family by a domineering and emotionally unavailable father and an invisible mother. The only church I knew growing up was a short stint with the Jehovah's Witnesses. I was the oldest of six and given a lot of responsibility at an early age. In my dad's house we were not allowed to voice our opinions or question him in any way. I was afraid of my dad and became a very insecure and dependent teenager. Co-dependent is what the counselors call it. I basically called it messed-up. Things only got worse when I was raped at the age of nineteen, became pregnant, and before the baby was born lost my mother to cancer within a year of her diagnosis. I was basically an emotional zombie after that, so my grandmother stepped in and decided to find me a husband to take care of me and my yet unborn child. She introduced me to her third husband's nephew, who became the first of my three ex-husbands. Talk about generational curses. During my second marriage I answered an altar call at a concert at Calvary Chapel in Orange County, California. The high lasted about a week. There was no grounding in the faith, as it were and I went back to life as I'd known it before. By the time I got to my third husband I had been through a chain of abusive relationships with drug-addicts, alcoholics, and otherwise emotionally unavailable men. I'd been homeless, was a terrible mother to my then 6-year old daughter, and knew deep down inside that this wasn't where I was supposed to be in life. I was such a mess emotionally I didn't know which way was up. After about ten months of co-habitation and a few months of marriage to my third husband, I was in counseling. I had cheated on my husband. I was an absentee mother to my now two daughters. I spent most of my nights drinking and dancing with anyone who wasn't my husband. I was very unhappy and didn't know how to change it. I wasn't sure what was wrong with me, but I knew something was. The counseling and the affairs continued throughout our four-year revolving door marriage. I got pregnant as a result of one of my affairs and had an abortion. I was looking for love in all the wrong places and a slave to my emotional dysfunction. My third husband and I finally divorced and because of my instability and the fact that our daughter hardly knew me, he got custody of her. So there I was, no husband again, just me and my older daughter. I was out of counseling, but far from healed and whole. I found a job and a place to live and made a decision to stop looking for a man to fulfill me. I decided to set some goals for myself and become more independent and less co-dependent. And here is where the hand of God gets heavier on my life. Shortly after making my decision of independence, I met a man. A nice man. One I was not immediately attracted to because he had no major issues that needed fixing. I did, however, sense something special about him and we became friends. We worked together, actually, so becoming friends was easy. I dated other guys, but when I just wanted to hang out with a friend I'd call my nice guy. I didn't make a decision to give up men completely, just to give up depending on them. Anyway, as my friendship with Mr. Nice Guy grew so did our feelings for each other. A strange phenomenon for me really, since he was a nice guy and quite available emotionally. There came a point when I was dating my typical loser type as well as developing feelings for my nice guy, and for some reason I eventually felt it was time to make a choice. I felt in my heart that I needed to choose between one of these two guys and quit messing around, and that had to have been God. I chose Richard Lenz, my nice guy, and fortunately, he chose me back. I totally believe that God was working on my heart even then because that choice was completely out of character for me and even I was kind of shocked by it. Well, God was calling me, but I was still turning a deaf ear. I moved in with Rich after several months of friendship and a little over a year later he asked me to marry him. Enter the hand of God once again. Neither of us was walking with the Lord and an interesting thing happened at our wedding. There was a phrase in our wedding vows that I had never heard before and we didn't choose our vows. We promised to be a Holy Spirit led husband and wife. We didn't even know what that meant at that point. This was 1994. In the summer of 1995 our first son turned a year old. I had been in church for awhile because I felt "somehow" that I needed to be in church. I found Calvary Temple in Concord, California and immediately felt at home. That summer, the Associate Pastor's wife, Crystal Heisel, started a program called "Help I'm a Mom!", and since I was a mom and I knew I needed help, I signed up. It was in that program that I committed my life to Christ. I did so because I wanted to be a better mother to my new son than I had been to my daughters. Isaiah 54:13 says, "All your children shall be taught by the Lord and great shall be the peace of your children." I had tried my way, as well as the way of a few others like EST, and Lifespring, and Metaphysics, and human psychology with disastrous results. God's way was one I hadn't tried yet and I wanted peace for my son as opposed to the drama and turmoil I had given my daughters. I got involved in Bible study and there's been no turning back. His Word has been a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. I don't claim to know everything. I don't really claim to know very much at all, but I do know this: God took the broken pieces of my life and put them together to make something beautiful out of something ugly. One of the first things He said to me was written on a piece of paper and handed to me by a friend. It was Psalm 81:10 which says, "I am the Lord your God who brought you up out of Egypt. Open wide your mouth and I will fill it." I opened my mouth and He filled it. He came into my heart and cleaned house. He revealed Himself to me, then He said, "I'm going to be your Counselor now." Specifically, Psalm 32:8-9, "I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go. I will guide you with My eye.", and He proceeded to heal me of my past. He said, "Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind." -Romans 12:2 He dealt with every issue I had, one at a time and as gently as a surgeon. He brought my husband out of darkness and blessed our marriage. I have been happily married to the nicest man on the planet for ten years and seven months now (at that time, now it's 17 years.), with NO extra-marital affairs. We've been blessed with two beautiful boys who love the Lord and He's working on my girls. He has gifted me with gifts that He uses to edify His church, and after years of prayer, He's given me a direction for ministry. For the past nine years (at that time, now 16) I have been on the most incredible journey of my life. I could spend a lot more than ten minutes telling you all the stories of how He's touched my life and restored things that I thought had been lost forever. His faithfulness to me has been amazing. I am no longer a captive, and my name is no longer "Co-dependent Adultress with multiple last names". My name is Brenda Holy Righteous Beloved of God Lenz. I owe the Creator of the universe my life and I gladly pay that debt. The crazy thing is, He gives it back to me ten-fold. My life is richer and fuller than it has ever been and I am more me than I have ever been. I have never experienced as much inner freedom in my life as I have since I made the decision to let Jesus Christ be the Lord of my life. I'd like to end by sharing a poem with you. Poetry is one of the things the Lord has restored for me and this is the first poem I wrote for Him:
Jesus Is The Answer
Who am I? Why am I here?
These questions filled my heart with fear.
I knew not why, or when or how
And often asked myself, "what now"?
And then one day, out of the blue
I was introduced to You.
You revealed Yourself
In awesome ways.
You blessed my life and brightened my days.
Moment by moment
And day by day
You increased my wisdom
and taught me Your ways.
You spoke to me so I could hear.
You called my name and drew me near.
You shone Your light
On my dark life
And rescued me
From my plight.
Doubt and fear
Have no more hold
And in Your strength
I go forth bold.
I walk upright and in the light
I trust in You with all my might.
For Your love does enable me,
Your sacrifice has set me free,.
A child of God, that's who I am.
His love to share, is why I'm here.
And those questions - "why", and "when", and "how"?
are answered in my Lord, so dear.
Jesus is the "why" and "how".
His plan the answer to "what now?"
Thanks to Him, I'm forever free
And my soul will sing through eternity.
-Brenda Lenz
5-27-97
Jesus Is The Answer
Who am I? Why am I here?
These questions filled my heart with fear.
I knew not why, or when or how
And often asked myself, "what now"?
And then one day, out of the blue
I was introduced to You.
You revealed Yourself
In awesome ways.
You blessed my life and brightened my days.
Moment by moment
And day by day
You increased my wisdom
and taught me Your ways.
You spoke to me so I could hear.
You called my name and drew me near.
You shone Your light
On my dark life
And rescued me
From my plight.
Doubt and fear
Have no more hold
And in Your strength
I go forth bold.
I walk upright and in the light
I trust in You with all my might.
For Your love does enable me,
Your sacrifice has set me free,.
A child of God, that's who I am.
His love to share, is why I'm here.
And those questions - "why", and "when", and "how"?
are answered in my Lord, so dear.
Jesus is the "why" and "how".
His plan the answer to "what now?"
Thanks to Him, I'm forever free
And my soul will sing through eternity.
-Brenda Lenz
5-27-97
A Testimony of Healing
Wednesday, March 9, 2005 - the day my family and I call "The Day of Freedom". Freedom from the debilitating disease known as Fibromyalgia. I had suffered with it for nine years, but until 2003, didn't know what it was called. Back then it was not as well known as it is now, and I was told there was no cure and no medication. Apparently that doctor didn't know about The Cure for ALL ailments.
I was attending a "Believing God" by Beth Moore Bible study at my home church, New Life Church in Alamo, California. Before the study ever started, God was speaking to me about great things He was going to do during that time. I believed He was going to deal with my doubts about supernatural healing and I was going to see someone healed. My youngest sister was battling thyroid cancer at the time, so I thought it would be her. I was mistaken.
As I stood in my bedroom getting dressed for the day, I suddenly felt a strong desire to worship God. The Holy Spirit was all over me like a blanket. I began to worship and next thing I knew I was on the floor wailing. I felt like chains were falling off of my body. I was crying, laughing, and praising God all at the same time....very loudly. My sons came running in thinking someone had died. It was the most amazing thing I'd experienced since I received my prayer language. I was shaking, I was so overtaken. I knew right away what had happened and I was astonished. I felt so light and free, I could've taken off flying. I believe I WAS flying, spiritually. My boys were so excited and they are the ones who came up with "The Day of Freedom". I called my husband, my pastor's wife, everyone I could think of. That night at Bible study, I shared with my sisters-in-Christ what He had done for me. He turned a skeptic into a believer.
I never doubted God's ability to heal, I just doubted His willingness. Too many times I'd seen sick people being prayed for and not getting better. Too many times I had prayed for someone who never got better. What I failed to understand was that God always heals, just not always the way we expect or want Him to. My experience taught me that God heals in His time and for His purposes and glory, and sometimes the healing takes place in glory. Our job is to trust Him. My trust in God grew tremendously that spring day in 2005, and I pray it continues to grow as I seek to know Him more intimately, from glory to glory, until the ultimate day of freedom when I am free from all the chains of this world. Hallelujah!
I was attending a "Believing God" by Beth Moore Bible study at my home church, New Life Church in Alamo, California. Before the study ever started, God was speaking to me about great things He was going to do during that time. I believed He was going to deal with my doubts about supernatural healing and I was going to see someone healed. My youngest sister was battling thyroid cancer at the time, so I thought it would be her. I was mistaken.
As I stood in my bedroom getting dressed for the day, I suddenly felt a strong desire to worship God. The Holy Spirit was all over me like a blanket. I began to worship and next thing I knew I was on the floor wailing. I felt like chains were falling off of my body. I was crying, laughing, and praising God all at the same time....very loudly. My sons came running in thinking someone had died. It was the most amazing thing I'd experienced since I received my prayer language. I was shaking, I was so overtaken. I knew right away what had happened and I was astonished. I felt so light and free, I could've taken off flying. I believe I WAS flying, spiritually. My boys were so excited and they are the ones who came up with "The Day of Freedom". I called my husband, my pastor's wife, everyone I could think of. That night at Bible study, I shared with my sisters-in-Christ what He had done for me. He turned a skeptic into a believer.
I never doubted God's ability to heal, I just doubted His willingness. Too many times I'd seen sick people being prayed for and not getting better. Too many times I had prayed for someone who never got better. What I failed to understand was that God always heals, just not always the way we expect or want Him to. My experience taught me that God heals in His time and for His purposes and glory, and sometimes the healing takes place in glory. Our job is to trust Him. My trust in God grew tremendously that spring day in 2005, and I pray it continues to grow as I seek to know Him more intimately, from glory to glory, until the ultimate day of freedom when I am free from all the chains of this world. Hallelujah!